John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 35:6

"But they said, We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons, for ever:" — Jeremiah 35:6 (ASV)

But they said, we will drink no wine
Or "we do not drink wine" ^F5 ; we are not used to it; we never do drink any; it is not lawful for us to do it; nor will we, let who will solicit us: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father ;
not their immediate father, but their progenitor; perhaps the same Jonadab is meant who lived in the times of Jehu, 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 10:15) ; which is more likely than that he should be a descendant of his, and the proper father of the present Rechabites, which is the opinion of Scaliger ^F6 : commanded us, saying, you shall drink no wine, [neither you], nor your
sons, for ever ;
as long as any of them were in the world.

What was the reason of this command, and of what follows, is not easy to say; whether it was to prevent quarrels and contentions, luxury and sensuality; or to inure them to hardships; or to put them in remembrance that they were but strangers in the land in which they lived; or to retain them in the original course of life their ancestors had lived in, feeding cattle; be it what it will, these his sons thought themselves under obligations to observe it; and perhaps finding, by experience, it was for their good so to do.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F5: (Nyy htvn al) "non hibimus vinum", Vatablus, Schmidt.
• F6: Elench. Trihaeres. Serrar. c. 24.