Jérémie 35:6

6 Mais ils répondirent: Nous ne buvons pas de vin; car Jonadab, fils de Récab, notre père, nous a donné cet ordre: Vous ne boirez jamais de vin, ni vous, ni vos fils;

Jérémie 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.

Jérémie 35:6 In-Context

4 et je les conduisis à la maison de l'Eternel, dans la chambre des fils de Hanan, fils de Jigdalia, homme de Dieu, près de la chambre des chefs, au-dessus de la chambre de Maaséja, fils de Schallum, garde du seuil.

5 Je mis devant les fils de la maison des Récabites des coupes pleines de vin, et des calices, et je leur dis: Buvez du vin!

6 Mais ils répondirent: Nous ne buvons pas de vin; car Jonadab, fils de Récab, notre père, nous a donné cet ordre: Vous ne boirez jamais de vin, ni vous, ni vos fils;

7 et vous ne bâtirez point de maisons, vous ne sèmerez aucune semence, vous ne planterez point de vignes et vous n'en posséderez point; mais vous habiterez sous des tentes toute votre vie, afin que vous viviez longtemps dans le pays où vous êtes étrangers.

8 Nous obéissons à tout ce que nous a prescrit Jonadab, fils de Récab, notre père: nous ne buvons pas de vin pendant toute notre vie, nous, nos femmes, nos fils et nos filles;