We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,
Jeremiah explains at large what might have been expressed in few words, in order to amplify the constancy of the Rechabites. For one may obey his father, and yet be not so fixed in his purpose, but that he might on some slight occasion fail in his duty.
This chapter is of an earlier date than many of those before; for what is contained in it was said and done in the days of Jehoiakim (Jer 35:1); but then it must be in the latter part of his reign, for it was after the king of Babylon with his army came up into the land (Jer 35:11), which seems to refer to the...
Commenting on Jeremiah 35:1-11
Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father,.... The above was the charge he gave them; and this, in every article of it, they had carefully and constantly kept, though it had been for the space of three hundred years, or thereabout; as follows: in all he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our...