Exposition of the Whole Bible

and,bissbrethren, and all bis fons, and the whole houfe of tke, Rechabites;. the. feveral brariches of the family,.,efpecially the males; the women perhaps only, excepted; whom itymight not be fo decent to gather. together.on fuch an oecafion, to drink wine; or at lealt offex it to them, cuN. 4, wud L brought, them into the boufe; of, the Lord, &¢.} Into.the temple, as he was ordered; that,is, he invited. them thither, and they came along with, him, having no. doubt a refpect for him) as ayprophet; and, the rather, as it is highly probable, he came in the name of the Lord to them: inte the chamber of the fons of Hanan, the fon of Igdaliah, a man of God;:a prophet, as the Targum and Syriac verfions; and fo.Farchi and Kimchi interpret ite—Uhis muft be underftood of Hauan, and not /edaliah, as the accents fhew: he is thought by, fome to, be the fame with Hanani the feer, in the times of 4/a,, 2 Chron. xvi. 7: which was by the chamber of the. princes thefe were not the princes of the»blood, the fons of Feboiachim; their chambers or apartments were not in the temple, but. in the royal palace; but thefe were the princes or rulers of; the, people, as they-are. called, és iv. 8. the Sanhedrim, whote this chamber was, as Dr. Lightfoot * has oblerved: which was above the chamber of Maafeiah the Jou of Shallum, the keeper of the door; a porter, whofe chamber or lodge was under that in which the Sanhedrim fat. The Targum calls him, a treafurer; one of the feven. Amarcalim, who had the keys of feveral chambers, where the vefiels of the fanctuary and other things were put; and Kimchi obferves, the word we render door, comprehends the veffels of the fanctuary, and the veflels of wine, and other things.

¥.5. And I fet before the- fons of the houfe of the. Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, &c.] Which the prophet might have out of the chambers where thefe veffels were, and particularly from Maafeiah, if he was.a keeper of them, as before obferved, The number of men gathered together was -probably very large; and therefore pots, or large vefiels of wine were prepared, and fet before them, and, cups, lefier veffels to drink out of: and I {aid unto them, drink ye. wine, he invited - them to it, and.bid them welcome; nay more, he might not only encourage, but enjoin them to drink it; tho’ as Gataker obferves, he does not fay unto them, thus faith the Lord, drink wine; for then they muft have done it, and doubtlefs would; fince it is right to obey God rather than man, even parents.

¥. 6. But they faid, we will drink no wine, &c.] Or, we do not drink wine °; we are not ufed to it; we never do drink any; it is not lawful for us to do it; nor will we, let who will folicit us: for Yonadab the fon of Rechab our father; not their immediate father, but their progenitor; perhaps the fame Fonadab is meant, who lived in the times of Febu, and rode with him in his chariot; by which it appears he was a man of note and figure, and who lived near three hundred years before this time, 2 Kings x. 15. which is more likely, than that he fhould be a defcendent of his, and the _proper father of the prefent Rechadites, which is the opinion, of Scaliger': commanded us, faying, ye foall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your fons for ever; as long as any of them were in the world. What was the reafon of this command, and of what follows, is not eafy to fay; whether it was to prevines, or field fown with corn, or any»feed vent quarrels and contentions, luxury and fenfus ality or to'inure them ‘to hardfhips 5 sor’ to ‘put them in remembrance that they were but ftrangeérs in the land in-which they lived; or/to retain: them in the original courfe of ‘life their! anteftors had lived. in, ‘feeding cattels be: it what" it will; thefé his fons thought themfelves under obligations to obférve it;.and perhaps finding, by’ experience; it was for their good fo to do.

