The Lesson of the Rechabites

Jer 35:1-10 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, 2 Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. 3 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; 4 And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door: 5 And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine. 6 But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever: 7 Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers. 8 Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters; 9 Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: 10 But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

Our text tells a story of the life of the prophet Jeremiah. It is in the middle of the Hot Summer of 606 B.C. The children of Israel have been divided by civil war and idolatry, the Assyrians have wiped out the Ten Northern tribes, and the remaining Two Southern tribes are under the political control of Babylon and it’s feared King Nebuchadnezzar. The heavy taxes that the Israelites are being forced to pay to Babylon have caused a major depression, and the long Summer and numerous wars around them have caused the two remaining tribes of Israel to barely be able to survive. God will not help His people because the King, Jehoiakim, has led the people into idol worship and promiscuity. The past two years have been rough, because God has allowed the surrounding nations of the Ammonites, Moabites, Chaldeans, and Arameans -- nations that once cowered in fear at the mighty nation of Israel -- to come in and take revenge upon the now weakened state of Israel. Their continual raids and destruction of homes and towns have made the two remaining tribes of Israel a very fearful and unstable place to live. To make matters worse, King Jehoiakim has decided to rebel with the Egyptians against the mighty Babylonian empire and has decided to stop paying taxes and tribute to them. As we read our text, word has just come that King Nebuchadnezzar is on his way to pay a visit to Jerusalem and is bringing the mighty Babylonian army that has conquered the entire known world with Him! As the word that Nebuchadnezzar is coming spreads throughout the region, many of the small families that exist on their own in the desert, have gathered around the only walled city available, Jerusalem, for protection.

It is in this setting that God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah and makes what seems to be a strange request. In verse 2 of our text, God commands Jeremiah to go outside the city to where the Gentile family of the Rechabites have camped, and to bring them into the temple and set wine before them and command them to drink it!

You must understand that the Rechabites are not just your average Gentile nomads wandering around the deserts. The Rechabites were the descendants of Moses’ Father-in -law Jethro. When the Children of Israel had conquered the Promised Land, Jethro had separated his family and chosen to live in the wilderness areas of Judea (Judges 1:16). One of Jethro’s descendants was a man named Rechab, thus the name “the Rechabites.” Rechab had a son who became the most famous Rechabite of all and his name was Jonadab. Jonadab is mentioned one other time in scripture besides our text and that is in II Kings 10:15:

II Ki 10:15-16 And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him: and he saluted him, and said to him, Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand; and he took him up to him into the chariot. 16 And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD. So they made him ride in his chariot.

We find that, despite being Gentile, Jonadab (Jehonadab) zealously worshiped Jehovah God of the Israelites and even voluntarily helped Jehu tear down the idols and groves of Baal worship back in the time of Elijah and King Ahab. Jonadab was so concerned that his family would settle around the Israelites and be drawn back into Idol worship that, before he died, he made some strange guidelines for his descendants to follow. First, they must drink no wine, forever. An essential part of Baal worship was to throw wild parties where the wine flowed freely. Also, if they drank no wine, there was no possibility of a Rechabite accidentally getting drunk and worshipping an idol! Such was Jonadab’s love for Jehovah God. Second, they were not to settle in one place, and could not build or buy houses, plant seed, or plant vineyards, but were to live in tents moving from place to place all of their lives. This ensured that they would not permanently settle in an idolatry filled nation and thus be corrupted by the false worship around them!

Thank God for a father who loved his God and his children enough to set some guidelines and rules that would protect them from the world! I’m sure that many of the great-grandchildren did not exactly understand why they always wandered around and never settled down. I’m sure that the lifestyle sometimes became taxing and they sometimes grew weary continually moving! I’m sure that some of the children did not understand why they could not drink wine or plant vineyards, but there was no question, to be a Rechabite this was the way you lived, whether you understood or not!

Growing up I did not always understand the reasoning behind my father’s rules, but I’m glad that he stuck to them! There were some things that he did not want me doing because he knew that it would lead me away from a total devotion to God! Likewise, our heavenly Father has given us His Word! Sometimes you may not understand exactly why God requires something, but remember He is protecting us from idolatry, and He is guarding us from the things that will pull us away from worshipping only Him! God is a jealous God and he seeks for true worshippers to worship Him and Him alone! That is why His Word lays down guidelines that affect our everyday life. If it is in God’s Word, you can be assured that following it will keep you from idolatry and worldliness!

________________________________________________________________________

This is now three hundred years after the death of Jonadab, and we find that the Rechabites are still living according to his commandments! And it is about the Rechabites that God speaks to Jeremiah and commands him to bring the Rechabites into the temple and put wine before them and command them to drink! Think about it: God has commanded the Man of God to tell them to rebel against the principles that their fore fathers had commanded of them to keep them from worshipping idols!

