Jeremiah 35:6

6 But they answered, "We do not drink wine. Our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab told us that neither we nor our descendants were ever to drink any wine.

Jeremiah 35:6 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 35:6

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, ye shall drink no wine, [neither ye], 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.

Jeremiah 35:6 In-Context

4 and brought them to the Temple. I took them into the room of the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah. This room was above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, an important official in the Temple, and near the rooms of the other officials.

5 Then I placed cups and bowls full of wine before the Rechabites, and I said to them, "Have some wine."

6 But they answered, "We do not drink wine. Our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab told us that neither we nor our descendants were ever to drink any wine.

7 He also told us not to build houses or farm the land and not to plant vineyards or buy them. He commanded us always to live in tents, so that we might remain in this land where we live like strangers.

8 We have obeyed all the instructions that Jonadab gave us. We ourselves never drink wine, and neither do our wives, our sons, or our daughters.