Scripture Daily

Context No. 3072 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Context · Reflection

Jeremiah 35:1-5: in context

1The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2“Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the LORD’s house, into one of the rooms, and give them wine to drink.” 3Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, with his brothers, all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; 4and I brought them into the LORD’s house, into the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the room of the princes, which was above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold. 5I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine!”

God sends Jeremiah to the Rechabites, a clan who, in obedience to a command of their ancestor Jonadab, drank no wine and lived a simple, disciplined life. Jeremiah is told to bring them into a room of the temple and set wine before them, and to say, drink wine.

This is the beginning of an object lesson. God has Jeremiah offer them wine, not to trip them up, but to display, in front of a faithless Judah, a people who had kept their forefather's word faithfully for generations. Their steadfast obedience to a mere human ancestor's command will become a rebuke to Judah's refusal to obey God himself. Here at the start, the point is being set up: God notices and honors faithfulness, even faithfulness to a family vow handed down through the years, and he will hold it up as an example to shame those who would not keep his own commands.

Is there a good commitment, made to God or handed down to me, that I have kept faithfully over the long haul, or have I let it slide where the Rechabites held firm?

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