Covenant Keepers

In Job 1:8, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?’” Here in Jeremiah 35, the Lord asks Jeremiah to go to the house of the Rechabites and invite them into the house of the Lord. These men are covenant keepers.

In the previous chapter, King Zedekiah and the slave owners of Jerusalem made a solemn covenant in the house of the Lord to emancipate their slaves. They passed through the parts of an animal cut in two, implying that they wished to be cut asunder if they broke the covenant that they made in God’s house. Even so, soon after releasing their slaves, they broke that covenant by enslaving them once again. [1]

The amazing thing is that the Recabites had kept a covenant for more than 200 years! Jonadab son of Recab was one of the 7,000 in Israel who did not bow the knee to Baal during the days of Elijah. Jonadab was with Jehu in 842 BC when he slew evil king Ahab and his entire family. [2]

“The Word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ‘Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.’” Jeremiah 35:1-2

Jeremiah finally got a break from speaking to non-compliant people, or so it seemed. The Lord sent him to the Rechabite clan. His mission was to invite them to God’s house for some wine. He gave them cups of wine, and then said, “Drink.” Guess what? They refused to comply.

Jeremiah wanted his fellow priests to see this...

“Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door.” Jeremiah 35:3-4

Jeremiah led a priestly group of brothers, their sons and the Rechabites into a room inside the Lord’s house. Perhaps, a large group of men!

“Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, ‘Drink wine.’ But they said, ‘We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, you shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever.’” Jeremiah 35:5-6

Wow, ample wine! Cups and bowls full! A nice gesture from the host! A crowd of witnesses watching! How did the Rechabites respond? They said, “We will drink no wine.” Why? They wanted to be faithful to a covenant that their forefathers kept for over 200 years.

Their father also commanded them...

“You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners.” Jeremiah 35:7

The Rechabites worshipped God in the nomadic fashion of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I would like to think that they saw themselves as people in Hebrews 11 did. Hebrews 11:13-16 says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

In Luke 9:57-58, a man said to Jesus, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Philippians 2:6-8 says of Jesus, “Being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross.”

Jim Elliott wanted a small but fierce tribe of Waorani Indians in Ecuador to hear the Gospel. This tribe had a reputation of killing outsiders. Jim Elliot was killed by them. Prior to his death, Jim said, “He is no fool who gives away what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” After his death, many Waorani Indians believed in Jesus through the witness of Jim’s wife, his children and other missionaries who did not give up on them.

“Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; nor do we have vineyard, field, or seed. But we have dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, ‘Come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians.’ So, we dwell at Jerusalem.’” Jeremiah 35:8-11

The Rechabites temporarily settled in the city to protect their families from the Babylonian army, but they could in a moment’s notice leave since they lived in mobile homes... tents.

After Jeremiah listened to the testimony of the Recabites, God told him to ask the people of Jerusalem why they would not listen to God. For over 200 years, Jonadab’s sons had obeyed their forefather’s command, but the Jerusalemites refused to obey God.

“Then came the Word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will you not receive instruction to obey My words? says the Lord. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day, they drink none and obey their father’s commandment. But although I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, you did not obey Me. I have also sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way, amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them; then you will dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me.” Jeremiah 35:12-15

In Luke 13:34-35, Jesus spoke a similar lament over Jerusalem, saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, and stones them that are sent to you; how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to you desolate: and verily I say to you, you shall not see Me, until the time come when you shall say, blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord.”

“Surely the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed Me.” Jeremiah 36:16

The sons of Jonadab were in some ways better representatives of God than the priests. They did not just talk about obedience, they demonstrated it. In Isaiah 1:3, the Lord said, “The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel does not know, My people does not consider.” Did oxen and asses deserve higher academic awards than Jerusalem’s priests?

“Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the doom that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard, and I have called to them but they have not answered.” Jeremiah 35:17

God told them NOT to serve other gods. They served them. He expected them to keep their covenants, they broke them. Like dysfunctional clay, they would not be shaped by His hands.

The Recabites preferred obedience to opulence. God’s Spirit to alcoholic spirits! Tents of God to mansions of men! They preferred fields for God to fields for themselves!

As God walked amidst Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, He walked with them. As Jesus walked with His disciples, His Spirit was with them. The Heavenly Father met their needs as sure as He provides for the needs of birds and flowers. They were God’s witnesses.

