Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever.
19. to stand before me ] It is by no means necessary to understand the expression here as implying priestly functions (cp. Jer 15:19), although the hint that the Rechabites were employed in some capacity in connexion with the Temple is supported by (i) the LXX heading of Psalms 71; (ii) the account of the martyrdom of James the Just (Eusebius, Eccles. Hist. II. 23) where “priests of the sons of Rechab” are spoken of. Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish traveller of the 12th century, mentions a body of Jews who were called Rechabites, and whose customs corresponded with those detailed in Jeremiah. Dr Wolff ( Journal, 1829) describes a body of Rechabites near Mecca who claimed to be sons of Jonadab. But it is by no means clear that the title in these three cases meant anything more than a certain amount of asceticism.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Travelers bear witness to the existence of a large tribe who represent themselves as the descendants of the Rechabites. The prediction was also literally fulfilled in the Rechabites being in some way incorporated into the tribe of Levi, whose office especially it was to stand before Yahweh Deu 10:8.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. Thus saith the Lord – Jonadab – shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.] His name shall ever be honourable, and his posterity shall enjoy my continual protection, and there shall never be found a time in which men of his spirit shall be wanting as patterns of genuine simplicity, filial obedience, purity of manners, and deadness to the world. True Christians may be considered as the genuine successors of these ancient Rechabites; and some suppose that the Essenes, in our Lord’s time, were literally their descendants, and that these were they who followed our Lord particularly, and became the first converts to the Gospel. If so, the prophecy is literally fulfilled: they shall never want a man to stand before God, to proclaim his salvation, and minister to the edification and salvation of others, as long as the earth shall endure.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For ever here signifies the ever of the Jewish state or church; whether the promise relates to the abiding of Jonadabs family, when many families of the Jews were quite rooted out, cut off, and extinct, or to some special favour that God would show them, or to some place of office they should have in or about the temple, (as some judge, because, 1Ch 2:55, it appears they were scribes,) is uncertain. But it is a question of more moment, How God promiseth a reward to these sons of Jonadab for obeying the command of their father, and whether they had sinned if they had not obeyed this command of Jonadab; which brings in another question, Whether parents have a power to oblige their children in matters which God hath left at liberty. To which I answer,
1. God might reward these Rechabites for their reverence and obedience to Jonadab their father, though these were not strictly, by the Divine law, obliged thus far to have obeyed him; as he rewarded David for his thoughts in his heart to build him a house, though it was not Gods will that he should do it; so as Gods promise of the reward doth not prove their obedience in this particular to have been their duty. Admit that it remained still a matter of liberty, yet the general honour and reverence they testified might be rewarded by God.
2. Unquestionably parents have not a power to determine children in all things as to which God hath left them a liberty, for then they have a power to make their children slaves, and to take away all their natural liberty. To marry or not, and to this or that person, is matter of liberty. Parents cannot in this case determine their children; Bethuel, Gen 24:58, asketh Rebekah if she would go with Abrahams servant before he would send her.
3. In matters of civil concernment they have a far greater power than in matters of religion. All souls are Gods, and conscience can be under no other dominion than that of God.
4. In civil things parents have a great power, during the nonage of children, and after also in matters which concern their parents good, as to command them to assist them, to help to supply their necessities, &c.