Jeremiah does not understand, but obeys God and takes the Rechabites and brings them into the outer courts of the temple where the priests live. He sets them down and places pots full of wine, with cups to dip out the wine and commands them: “Thus saith the Lord: drink the wine.”

Place yourselves in the Rechabites’ shoes for a moment: they have come to Jerusalem because the long, dry summer has caused water to be very scarce. Grape juice and wine is the only drink of the day that could be stored for long periods of time without ruining. They cannot plant vineyards so they have no drinks stored to quench their thirst. They also have come to Jerusalem seeking protection from the wrath of an angry King Nebuchadnezzar who is about to be upon them and it does not make sense whatsoever to antagonize their hosts, the Jews. In addition, they are in the temple of the Almighty God whom they worship for their first time, and a PREACHER is telling them that God said for them to drink the wine! With all of this in mind, most people would have given in, and sipped a little wine. “Not enough to get drunk, but just enough that we do not antagonize our hosts, the Jews, whom we need for protection.” Or, “Let’s just pretend to sip the wine, and just act like we fit in, and then everything will be O.K.” But not the Rechabites, I want you to notice their response to Jeremiah in verse 6:

Jer 35:6 But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever:

They refused to drink the wine. If ever in the three hundred years of their vow, they had ever had reason to break it, it was now! If they make the Jews mad, then they are probably going to be killed by Nebuchadnezzar, they are in Jehovah’s temple and one of His true prophets is telling them to drink! Keep in mind that the Rechabites had no idea that this was a test or an object lesson. As far as they knew, God was commanding them to drink, but their loyalty was such that even though Jonadab had been dead for 300 years, they refused to drink the wine!

Read verses 7-10. Not only did the Rechabites know that they were not supposed to drink the wine, but they were able to quote exactly what their forefather Jonadab had commanded word for word, even though it was 300 years later!

What’s the point? After the Israelites saw the Rechabites stubborness and refusal to drink the wine and go against the words of their Father, God spake again to Jeremiah and said:

Jer 35:13-15 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD. 14 The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me. 15 I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.

God had spoken time and time again to the Israelites, and yet they refused to listen to His Words! Jonadab spoke only once to the Rechabites, but 300 years later, they still faithfully obeyed their Father’s Word. God was saying, “Israel, what is your excuse?” The Rechabites did not have their commandments written down, and God was saying “Israel what is your excuse?” Jonadab did not leave any financial blessing, or inheritance, or land, besides his strange command, and God had given Israel houses, land, vineyards, and prosperity and yet they had still served Idols. God was once again saying “Israel what is your excuse for not obeying my word?”

Today, the story still rings loudly through the pages of the Word of God. And God is still saying “Church, what is your excuse?” Like the Israelites, we live lives that are filled with our pleasures and desires. We always have time to worry or gossip, but seldom have time to pray. We run to the house of God when we have a problem, but frown when the Preacher preaches anything out of God’s Word that might cause a change in our lifestyle or walk. Our Father is not a dead Jonadab who has no idea whether or not we will obey His commandments, but is alive and watches every move that we make. We do not have to struggle to remember what He has commanded but have it written down for us to read and study. God has sent us preacher after preacher to remind us of the path that we should go, but still we find ourselves choosing a path of least resistance, of going through the motions of Christianity but never completely giving ourselves over to God’s Word. The Cry of God is speaking today again and again “Remember the Rechabites, Church, What is your excuse?” The Recabites were that faithful to an earthly father’s vow that brought them nothing in the way of inheritance. What is our reasoning for not obeying the words of our heavenly Father who has promised us riches and happiness beyond our wildest dreams? 2600 years later, God is once again crying through this Man of God, “Church what is your excuse?” Remember the Rechabites!

If we do not want to obey God’s Word, then we can find every excuse and justification available. If you want to believe a lie, you can find a so called “minister” and a church somewhere that will preach you your own brand of theology. We have so many churches out there that preach so many different things, and many people have been fooled into belieiving that it does not matter what or how you worship God, or what you believe, but remember something: God’s Word is the Straight and Narrow, and if God said it, it does not matter whether or not a preacher has the guts or not to preach it, it’s still God’s Word! If God’s Word says it, it does not matter what society or our culture claims is acceptable, it is still necessary. The day and age we live in of “drive-through religion is just a fulfillment of the prophetic words of Paul:

2 Tim 4:2-4 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Religion cannot save you, but the Word of God can! If a church violates the Word of God, does it really matter what you feel like when you go there? If a church leaves parts of God’s Word out, does it really matter what size they run, or how much money they take in? If a church has 10,000 members and yet does not preach the Whole Word of God that is needed to get to heaven, is it really a success in God’s eyes? God is looking at this generation, and reminding us to remember the lesson of the Rechabites, even when a “man of God” told them that it was okay to drink wine, they still refused because of their father’s Word. I don’t care what a preacher tells you, you better make sure it lines up with our Father’s Word. I don’t care if every other church in the World says that it’s okay, God is looking for some people to be like the Rechabites and say “no, our Father said that we shouldn’t drink wine, so we will drink no wine!” “My Father’s Word means more to me than fitting in!”