Mi 7. Neither fhall-ye build houfe, nor fow Seed; nor plant vineyard, nor have any, &c.} “That? is} they were not to build houfés, fow feed} or plant vineyards for themfelves,: for their'own profit vand advantage; nor poffefs either of thefe thro’ purt chafe or gift: all this was enjoined’) thems: partly becaufe: they were ftrangers in the land of U/rae/, as is fuggeited in the latter part of the'verfe, and fo were to have no inheritance in its and’ partly becaufe.the ‘paftoral life was what their anceftors had lived; and therefore Fonadab was, defirous it fhould be continued: in his pofterity; as well as becaufe. by this means they would live unenvied by the J/raelites, among whom they were; fince they did not covet to get-any part of their poffeffions into their hands; as alfo thefe being their cireumftances, upon any public calamity, as fword, famine or peftilence, they could more eafily remove to other places; and likewife, by obferving: thefe rules, would not be liable to fome fins, as drun+ kennefs, worldly-mindednefs, €c. which are‘often the caufe of.great calamities: The -Bffenes, arfect among the Fews afterwards, feem in fome things to have copied after thefle Rechabites: but all your days ye foall dwell in tents; which they could move from place to place, for the convenience of pafture for the cattel, the bufinefs they were brought up in, and were always to exercife: that-ye may live many days in the land where ye be firangers for they were not J/raelites, as before obferved, but Kenites, the defcendents of Fethro; they were profelytes of the gate only; and now, partly’on account of their obedience to parents, which had annexed to it the promife of long life in thedand in which they lived; and partly. becaufe they would, by fuch a courfe of life, give no umbrage to, nor raife any jealoufy in the minds of the inhabitants of it, they might expect a continuance ‘in it.

¥. 8. Thus have we obeyed the voice of ‘Jonadab the fon of Rechab our father, &c.] The'above was the charge he gave them; and this, in every article of it, they-had carefully and conftantly kept, ‘tho’ it had been for the fpace of three hundred years, or thereabout; as follows: in all be bath charged us to drink no wine all our days, we, our wipes,’ our fons, nor our daughters; which was the firft of the precepts he gave them; and which they were'now témpted to difregard, but were refolved to obferve it, as they had hitherto done.. The reft of the articles follow. fot tate

¥.9. Nor build houfes for us to dwell.in, &cc.} This explains that part of the charge more fully, which refpects building of houfes;: which did ‘not reftrain them from building’ houfes: for others, if any of them were mafters of that art; which ‘is not very likely, fince they were wholly brotight up in the field as thepherds; but it forbad them: building any for themfelves, and making ufe: oft them by dwelling in them: neither have we vineyard; ror field, or feed; any piece of ground) planted with to fow with;

prefcriptions of their anceftor. Diodorus Siculus * reports of the Nebatheans, a people of Arabia, def{cended from Nedaioth; fee If. \x. 7. that they have feveral laws which are much the fame with thofe enjoined the Rechabites, for he fays, ‘* it is a law ‘¢ with them not to fow corn, nor to plant any plant that bears fruit, nor to make ufe of wine,. nor to build houfes; and whofoever is found doing any of thefe things, is reckoned worthy of death; and the reafon of their having fuch a law is, becaufe they think that thofe who poffefs fuch things are eafily compelled by men in power to do whatever is commanded them, for the fake of the enjoyment of them.” y.10. But we bave dwelt in tents, &c.| Ever fince, until very lately, when they had taken up their dwelling in Ferufalem; the reafon of which is prefently given: and have obeyed, and done according to all Fonadab our father commanded us; and fhould it be objeéted, that in one point they had not obeyed, in that they had left their tents, and now dwelt in Ferufalem; they had this to fay in anfwer to it, and as the reafon of their fo doing, as follows, y. 11. But it came to pafs when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, &c.] Into the land of Fudea to invade it, which was in the reign of Febsiakim, in the fourth year of it, after he had ferved him three years, and rebelled againft him; fee the note on y.1: that we faid, come, and let us go to Ferufelem, they faid one to another, let us not ftay here to be deftroyed by a foreign enemy; but let us go to Yeru/alem, a fortified city, where we may be fafe: for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians, for Nebuchadnezzar’s army in this expedition confifted of Chaldeans and Syrians, and of other nations, 2 Kings xxiv. 2: fo we dwell at Ferufalem, for the prefent. was quickly after Nebuchadnezzar’s incurfion, and when he was but juft departed; fo that their fears had not wholly fubfided; and they, as yet, had not returned to their tents, and former manner of living: hence it appears that the Rechadites did not Jook upon this command of their father as equal to a divine precept, which muft be always obeyed; but that in cafe of neceffity it might be difpenfed with, and efpecially when in danger of life, and when human prudence required it; and in which cafe the law-giver himself would have difpenfed with it, had he had been on the fpot.