5. Parents being set over children, and instead of God to them, as it is their duty to advise their children to the best of their ability for their good; so it is the duty of children to receive their advice, and not to depart from it, unless they see circumstances so mistaken by parents, or so altered by the providence of God, as they may reasonably judge their parents, had these known or foreseen it, would not have so advised. But that parents have an absolute power to determine children in all things as to which God hath not forbidden them, and that children by the law of God are obliged to an obedience to all such commands, however they may see their parents mistaken, or God by his providence may have altered circumstances, I see no reason to conclude. Jonadab had prudently advised his sons as before mentioned; they were things they might do, and which by experience they found not hurtful to them, but of great profit and advantage, and that with reference to all the ends of mans life: herein they yield obedience, and pay a reverence to their parent; this pleaseth God, he promiseth to reward them with the continuance of their family, according to what he had said, Exo 20:12, in the fifth commandment, which the apostle calleth the first commandment with promise.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. not want a man to stand beforemeThere shall always be left representatives of the clan toworship Me (Jer 15:1;Jer 15:19); or, “before Me”means simple existence, for all things in existence are inGod’s sight (Ps 89:36).The Rechabites returned from the captivity. WOLFFfound traces of them in Arabia.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,…. Who has enjoined children obedience to their parents, and has promised to reward it, and does:
Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever; which may be understood of a long time, of ages to come; or as long as the people of the Jews were a people, or the world should stand, the posterity of this man should continue: or, “a man shall not be cut off from Jonadab c.” h his offspring shall never fail. It is certain that some of this family returned from the captivity, 1Ch 2:55; and, according to Scaliger i, the Hasidaeans sprung from them. And, if any credit could be given to Benjamin Tudelensis, there were Rechabites in the twelfth century, since the times of Christ; for he tells k us, that in his travels he found a place where Jews dwelt, who were called Rechabites. The phrase, “to stand before me”, is by the Targum paraphrased,
“ministering before me;”
serving and worshipping God, for they were religious people; that is, in their own families, carrying on religious worship among themselves, and not in the temple, where they had no office, and did no service; though some think they had, because called scribes, 1Ch 2:55. Kimchi says that some of their Rabbins asserted that the daughters of these people married priests, and so some of their children’s children offered sacrifice on the altar. And if what Eusebius reports from Hegesippus is true, there were priests of this family after the times of Christ; for he says l, that when the Jews were stoning James the just, a priest of the sons of Rechab cried out, saying, stop, what are ye doing? but these testimonies are not to be depended on; however, we may be sure of this, that the promise of God shall not fail, but be certainly accomplished. Very appropriate are the words of the learned Alting m upon this subject:
“not only the Lord promises length of life to the obedient, which proselytes, equally with Israelites, have the promise of; but, particularly, that the posterity of Jonadab should not perish, should have a place in the church of God, and an admission to the gracious enjoyment of God; not as priests and Levites, but as other Israelites and strangers,
Isa 56:4; so that the posterity of Jonadab must still continue, and hope of restoration of them with the Israelites remains; as in Jer 31:36; but in the same way and manner; so that being equally sharers in exile, they are to be restored after a long interruption. Indeed, the family is not at this day known; but from the ignorance of men, to the denial of a thing, there is no available argument. Families cannot be confounded, since they descend by the fathers; mothers do not belong to them; and as is the father as to tribe, so also is the son and grandson, and so on. A genealogical series may perish from the knowledge of men, but not from the nature of things, and the knowledge of God. Though the seeds of wheat, barley, and other things, may be mixed together, that men cannot distinguish them, yet their distinction does not perish; and God not only knows it, but also discovers it, when he makes every seed to rise in its own body, 1Co 15:37; so must we judge concerning families.”
Perhaps, since these Rechabites were proselytes, and not Israelites, the conversion of the Gentiles may be respected; who are priests in a spiritual sense, and minister before the Lord, offering up, through Christ, the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise; and such a generation to serve the Lord will never be wanting.
h “non exidetur vir Jonadabo”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt, &c. i Elench. Trihaeres. c. 24, k Itinerarium, p. 82. l Eccles. Hist. l. 2. c. 23. m Apud Witsii Exercitat. 9. de Rechabitis in Miscell. Sacr. tom. 2. p. 235, 236.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
So then God now, in order to excite and rouse the Jews, promises to bless the Rechabites, because they had been obedient to their father, There shall not be cut off a man from Jonadab, that is, from the offspring of Jonadab, standing (literally) before my face; but as the conciseness of the verse renders it obscure and ambiguous, I have introduced an addition, — but that he may stand before my face And he says that they would stand before his face, not that they were to be priests or Levites, as some of the Rabbins have said, who have applied this passage to the priesthood, because it is often said in Scripture both of the Levites and the priests, that they stood before the face of God. They, therefore, think that the same thing is meant here when spoken of the Rechabites. But this is a strained meaning. God simply intimates, that some of Jonadab’s offspring would be always living, and that through his special favor, that their obedience might not appear to be without its just reward. This is the meaning. Now follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.Taking the words in their simplest literal sense, they find a fulfilment in the strange unlooked-for way in which the name and customs of the Rechabites have cropped up from time to time. The Jewish historian Hegesippus (see Euseb. Hist. Eccl. ii. 23), in his account of the martyrdom of James the Just, names the sons of the Rechabites as looking on in reverential sympathy with one whose life, like their own, carried the Nazarite type to its highest perfection. In the account which Diodorus Siculns (xix. 94) gives of the Nabathans as neither sowing seed, nor planting fruit-trees, nor building houses, and enforcing this rule of life under pain of death, we can scarcely fail to recognise the Rechabite type. Benjamin of Tudela, in the twelfth century, reports that he found 100,000 Jews who were named Rechabites, and who lived after their fashion near El Jubar, and that they were governed by a prince of the house of David. More recent travellers, Dr. Wolff (Journal, 1829, ii. 334; 1839, p. 389) and Signor Pierotti (Transactions of British Association, 1862), report that they have met tribes near Mecca, on the Dead Sea, or in Yemen and Senaar, who observed the rule of Jonadab, claimed to be his descendants, referred to Jer. 35:19 as fulfilled in them, and led the life of devout Jews. It is probable, however, that in these later instances we may trace the effect of the Wahabee ascetic movement among the Mahomedan Arabs, identifying its rule with the old practice of the son of Rechab (Burckhardt: Bedouins and Wahabys, p. 283).
