Jeremia 35:6

6 Maar zij zeiden: Wij zullen geen wijn drinken; want Jonadab, de zoon van Rechab, onze vader, heeft ons geboden, zeggende: Gijlieden zult geen wijn drinken, gij, noch uw kinderen, tot in eeuwigheid.

Jeremia 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.

Jeremia 35:6 In-Context

4 En bracht hen in des HEEREN huis, in de kamer der zonen van Hanan, den zoon van Jigdalia, den man Gods; welke is bij de kamer der oversten, die daar is boven de kamer van Maaseja, den zoon van Sallum, den dorpelbewaarder.

5 En ik zette den kinderen van het huis der Rechabieten koppen vol wijn en bekers voor; en ik zeide tot hen: Drinkt wijn.

6 Maar zij zeiden: Wij zullen geen wijn drinken; want Jonadab, de zoon van Rechab, onze vader, heeft ons geboden, zeggende: Gijlieden zult geen wijn drinken, gij, noch uw kinderen, tot in eeuwigheid.

7 Ook zult gijlieden geen huis bouwen, noch zaad zaaien, noch wijngaard planten, noch hebben; maar gij zult in tenten wonen al uw dagen; opdat gij veel dagen leeft in het land, alwaar gij als vreemdeling verkeert.

8 Zo hebben wij der stemme van Jonadab, den zoon van Rechab, onzen vader, gehoorzaamd in alles, wat hij ons geboden heeft; zodat wij geen wijn drinken al onze dagen, wij, onze vrouwen, onze zonen, en onze dochteren;