Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 35:12 - 35:19

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 35:12 - 35:19


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:



The Application

v. 12. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,


v. 13. 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
by which they might be trained properly, to hearken to My words? saith the Lord.

v. 14. The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine are performed,
the commands of a mere man having so much weight; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment, in unwavering faithfulness and obedience; notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but ye hearkened not unto Me. The Rechabites had received only one ordinance, and they had clung to its observance for almost three hundred years, although it was transmitted by oral tradition from father to son only; but the Lord's people took no interest in His admonitions, although they were repeated continually.

v. 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,
a warning which we find time and again, 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. He had commanded nothing unreasonable, but simply to serve Him, and he had attached to His command a most gracious promise, but all in vain.

v. 16. Because 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,


v. 17. therefore 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.
The connection of thought is this: Just as faithfulness in keeping a father's commands has a promise of blessings, so, and much more so, disobedience to the Lord's commands will, on the other hand, bring a most severe punishment. The emphasis of the passage lies in the contrast.

v. 18. 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,
their obedience being brought out very strongly by the synonymous expressions,

v. 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 forever,
that is, the family of the Rechabites would not die out, and it would continue in the worship of Jehovah without interruption. According to the accounts of trustworthy travelers, the descendants of Rechab are still living in the desert of Yemen, near Senaar, on the border of Mesopotamia and Arabia. Thus the Lord rewards the careful observance of the Fourth Commandment by blessings continuing through many generations.