The words stand before have, however, in Hebrew a distinct secondary meaning. It was a definitely liturgical expression for the ministrations of the Levites who were chosen to stand before the Lord (Deu. 10:8; Deu. 18:5; Deu. 18:7), and a like meaning is prominent in Jer. 7:10; Jer. 15:19; Gen. 18:22; Jdg. 20:28; Psa. 134:1. The Targum of this passage, indeed, actually gives ministering before me as its paraphrase. The natural inference would be that the Rechabites were by these words admitted, in virtue of their Nazarite character, to serve as Levites in the Templeto be, in fact, a higher class of Nethinim (see Notes on 1Ch. 9:2; Ezr. 2:43)and this view is confirmed (1) by the fact that the LXX. ascribes Psalms 71 to the sons of Jonadab, the first that were led captive; (2) that a son of Rechab is associated in Neh. 3:14 with priests and Levites and nobles in repairing the walls of Jerusalem; (3) in 1Ch. 2:55 the Rechabites have become scribes, and in the Vulgate (evidence of a Jewish tradition as to the meaning of the words), the proper names of the English version, Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites, which add nothing to our knowledge, are represented by canentes et resonantes et in tabernaculis commorantes (singing, and playing instruments, and dwelling in tents), which unite the functions of Levites with the mode of life of the Rechabites. So Hegesippus (as above) speaks of priests who were of the sons of Rechab in the Apostolic age.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Shall not want a man to stand before me, etc. The phrase “stand before me” may be technical and liturgical, as a writer in Smith’s Dictionary suggests, and this may have been fulfilled in that the Rechabites became in some way incorporated into the tribe of Levi. (See the title of Psalm lxxii, in the Septuagint: “To David of the sorts of Jonadab, and the first who were taken captive.”) A son of Rechab is mentioned in Neh 3:14, in connexion with priests and Levites. But the better explanation is, that it means simply divine care. Existence and service are suggested, but not necessarily sacerdotal service.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 35:19. Jonadabshall not want a man See chap. Jer 33:17-18. “When the main body of the Jewish nation are dispersed in their captivities, some of this family shall remain to attend on my service, and enjoy the privileges of worshipping in my temple at Jerusalem.” The phrase for ever is often used in a restrained sense, as we have had frequent occasion to remark. A writer on this subject observes, that it hence appears of how great price in the sight of God is the virtue of filial duty and obedience. The law which enjoins it hath a promise of long life annexed thereto; and by this history of the Rechabites we may learn, that the surest way to entail a blessing on our children, and to perpetuate our names and families in a numerous and virtuous issue, is to reverence and obey our own parents. Worldly persons value themselves upon the nobility and greatness of their ancestors; but the servants of God set value on the virtue of their predecessors, and the piety of their descendants: so that all good parents are more solicitous to leave a good than a rich and powerful posterity, and to transmit true piety rather than great estates to their children; esteeming it more honourable to perpetuate virtue in their families, than wealth and grandeur; and the fear of God, rather than their own names and memories in a long and lasting succession of descendants. Yet even in this, God is often pleased to bless them: he seldom suffers the seed of the righteous to fail; his providence, for the most part, taking an especial care to continue the issue, as well as virtues, of those who have taken pains to propagate those virtues to their children and families. Jonadab, the son of Rechab, shall not want a man to stand before me for ever. This assurance of protection to him and his posterity was in a remarkable manner made good to this family, amid all the confusions and judgments which soon after fell upon the Jewish nation: for, as they had now found a place of refuge at Jerusalem from the danger of the Chaldean army; so afterwards, in the general desolation of that country, and the captivity of the people, it is certain these Rechabites were preserved, though we know not the particular manner of their deliverance. From history we learn, that there were great numbers of them in our Saviour’s time: that they were the chief hearers and followers of Christ, the first and readiest to embrace the Gospel. They were then called, by way of distinction, THE POOR, from their professed poverty, Luk 7:22.; and THE GOOD, from their eminent piety, Rom 5:7. They had changed their names indeed from Rechabites to Ebionites, Esseni, Chasidim or Assideans, which signify the same as poor and good men. But these new names,not assumed by themselves, but given by others,shew, that their virtue was the same, and continued as eminent and remarkable as ever. And as these were the first converts to Christianity, and in general received the Gospel, it is much to be noted, how this promise of God by his prophet, that they should never want a man to stand before him, was performed and made good to his family. It is indeed verified, both in a literal and spiritual sense; both in a worldly and in a heavenly meaning; the race being preserved until the time of Christ, and then incorporated with him as head of the church, and adopted into that faithful and obedient family, against which “the gates of hell shall never prevail, nor any period of time extinguish it.” See Essay on the proper Lessons, vol. 4: p. 223.
