How does the Rechabites' obedience compare to Israel's disobedience in other scriptures? Jeremiah 35:6—A Family That Said “No” “ ‘We do not drink wine … neither you nor your descendants are ever to drink wine.’ ” The Obedience Playbook of the Rechabites • Took their forefather Jonadab’s command at face value and kept it for centuries • Obeyed even when the prophet himself set wine before them in the temple (vv. 2–5) • Practiced a lifestyle of tents and pilgrimage, refusing city ownership (vv. 7–10) • Their submission was immediate, wholehearted, and generation-long Israel’s Track Record of Saying “No” to God • Sinai covenant: “Obey My voice, and I will be your God” (Jeremiah 7:23); they “did not obey” (v 24) • Wilderness: “They rebelled … would not listen” (Ezekiel 20:8) • Conquest era: “They quickly turned” to idols (Judges 2:17) • Divided kingdom: “They rejected His statutes” (2 Kings 17:14-15) • Jeremiah’s day: ears “uncircumcised so they cannot listen” (Jeremiah 6:10) A Side-by-Side Contrast • Source of command – Rechabites: human ancestor (Jonadab) – Israel: the living God • Strength of response – Rechabites: instant, enduring compliance – Israel: repeated, national resistance • Setting of test – Rechabites: quiet temple room, low-pressure offer of wine – Israel: miracles, prophets, covenants, yet still refused • Duration – Rechabites: about 250 years of continuity – Israel: cycles of short-lived reform followed by relapse • Outcome decreed – Rechabites: “Jonadab … will never fail to have a man to stand before Me” (Jeremiah 35:19) – Israel: exile and land desolation foretold (Jeremiah 25:11) Lessons God Wanted Judah to Hear • If a clan can honor a fallible ancestor, God’s people can—and must—honor the infallible Lord. • True obedience is not situational; it holds when no one is watching and when temptation is offered. • God notices steadfast fidelity and rewards it (Jeremiah 35:18-19), but He also notices chronic rebellion and judges it (Jeremiah 25:8-9). Echoes in the New Testament • Jesus commends simple, childlike obedience: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:28). • Hebrews 11 holds up men and women who, like the Rechabites, lived as “strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13). The Rechabites stand as a living sermon: if they could heed a human command, Israel—and every believer—can surely heed the divine one. |
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