y¥. 12. Then. came the word of the Lord unto Feremiab, &c.} After the Rechabites had been tried whether they would break the command of their ’ father, refpecting drinking of wine; and ftedfaftly perfifted in their refolution not to drink, urging the reafon of it, and vindicating their conduét in another refpect: /aying, as follows,

¥.13. Thus faith the Lord of bofts, the God of Vrael, &c.| \ The Lord of armies in heaven and earth; the creator of Jrae/; their benefactor, covenant-God and Father, and whom they profefled to worfhip; God and not man; infinitely greater than Fonadab, whofe precepts had been obferved by his pofterity: go, and tell the men of Judah, and the inkabitants of Ferufalem, this is an order to the prophet to remove from the chamber where he was with the Rechabites, and go to the court of the people, where they were affembled for worfhip;; or into the city of Jerufalem, and gather the with; fo exactly conformable were they to the | heads of them together, and declare the following. things to them: will ye not receive inftrudlion, to hearken to my words, faith the Lord? from this in= ftance and cafe of the Rechabites, who had fo con-

{tantly obeyed their father, and hearkened to his words, tho’ but 2 man; a father of their fiefh; an earthly father; and who had been dead long ago; and therefore much more ought they to hearken to the father of their {pirits; their father which is in heaven, and who lives for ever. ° ¥.14. The words of Fonadab the fon of Rechab, that be commanded bis fons, not to drink swine, are performed, &c.] That.article particularly refpecting drinking wine has been carefully obferved; which, tho’ fo agreeable to the nature of man, what chears the heart of God and man, and was not prohibited them by any law of God; yet being forbidden by their father, they abftained from it + for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father’s commandment, tho’ prefcribed them three hundred years ago; during all which time they had punctually obferved it, even to that very day; which might with great truth and ftri€tnefs be faid; fince they had that very day refufed to drink any: notwithfanding, I have fpoken unto you, rifing early, and {peaking; who am the eternal God; the King of kings; the great law-giver, able to fave and to deftroy; who had fpoken to them, and given them laws as foon as they were a people, very early, in the times of Mo/es, on mount Siaai and Horeb; and of which they had been reminded time after time, and enforced by proper arguments and

‘motives; whereas the command of ‘fonadab was that of a mere man, not above three hundred years. ago, and of which his pofterity had never been put in mind, -but as it was handed down from father to fon; and this. they conftantly obferved: but ye hearkened not unto me; fo that their difobedience was greatly ageravated.

¥. 15. Ihave fent alfo unto you all my fervants the prophets, 8&c.] One after another, ever fince the times of Mo/es, to explain and enforce the laws given; a circumftance not to be obferved in the cafe of the Rechabites; who yet, without fuch intimations, kept the charge their father gave them: rifing up early, and fending them; fee ch. vii. 13. and xi. 7: faying, return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to ferve them; all which were of a moral nature, and what were in themfelves juft and fit to be done; that they fhould repent of their fins, refrain from them, and reform their lives, and ab- {tain from idolatry, and worfhip the one only living and true God, which was but their reafonable fervice; whereas abftinence from wine, enjoined the Rechadites, was an indifferent thing, neither morally good nor evil; and yet they obeyed their father in it, and when they had not that advantage by it, as is next promifed thefe people: and ye fall dwell in the land, which I have given to you, and to your fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey; and in which they might build houfes, plant > fow fields, and pofféfs them; which the Rechabites might not do: dut ye have not inclined your ear, and hearkened unto me, they did not liften » his precepts, nor obey them; they would not fo much as give them the hearing, and much lefs the doing. say P

Fy. 16. Becaufe the fons of Fonadab, the fons of Rechab, &c.] Here we have the contraft between the Rechabites and the J/raelites; the obedience a4 the one, and the difobedience of the other; the defign of which is to aggravate and expofe the fin of the’ ews, fince the former have feed the commandment of their father, which be’ conunanded them; that particular commandment of not drinking wine, which they had never once-yviolated in fuch a courfe of time; nor could they now be prevailed upon, even by the prophet himfelf to do it: but this people hath not bearkened unto me; the Lord their God, their Father that bought them, made them, and eftablifhed them. Grtofs ingratitude! Deut. xxxii. 6.