REFLECTIONS.1st. The Rechabites here mentioned were Kenites, of the posterity of Hobab, Moses’s father-in-law, 1Ch 2:55. Jdg 1:16 one family of which, denominated from Rechab their great progenitor, observed some peculiar rites, enjoined them by Jonadab, the son or lineal descendant of Rechab, a man famous for his piety in the days of Jehu, about three hundred years before this time, 2Ki 10:15-16. See the critical notes.
1. The injunctions laid on them were, to drink no wine, and dwell in tents, having neither houses nor land, nor vineyard, nor tillage; but to devote themselves to a pastoral life, remote from the busy world where corruption and vice most abound, and thereby be farther removed from temptation: as they were strangers in the land, they must be content with their lot, and desire no great things; nor seek to accumulate wealth, which might provoke the envy of the people among whom they dwelt: luxury also, the bane of body and soul, would thus be banished from them; and, accustomed to hard fare, they would be the better able to meet the days of calamity, which the sins of the land where they sojourned were bringing upon them. Note; (1.) Though God hath not forbidden us wine, temperance will dictate caution and self-denial. (2.) It is desirable to sit loose to this present world; and the less we have in it, generally, the less unwilling we shall be to part from it. (3.) They who are strangers upon earth must never think of taking up their rest below, but be ready, at a moment’s warning, to put off this tabernacle.
2. The Rechabites strictly observed Jonadab’s rule. Men, women, and children, were all a family of Nazarites, in this respect; and though they were now obliged through necessity, by reason of the invasion, to dispense with one part of their father’s injunctions, and had for safety retired to Jerusalem, yet it was not with an intention to take up their abode there longer than the danger threatened: and as for the other, they still religiously observed it; and therefore, though urged by the prophet to drink, who had invited them together into one of the chambers of the temple, and set before them pots of wine, they absolutely refused, and pleaded their father’s order as the reason of their conduct. Note; When there is a spirit of real sobriety, the wine, even when it sparkles, will have no influence, nor the solicitations of others be able to extort a compliance with the least excess.
2nd, It was not the prophet’s intention to draw the Rechabites into a breach of their rule, but to set them forth as an example to Israel.
1. The obedience of the Rechabites to their father served to aggravate the rebellion of the Jews against the commands of God. The commands of Jonadab, a mere man, were kept; the words of the eternal God disregarded: his injunctions, descending only by tradition, had more influence over his posterity, than God’s written laws on the Jews, urged by a succession of prophets daily inculcating their observance. It was a real piece of self-denial which the sons of Rechab enjoined, in a matter before lawful; whereas what God had forbidden was highly criminal, and what he commanded would be their real comfort. The Rechabites had no particular obligation to Jonadab to enforce their obedience; whilst every thing that Israel possessed in Canaan came from God’s bounty, and was held on condition of their fidelity; so that both gratitude and duty should have engaged them to observe God’s commandments.
2. The Jews are threatened for their disobedience and base ingratitude. The Rechabites shall rise up in judgment and condemn them; and God will execute upon them all the threatenings that he hath pronounced, since they remained incorrigible, and would neither by admonitions nor corrections be warned, and led unto repentance. Note; Though vengeance is slow in coming, it is sure to all that abide impenitent.
