John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 35

The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord Not as following the former prophecies; for they must be delivered seventeen years after this. The prophecies of Jeremiah are not put together in their proper time in which they were delivered. The preceding prophecies were delivered in the "tenth" and "eleventh" years of Zedekiah's reign: but this

in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; in what part of his reign is not certain; but it must be after Nebuchadnezzar had invaded the land, (Jeremiah 35:11); very probably in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, after he had been the king of Babylon's servant three years, and rebelled against him, (2 Kings 24:1 2 Kings 24:2);

saying; as follows:

Go unto the house of the Rechabites^F3 ; these are the same with the Kenites, who descended from Hobab or Jethro, Moses's father in law, (Judges 1:16) (4:11) (1 Chronicles 2:55) ; these, as their ancestors, became proselytes to Israel, and always continued with them, though a distinct people from them; these here had their name from Rechab, a famous man in his time among those people:

and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord ; into the temple; for they were worshippers of the true God, though foreigners and uncircumcised persons; and so might be admitted into places belonging to the temple:

into one of the chambers ; of the temple, where there were many; some for the sanhedrim to sit in; others for the priests to lay up their garments and the vessels of the sanctuary in; and others for the prophets and their disciples to converse in together about religious matters:

and give them wine to drink ; set it before them, and invite them to drink of it, and thereby try their steady obedience to their father's commands.

Now this family was brought to the temple either in vision, as it seemed to the prophet; or really, which latter is most probable; and that for this reason, that this affair might be transacted publicly, and many might be witnesses of it, and take the rebuke given by it; and, as some think, to reproach the priests for their intemperance.

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: (tyb la) "ad familiam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah Who was, no doubt, the most famous and leading man in this family: and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites ; the several branches of the family, especially the males; the women perhaps only excepted; whom it might not be so decent to gather together on such an occasion, to drink wine; or at least offer it to them.

And I brought them into the house 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 respect for him as a prophet; and the rather, as it is highly probable he came in the name of the Lord to them: into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of
God ;
a prophet, as the Targum and Syriac version; and so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it.

This must be understood of Hanan, and not Igdaliah, as the accents show: he is thought by some to be the same with Hanani the seer, in the times of Asa, (2 Chronicles 16:7) ; which [was] by the chamber of the princes ;
these were not the princes of the blood, the sons of Jehoiachim; their chambers or apartments were not in the temple, but in the royal palace; but these were the princes or rulers of the people, as they are called, (Acts 4:8) ; the sanhedrim, whose this chamber was, as Dr. Lightfoot ^F4 has observed:

which [was] above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the
keeper of the door :
a porter, whose chamber or lodge was under that in which the sanhedrim sat. The Targum calls him a treasurer; one of the seven "amarcalim", who had the keys of several chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary and other things were put; and Kimchi observes, the word we render door comprehends the vessels of the sanctuary, and the vessels of wine, and other things.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Temple-Service, c. 9. p. 1063.

And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots
full of wine, and cups
Which the prophet might have out of the chambers where these vessels were, and particularly from Maaseiah, if he was a keeper of them, as before observed. The number of men gathered together was probably very large; and therefore pots, or large vessels of wine, were prepared, and set before them, and cups, lesser vessels, to drink out of.

and I said to them, drink you wine ;
he invited them to it, and bid them welcome; nay, more, he might not only encourage, but enjoin them to drink it; though, as Gataker observes, he does not say to them, "thus saith the Lord, drink wine"; for then they must have done it, and doubtless would; since it is right to obey God rather than man, even parents.