¥. 17. Therefore thus faith the Lord God of hofts, the God of Ifrael, &c.| Provoked by fuch ill-ufage: behold, I will bring upon Ffudah, and upon all the inhabitants of Ferufalem, all the evil that I have pronounced againfi them, which Abarbinel interprets of all the threatenings and curfes in the law and the prophets refpecting the ews, until the’ times of Feremiab, tho’ it may more efpecially intend the evil, God by him had pronounced upon them; namely, that the Chaldean army fhould come into their land, befiege Feru/alem, and take it, and carry captive its inhabitants: decaufe I have fpoken unto them, but they have not heard, and I have called unto them, but they have not anfwered; he fpoke to them by his prophets, he called to them in his providences, and took every method to warn them of their fin and danger, and bring them to repentance and reformation; but all to no purpofe. The Targum is, ** becaufe I fent unto them all my fer- *« vants the prophets, but they obeyed not, and they “*“prophefied to them, but they returned not.”

¥. 18. And Feremiah faid unto the houfe of the Rechabites, &c.| To the family of them, to thofe that were with him in the temple, and whilft they were there; and what he Said te them, which is as follows, was by the order and direction of the Lord: thus faith the Lord of hofts, the Ged of I/- rael; he ufes the fame titles, when fpeaking to them, as to the ews, expreffive of his fovereignty, power, and grace: becaufe ye have obeyed the commandment of Fonadab your father, that particular command concerning not drinking wine: and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he hath commanded you; all the reft, as well as that; tho’ they were many, they took notice of them, and obferved them; they kept them in their minds and memory, and made them the rule of their actions, and conformed to them in all refpects.

¥. 19. Therefore thus faith the Lord of bofts, the God of Ifrael, &c.] Who has enjoined children obedience to their parents, and has promifed to reward it, and does: Youadah the fon of Rechab fhall not want a man to ftand before me for ever; which may be underftood of a long time, of ages to come; or as long as the people of the Yews were a people, or the world fhould ftand, the pofterity of this man fhould continue: or, @ man fhall not be cut off from Fonadab*, &c. his offspring fhall never fail. It is certains that fome of this family returned from the captivity, 1 Chron, ii. 55. and b sa ve mynd’ Ry) non excidetur vir Jonadabo, Junius & ae ae Pifeator, Schmidt, &c, according to Scaliger', the Hafideans {prung from them. And if any credit could be given to Benjamin Tudelenfis, there were Rechabites in the twelfth century,’ fince the times of Chrift; for he tells * us, that in his travels he found a place where Fews dwelt, who were called Rechedites.: The, phrafe, to fland before me, is by the Yangam paraphrafed, ‘« miniftring before me;” ferving and: worfhipping God, for they were religious people; that is,.in their own families, carrying on religious _worthip among themfelves, and not in the temple,. where they had no Office, and did no fervice; tho’ fome think they had, becaufe called fcribes,.1 Chron. ii, 55. Kimchi fays, that fome of their Raddins afferted, that the daughters of thefe people married priefts, and fo fome of their childrens children offered facrifice on the altar. And if what Eu/ebius reports from Hegefippus is true, there were priefts of this family after the times of Chrift; for hé fays ', that when the Fews were ftoning James the Jutt, a prieft of the fons of Rechab cried out, faying, ftop, what are ye doing? but thefe teftimonies are not to be depended on; however, we may be fure of this, that the promife of God fhall not fail, but be certainly accomplifhed. Very appofite are the words of the learned A/ting ™ upon this fub-