I know this sermon violates the message of 98% of churches today, but I do not care, because today you are not listening to the philosophizing of a man, but are hearing the Word of God! I know that there is not another church in Castroville that does not preach the message that we preach: that it takes more than just believing in God to be saved, that it takes obeying Jesus when he said that you must be born of the water and the Spirit to enter into the kingdom of God. That you’ve got to do more than just talk about the parts of the Bible that please us, but take the whole council of God. I know that we are in the minority in number, but you listen to this preacher: God is the one who wrote His Word, and the lesson of the Rechabites has taken away every excuse that they have for not obeying all of God’s Word! God is saying today “what is your excuse?”

Mormon parents begin two savings accounts when they have a child: a college fund, and a missionary fund to fully pay for a two year mission that their child must go on before finding acceptance in their church. And they do it for a man-made doctrine that will not bring redemption and salvation for their souls. Yet some Pentecostals who have the truth, and are filled with God’s Spirit and baptized in His name, have trouble when God’s Word tells them that they are to pay tithes and financially support the church and witness and reach somebody for God!

The Jehovah Witnesses, despite a 99.9% failure rate, faithfully volunteer to climb upon their bicycles and get out into the public and spread material that is damning people to Hell, because it does not follow the words of Jesus, and yet we, who have God’s Spirit, have trouble finding time to come to church services, and trouble getting people to volunteer to mow the grass and keep up God’s house! And the preacher better not get upset because no one is able to come to come early to prayer before church!

The Hare-Krishnas shave their head except for one small pony tail sticking out of the tops of their heads because they believe a foolish religion that states that their God will grab them all by the hair of the head and yank them into Heaven! Yet, Christians immediately get offended and find the smallest excuse when the Word of God gives guidelines on their physical appearance or actions!

The Islamic stop working, stop playing, stop socializing, stop living for a minimum three times a day in order to get down on their knees and pray facing the city of Mecca which they think is important to a God that hasn’t even died for them, and yet Christians seem to never have time to pray and read God’s Word in their daily routine, even though the God of glory Himself paid an awful price on Calvary to bring them the freedom to do so!

The Israelites, who have denied that Jesus Christ was their Saviour, will stubbornly everyday hold onto a homeland and endure suicide bombers and Palestinian attacks every day of their life because they believe so much in their doctrine. Yet, if we have a bad day at work, or something in our life doesn’t quite go as planned, God and the church are the first to take the blame!

These false religions stand along side the Rechabites today and scream for our attention: WHAT IS OUR EXCUSE FOR NOT OBEYING ALL OF OUR FATHER’S WORD?

Why is it such a struggle to pray? Why is it such a drudgery to give finances and time? Why is it such a shame to us to live a holy lifestyle demanded by a holy God? Somebody needs to realize the lesson of the Rechabites today!

This story is not the end of the Rechabites. I want you to notice verse 18-19 of Jeremiah 35:

Jer 35:18-19 And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you: 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.

God said that the Rechabites would not want for a man to stand before Him forever! God had made this commitment to the Levites when they had stood for Him against Idolatry back in the time of Moses (Deuteronomy 10:8). The daughters of some of the Rechabites married some of the Priests of the tribe of Levi. Their children became priests in the house of God despite having some Gentile blood! Jewish tradition teaches us that when James the brother of Jesus was stoned to death by the Pharisees and Saducees, that only one of the Levitical priests protested it: a priest from the lineage of the Rechabites! When God makes a covenant for forever, He keeps it, and somewhere today in this world is someone who is a descendant of Jonadab the son of Recab who is still obeying the Father’s commandments! When the church assembles at the marriage supper of the Lamb after the Rapture of the church, there will be two types of Rechabites there: literal, physical descendants of Jonadab, and spiritual descendants of the latter day church who made up in their mind that they would obey their Father’s Words no matter what man said was correct!

________________________________________________________________________

The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures that was quoted by Jesus and His disciples) states that the sons of Jonadab, the Rechabites, helped David write Psalm 71. Realizing the character of the Rechabites and what they stood for, let’s look at this Psalm:

Ps 71:1-24 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.

2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.

6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

7 I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.

8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.

10 For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,

11 Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.

12 O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.

13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.

14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.

15 My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.

16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.

17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!

20 Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.

22 I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.

23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.

24 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.