Session 9 | Jeremiah 35:5-19
the reasons the Rechabites gave for refusing Jeremiah’s invitation to “drink wine!”
5 I set jars filled with wine and some cups before the sons of the house of the Rechabites and said to them, “Drink wine!”
6 But they replied, “We do not drink wine, for Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, commanded, ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine. 7 You must not build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. Rather, you must live in tents your whole life, so you may live a long time on the soil where you stay as a resident alien.’”
8 “We have obeyed Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, in all he commanded us. So we haven’t drunk wine our whole life—we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters. 9 We also have not built houses to live in and do not have vineyard, field, or seed. 10 But we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done everything our ancestor Jonadab commanded us.”
Who were the Rechabites?
verses 5-7 (p. 81).
Highlight their commitment to avoiding wine and to living a nomadic lifestyle.
Note that the only reason they came into Jerusalem was to avoid the Babylonians;
and once the danger passed, they were determined to go back to their normal way of life.
God had instructed Jeremiah to offer the Rechabites the wine, yet they refused to drink.
Their refusal was based on their obedience to their ancestor Jonadab.
Jeremiah knew what the Rechabites’ response would be when he set the wine before them.
Jeremiah was highlighting the example of the Rechabites so the people of Judah could see.
Point out that the Rechabites had been doggedly faithful to the commands of a mere man for more than two hundred years.
Meanwhile, the people of Israel had casually and consistently disobeyed God’s commands—or ignored them altogether.
Jeremiah brought the Rechabites to the temple and gave them the command to drink wine, so the people of God could see their faithfulness.