Rechabites Are No Joke

Chapter 35 in Jeremiah is a bit of an object lesson as well as a history lesson as well as a family story as well as a theological point all rolled into one. The object lesson, history lesson, family story, and theological point are all the same. There is one point to this passage.

The Prophet Jeremiah, in verse 1, receives a Word from God to go to the house of the Rechabites and invite them to a drinking party. Weird message from God, but okay. Jeremiah probably could have guessed how this was going to go, but he obeyed what God told him to do.

Jeremiah took the descendants of Jonadab to the Temple and set before them lots of wine. He told them to drink up! What an honor! We have an entire family asked to come to the Temple and a party is thrown in their honor and it happens to be a drinking party. The host is a prophet. What could go bad? If you are thinking this is a strange and weird situation, you are not wrong!

Starting in verse 6, the Rechabites explain that they will not drink because Jonadab the son of Rechab told them 200 years before that their family was to never drink wine or plant vineyards. He even told them that they were to live in tents and be nomadic. They explain that the only reason they are in the city or near the city is Nebuchadnezzar descended on the people of God and they fled the battle zone.

They are a family dedicated to the Lord in particular ways. Jonadab spoke to his sons and laid out a plan and all of his descendants followed his example. They obeyed. They worshipped the Lord. They took purity and how they lived seriously. They were nomadic until a powerful invading army forced them to Jerusalem for safety.

DAD JOKES PART 2… https://www.countryliving.com/life/a27452412/best-dad-jokes/

"Where do you learn to make a banana split?" "Sundae school."

"What has more letters than the alphabet?" "The post office!"

"Dad, did you get a haircut?" "No, I got them all cut!"

"What do you call a poor Santa Claus?" "St. Nickel-less."

"I got carded at a liquor store, and my Blockbuster card accidentally fell out. The cashier said never mind."

"Where do boats go when they're sick?" "To the boat doc."

"I don't trust those trees. They seem kind of shady."

"My wife is really mad at the fact that I have no sense of direction. So I packed up my stuff and right!"

"How do you get a squirrel to like you? Act like a nut."

"Why don't eggs tell jokes? They'd crack each other up."

"I don't trust stairs. They're always up to something."

"Did you hear the rumor about butter? Well, I'm not going to spread it!"

"What did one hat say to the other?" "Stay here! I'm going on ahead."

"Why did Billy get fired from the banana factory? He kept throwing away the bent ones."

TRANSITION

So we have the descendants of Jonadab the son of Rechab… called the Rechabites… being used as an object lesson by the Prophet Jeremiah directed by God. What is the point? Why gather these folks together and ask them to drink wine knowing none of them drink at all? Remember, the object lesson, history lesson, family story, and theological point are all the same. Let’s read.