ject: ** not only the Lord promifes length of life ** to the obedient, which profelytes, equally with Tfrachtes, have the promife of; but, particularly, that the pofterity of Fonadab fhould not perifh, ‘* fhould have. a place, in the church of God, and an admiffion to the gracious enjoyment of God; not as priefts and Levites, but as other Jraelites and ftrangers, J/: lvi. 4, 7. fo that the potterity of Fonadab mutt ftill continue, and hope of reftoration of them with the J/raelites remains; as in Fer. xxxi. 36, 37. but in the fame way and manner; fo that being equally fharers in exile, they are to be reftored after a long interruption. Indeed, the family is not at this day known; but from the ignorance of men, to the denial of a thing, there is no available argument. Families cannot be confounded, fince they defcend by the fathers; mothers don’t belong to them; and as is the father as to tribe, fo alfo is the fon and grandfon, and foon. A genealogical feries may perifh from the knowledge of men, but not from the nature of things, and the knowledge of God. Tho’ the feeds of wheat, barley, and other things, may be mixed together, that men cannot diftinguifh them, yet their diftinétion does not perifh; and God not only knows it, but alfo difcovers it, when he makes every feed to rife in its own body, 1 Cor. xv. 37, 38. fo muft we judge concerning families,” Perhaps, fince thefe Rechadites were pro-

felytes, and not J/raelites, the converfion of the Gentiles may be refpected; who are priefts in a piritual fenfe, and minifter before the Lord, offering up, thro’ Chrift, the fpiritual facrifices of prayer and praife; and fuch a generation to ferve the Lord will never be wanting.

HIS chapter gives an account of an impious A bt action of king Feboiakim’s burning the roll of Feremiah’s prophecies read unto him, and the confequence of it. The order to write this roll, the time when, the contents and ufe of it, are in y. 1, 2, 3. the writing of it by Baruch, the order of the prophet to read it to the people on fuch a day, with the view he had in fo doing, ¥. 4, 5, 6, 7. the reading of it by Baruch to the people firft. ¥. 8, 9, 10. then to the princes, being fent for by them, upon a report made to them, y. 11, 12, 13,14, 15. the king being acquainted with it, FJebudi was fent to fetch the roll, who read it to the king, ¥. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. who having heard part of it, burnt it, notwithftanding the interceffion of fome of his princes to the contrary, ¥. 22, 23, 24, 25. and who alfo ordered the apprehenfion of Feremiab and Baruch, who could not be found, ¥. 26. upon this a new roll is ordered to be written, ¥. 27, 28. which was done with fome additions to it, refpeéting the deftruétion of the land, and the people in it, by the Chaldeans, and particularly the death of the king, and his want of burial, ¥. 29—32.

y. 1. And it came to pafs in the fourth year of *Feboiakim the fon of Fofiah king of Fudab, &c.| Eighteen years before the deftruction of Feru/alem: that this word came unto Feremiah from the Lord; the following order to write in a roll all his prophecies he had hitherto delivered; /aping, as fol- y. 2. Take thee a roll of a book, &c.} A roll of parchment, which being wrote on, and rolled up, was called a book; but books in thofe times did not confift of leaves cut and ftitched together, and bound up, as our books are, but fheets of parchments being wrote upon, were glewed together, and then rolled up; hence fuch writings were called volumes; which name we ftill retain, and give to books, tho’ the fame pra¢tice is not ufed: and write therein all the words that I have fpoken unto thee againft Ifrael, and againft Fudah, for tho’ J/rael was carried captive before the times of Feremiah, and his prophecies were chiefly directed againft Fudabh, yet as there were fome of the ten tribes mixed with them, they were included in thefe prophecies, and'therefore mentioned: and againft all the nations; fuch as Egypt, Edom, Ammon, and Moab, ch. 1x. 26: from the day that I fpake unto thee, from the days of Fofiab, even unto this day; that is, from the time the Lord called him to prophefy in his name, which was in the thirteenth year of ofab, who reigned one and thirty years; and this being the fourth year of Fehotakim, it muft be the three and twentieth year of his prophefying, and be a courfe of full two and twenty years; fee ch.i. 2. and xxv. 3. now all the fermons, difcourfes, and prophecies, he had delivered out again{ft one and another, during this time, muft all be written in one rol] or book, that they might be read. Kimchi fays, their Rabbins » would have it, that this roll was the book of the Lamentations, called by them Megillab or roll.

¥. 3, Jt may be that the houfe of Fudah will hear all the ‘evik which I purpofe to do unto them, &c.]