Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 35:2

"Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink." — Jeremiah 35:2 (ASV)

Go to the house of the Rechabites ... —The word “house” is used throughout the chapter in the sense of “family.” Among those who had so taken refuge were the tribe, or sect, or even fraternity known by this name. Their founder was Jonadab, or Jehonadab, who appears as the ally of Jehu in the overthrow of the house of Ahab (2 Kings 10:15). It is clear from that history that he exercised an influence over the people which Jehu was glad to secure, and that he welcomed the zeal for the Lord which led Jehu to the massacre of the worshippers of Baal.

He is described as the “son of Rechab,” but since that name, which means “chariot,” was applied to the great Tishbite prophet, as in the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof (2 Kings 2:12), it has been thought, with some probability, that the name “son of Rechab” means “Son of the chariot” (so in later Jewish history we have Bar-Cochba = son of the star), i.e., “disciple of the great prophet.” In any case, the life which Jonadab enforced on his followers presented all the characteristic features of that of Elijah.

It was a protest against the Baal-worship that had flowed into Israel from Phoenicia, against the corruption of the life of cities, against the intemperance that was tainting the life of Israel (Amos 6:4–6). In this respect, it reminds us of the more ascetic sects, such as the Wahabees of Arabia in the eighteenth century (see Burckhardt’s Bedouins and Wahabys, p. 283; Palgrave’s Arabia), that have at times arisen among the followers of Muhammad.

It has some points of resemblance to the Mendicant Orders of medieval Christendom. From 1 Chronicles 2:55, it appears that “the house of Rechab” belonged to the Kenites who had joined the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt and had settled in their lands, retaining their old habits (Judges 1:16; Judges 4:11; Numbers 10:29–32; 1 Samuel 15:6; 1 Samuel 27:10). Such a people naturally retained many of the habits of patriarchal life, and it is not improbable that Elijah himself came from their tents.