“And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you, therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever.’” Jeremiah 35:18-19

The Lord held up the sons of Jonadab as an example to the people of Jerusalem. He told them that because the Recabites obeyed the commandments of Jonadab their father, they would never lack a man to stand before Him.

“God kept His promise. When the Israelites went back home after the exile, they started to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. The engineer in charge of the building project, Nehemiah, carefully recorded the names of his best workers. One of them was a Rechabite: ‘The Dung Gate was repaired by Malkijah son of Recab, a ruler of the district of Beth Haccerem.’” [3]

God’s promise to Jonadab never to a lack a man to stand before Him brings to my mind His promise to another man named Phinehas.

In the days of Moses, some Israelite men began to have immoral relationships with Moabite women and to sacrifice to their gods. This wickedness aroused God’s anger. A plague broke out. Amidst the mayhem, Zimri and Cozbi openly defied God. Zimri was a leader’s son from the tribe of Simeon. Cozbi was the daughter of leader from Midian – a Moabitess. They went into a tent together in full view of everyone. When Phinehas saw it, he took a javelin, entered the tent and thrust it through both their bodies. The plague stopped, but not before 24,000 people died. The Lord’s word for Phinehas via Moses was, “Phinehas... has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.” “Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.” (Numbers 25:1-15)

In Luther’s Small Catechism, each time he explained a commandment of the Lord, he began with the phrase, “You should fear, love, and trust in God.” For example, for the first commandment, he wrote, “You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” For the fourth commandment, he wrote, “Honor your father and your mother. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.”

The first commandment is still relevant and binding today. In Matthew 22:37-39, when Jesus was asked which commandment is the greatest commandment, He answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” As to the fourth commandment, Ephesians 6:1-3 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. That it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.”

As to the consumption of alcohol. I like that the Recabites enjoyed freedom FROM liquor.

In his book, “In Darkest England and the Way Out” General William Booth wrote, “9/10th’s of our poverty, squalor, vice, and crime spring from this poisonous tap-root [alcohol]. Many of our social evils, which overshadow the land… would dwindle away and die if they were not constantly watered with strong drink. There is universal agreement on that point.”

General Booth described darkest England as consisting of three circles combined together. “The outer and widest circle was inhabited by the starving and the homeless, but honest, poor. The second circle was inhabited by those who lived by vice. The third and innermost region at the center was peopled by those who existed by crime. The whole of the three circles was sodden with drink.” [4]

Proverbs 23:29-33 compares alcohol to a viper that bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. “Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things.” Although the Bible does not altogether forbid drinking, it expressly forbids drunkenness.

One way to avoid alcohol addiction is abstinence. Some denominations require their members to sign a covenant in which they promise to abstain from harmful substances in preference for serving the Lord. Kind of like the Rechabite movement of Jeremiah’s day.

What does the New Testament have to say about wine? In John 2:1-11, the first miracle of Jesus was to turn water into wine at a wedding banquet. Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” The idea here is that a soul filled with God, does not need alcohol to be happy or social. 1 Timothy 3:1-2 says that a bishop should not be given to wine so those who believe in the priesthood of all believers abstain from it. 1 Timothy 3:8 says that a deacon should not be given to much wine. 1 Timothy 5:23 says, “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.” God’s Word to Timothy (a spiritual overseer) was to use it for medicinal purposes.

In Jeremiah 35, the Lord is addressing the covenant breaking leaders of Jerusalem. His main point to them is not about abstinence from wine but about being covenant keepers.

When Jesus walked among us, He made a new covenant with His disciples and by extension with us who believe in Him. In Matthew 26:26-28, He said, “Take, eat; this [bread] is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

Praise God that this new covenant focuses on what Jesus did for us. Praise God that this new covenant emphasizes faith in His shed blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Glory to God that this new covenant is about partaking of God and having Him live within us.

In Romans 8:31-34, Paul wrote, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

Job 19:25 says, “I know that My Redemer lives.” Our confidence amidst every trial and accusation is that God is a covenant keeping God. Many promises made by people are broken, but with God, “Promises made, promises kept” is 100% guaranteed.


[1] Jamieson-Fausset Brown Commentary (The passing between the parts of an animal to cut a covenant was practiced by Abraham in Genesis 15:10, 17)

[2] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 536-537 (See also 1 King 19:18; 2 Kings 10:15-17)

[3] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 541 (See also Nehemiah 3:14)

[4] General William Booth, “In Darkest England and the Way Out” 1890 1st edition published by The Salvation Army, pp. 37-38