3. The Rechabites are commended and rewarded for their dutiful obedience to their father Jonadab’s commands. Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever. As long as Israel was a nation, his posterity should continue in it; or perhaps to the end of time, the family, though now mixed with the Jews, should not be extinct; or it may have respect to better days, when they should be converted by the preaching of the Gospel, and, among other faithful souls, to the end of time stand before the Lord, to offer the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise. Note; Nothing entails more surely a blessing on children, than their dutiful observance of their pious parent’s instructions.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
LET us not dismiss this Chapter without taking with it the instructions the Holy Ghost seems to have intended the Church to gather from it; for they are very many, and very interesting also. Surely the Lord hath not handed down to us this famous history of a single family, but with an express design that it might be profitable withal. There seems to be all along intended from it, a great heightening of men’s folly in respect to their inattention to divine things, when in mere human things so much respect was shown. The father of the house of the Rechabites, had for many ages and generations this veneration manifested towards him, when he himself was mouldered to dust, and his ashes mingled with his original earth. But the inattention God’s people manifested to the Lord, was to One who inhabiteth eternity: and who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever! The house of the Rechabites knew Jonadab only by name: but the Lord of hosts was known to his people by power and mighty acts, in grace, mercy, and continual favor. The authority of Jonadab certainly ceased with his life. But Israel’s God was their God forever and ever. And had the house of the Rechabites disobeyed Jonadab their father, the offence would have been against a man like themselves: but in Israel’s disobedience, their rebellion was against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for this was his name forever, and this was his memorial to all generations. Pause, Reader! and in the view, think of the forbearance, and long-suffering, and goodness of the Lord: that notwithstanding Israel’s perpetual and unceasing rebellion, the Lord still cast not away his people whom he foreknew. Still the Lord carried them on, and still he loved them; until at length Jesus came to bless them, in turning away everyone of them from their iniquities! Blessed be God for Jesus Christ!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 35:19 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.
Ver. 19. Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever, ] i.e., To be beloved by me, and to be in special favour with me, lifting up pure hands in all places of their abode. Captive they were carried among the Jews; but they returned also again with them (as appears 1Ch 2:55 ), erantque Deo cordi et curae and they were dear to God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
for ever = all the days.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jonadab: etc. Heb. There shall not a man be cut off from Jonadab the son of Rechab to stand, etc. Jer 33:17, 1Ch 2:55
stand: Jer 15:19, Jer 33:17, Jer 33:18, Psa 5:5, Luk 21:36, Jud 1:24
Reciprocal: Jer 29:32 – he shall Jer 40:10 – serve
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
35:19 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall {m} not lack a man to stand before me for ever.
(m) His posterity will continue and be in my favour for ever.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Someone from their family would "stand before" Yahweh forever-because they had obeyed their father, Jonadab. "Stand before" usually describes someone who served Yahweh in some special way (cf. Jer 7:10; Jer 15:19; Deu 4:10; Deu 10:8; 1Ki 10:8; 1Ki 17:1; 1Ki 18:15; 2Ki 3:14; 2Ch 29:11). However, it also describes simple worshippers of Yahweh (Jer 7:10; Lev 9:5; Deu 4:10). The promise probably pointed to a continuing line rather than to a specific ministry. [Note: Dyer, "Jeremiah," p. 1180.]
"According to the Mishnah ’the children of Jonadab son of Rechab’ had a fixed day in the year for bringing wood for the altar of the temple. Other traditions refer to ’water-drinking’ sacrificers whose descent is traced to Jonadab." [Note: Thompson, p. 619. The references in the Mishnah and Talmud are Talmud, Ta’anit 4:5, and Midrash Rabbah, Gen. 98:10; Sifre, Numbers 28:81; Talmud, Ta’anit 4:2; 28a; 68a.]
"Even today, in Syria and Arabia, there are groups that claim to be Rechabites and that follow the Rechabite rule." [Note: Graybill, p. 681.]
"God is always looking for individuals whose lives are characterized by faithfulness. Such individuals will experience God’s blessing even in the midst of trials." [Note: Dyer, in The Old . . ., p. 625.]
"Incidentally, as a secondary thrust of this episode, we are reminded that God, who loves unity and truth, is no lover of uniformity. By his own order of Nazirites he called some people, but not others, to an austerity not unlike that of the Rechabites, to make a particular point; and the fact that Jesus and John the Baptist glorified God by different lifestyles should open our minds to the reality and value of specialized callings-such as even the once-flourishing temperance movement which adopted the name of Rechabites in nineteenth-century England." [Note: Kidner, p. 119.]