The big picture
Jehoiakim rules Judah. God gives Jeremiah a public test with the Rechabites, a group of related households. This extended family follows an ancestor's strict rules about wine, tents, and settled farming. War has brought them into Jerusalem, the capital, where Jeremiah invites them to a temple room and offers wine. They refuse and explain why. They heed a human forebear. The kingdom refuses to hear God. He sets those two responses side by side. Their obedience shows that those around them have chosen not to learn.
In this chapter
- Wine Is Set Before the Visiting Family Jeremiah 35:1-5
Jeremiah must bring the family into a room in God's house.
- The Ancestor Rules Their Daily Choices Jeremiah 35:6-11
They refuse the wine.
- An Obedient Family Exposes a Refusing Kingdom Jeremiah 35:12-17
Will the people learn and hear God's words?
- The Faithful Household Receives a Lasting Promise Jeremiah 35:18-19
Jeremiah gives the Rechabites God's own response to their obedience.
Central truth
The Rechabites' steady obedience to their ancestor exposes Judah's refusal to hear God despite his repeated messages and offers of continued life in the land.
Scripture beside the summary
Jeremiah · King James Version · 19Jeremiah 35:1-5
Wine Is Set Before the Visiting Family
Jeremiah must bring the family into a room in God's house. There he is to offer them wine. The prophet gathers Jaazaniah, a member of the family, with his brothers, sons, and the wider household. He leads them to a chamber near rooms used by officials and above the doorkeeper's room. There he sets full vessels and cups before them and invites them to drink. People can see how they respond there. This is more than a claim about what they do at home. Wine is before them now.
In everyday life
A dinner host sets a glass before each member of a visiting family and pours a drink they have long declined. Their usual practice now has to be expressed at the table rather than assumed at a distance. They answer together. Jeremiah arranges this test at God's command for a public prophetic lesson, not casual hospitality.
Notice
Jeremiah 35:5 Both full vessels and cups are placed before the family. The invitation gives their refusal a concrete setting, showing what they do when the option is directly available.
Jeremiah 35:1-5
King James Version1The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,
2Go 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.
3Then 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;
4And 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:
5And 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.
Jeremiah 35:6-11
The Ancestor Rules Their Daily Choices
They refuse the wine. Jonadab, son of Rechab and their ancestor, told them never to drink it. He also told them not to build houses, plant vineyards, or cultivate fields, but to live in tents. They say their wives and children have kept those rules with them. Their present stay in the capital has a specific cause. When Nebuchadrezzar, Babylon's king, invaded, they sought safety from his Chaldean army and Syrian forces, soldiers from a northern neighbouring land. War brought them here. They still keep the ban on wine.
In everyday life
A travelling craft family explains to a shelter volunteer why they decline a meal ingredient their grandparents taught them to avoid. A crisis has cut them off from their camp. The move has not erased the household rule. They ask for a different dish. The family in Jeremiah keeps a named forebear's commands about its whole way of life.
Notice
Jeremiah 35:10 The family speaks of doing what was commanded, not merely respecting the ancestor in memory. Their tents and choices show it. So does the refusal at the table.
Jeremiah 35:6-11
King James Version6But 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:
7Neither 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.
8Thus 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;
9Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed:
10But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
11But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 35:12-17
An Obedient Family Exposes a Refusing Kingdom
Will the people learn and hear God's words? Jeremiah must put that question to them. Jonadab's descendants still keep his ban on wine, but God has spoken repeatedly without being heard. He sent prophets urging people to turn from evil, change their conduct, and stop serving other gods. They could then remain in the land he gave their ancestors. They refused to listen. God called, but they gave no answer. They would not hear. So the disaster he announced will now come.
In everyday life
A rowing coach watches one crew carefully follow a retired captain's old drill while another ignores repeated live instructions about safe handling. Both can hear and both know how to follow a routine. The difference lies in whose word they choose to heed. God compares obedience to an ancestor with refusal of his own divine commands.
Notice
Jeremiah 35:14 A human ancestor's instruction continues to be obeyed while God's repeated speech is ignored. The people know how to obey. What they lack is the will to hear God.
Jeremiah 35:12-17
King James Version12Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
13Thus 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.
14The 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.
15I 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.
16Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me:
17Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.
Jeremiah 35:18-19
The Faithful Household Receives a Lasting Promise
Jeremiah gives the Rechabites God's own response to their obedience. They have kept their ancestor's instructions and carried out what he required. Therefore Jonadab's line will not lack someone to stand before the Lord. Their family will keep a place before him. It does not command every household in the kingdom to copy their exact rules about wine or tents. They kept the charge they were given. The nation around them has not done so. Its people refuse to hear God.
In everyday life
A guild steward gives a family a lasting place at the yearly gathering. Each generation has kept the duty it was given. The honour is for keeping that trust. Other families need not share all their customs. God's promise gives Jonadab's line a lasting place before him, which a guild cannot confer.
Notice
Jeremiah 35:19 Standing before the Lord is the promised outcome of the family's faithfulness. Their place will last. This does not make their own rules binding on all other households.
Jeremiah 35:18-19
King James Version18And 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:
19Therefore 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.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Jeremiah 35:1 begins with “The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,”
Where the chapter turns
Jeremiah 35:10 forms a natural hinge: “But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.”
The final note
Jeremiah 35:19 leaves the reader with “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.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words LORD, drink, house, Jonadab, sons, wine help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- precepts
- Instructions or rules given to direct a way of life.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
