by Blake Rush
The Restoration Herald - Oct 2025
Background of Text — Jeremiah 30–33 emphasizes God’s intention to build and plant Israel and Judah following impending judgment. The backdrop for 34–38 is the looming threat of Babylon. God is handing Jerusalem into Babylon’s hands and fiery destruction.
Jeremiah 35 showcases the obedience of the Rechabites to their leader in contrast to Judah’s disobedience to God. Rechab was the father of Jehonadab (Jonadab). He supported Jehu (reigned 842–814 BC) in his purge of the Baal prophets (2 Kings 10:15-28). The Rechabites lived as nomads, rejecting all forms of urban and rural life, refused to drink wine or strong drink, and would not cultivate vineyards. Jeremiah 35 encapsulates the complete obedience of the Rechabites by three verbs: obeyed, kept, and done.
Obedience to the covenant is the appropriate response to God’s deliverance. In Christ, God has called us to bear good fruit (Matthew 7:15-20; Galatians 5:22-23), not as the cause of our salvation but as the mark and effect of it.
Jeremiah 35 calls the church to inspect her character in light of Jesus’s words, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 7:19).
Opening Thought:
Have you ever been convicted by the actions of a non-Christian? Should it bother us when someone in the world acts more like Jesus than we do?
35:5 — Did God want the Rechabites to drink alcohol? Could this text be used to argue against abstinence? Context is crucial. This passage should not be used to teach temperance. God knew exactly how the Rechabites would respond—and He was going to use their response to convict the men of Judah.
Unfortunately, many who believe in the Lordship of Christ debate the number of alcoholic beverages one can consume before becoming “drunk.” The Bible shares the proper attitude towards alcohol in Proverbs 23:31—the command is not to even look at it. The New Testament commands Christians to be sober several times (1 Thessalonians 5:8; 1 Peter 1:13; 5:8; Titus 2:2-6). The Greek word for sober (nēphō) literally means “abstaining from wine.” We must be diligent in our handling of the Greek word for wine (oinos) since it can be fermented or non-fermented—context determines the meaning. There is no debate that drunkenness is a sin, wreaks havoc on individuals, families, and society. We should flee from even the appearance of evil.
Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)
35:6-7 — The Rechabites seem not to be part of ethnic Israel, but they were certainly allies. Over 200 years before Jeremiah’s ministry, Jonadab, the son of Rechab, assisted King Jehu in purging the Baal priests, and in Jeremiah’s day, the Rechabites were welcomed in Jerusalem.
The Bible does not mention the origin of the Rechabite oath. We do not know why or when the oath was undertaken, but we do know that they kept it firmly for over 200 years. Their oath is not a command for us. We are permitted to build houses and plant gardens, but that is not the point. God is going to use their faithfulness to their father to contrast the unfaithfulness of the Israelites to Him.
35:8-10 — The faithfulness of the current generation will greatly impact the faithfulness of the next. If Jonadab’s children had not kept their father’s command, Jonadab’s grandchildren may likely have never even heard of this oath.
God wanted the Israelites to embrace this principle early on. In Deuteronomy 6, He lays out a pattern for faithfulness that transcends generations. He asked them to follow a simple pattern: to love Him with everything they had (vv. 4-5), to memorize and recall His Words (v 6), to teach their children and grandchildren diligently about Him and talk about Him all the time (v 7), and to place reminders of what is most important in multiple places so that their eyes may see (vv. 8-9). It does not take a college degree to follow, just obedience and diligence. Could you imagine what the church could look like in a few generations if the current one were to undertake these few principles?
35:11 — Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest is a prevalent topic during Jeremiah’s time. The Rechabites fled to Jerusalem in response to Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign. Yet, during all this, they faithfully kept Jonadab’s command. Many people maintain their religion if life is convenient, but when circumstances change, true priorities are revealed.
We must make it our mission to stand firm on the commandments of Christ, even though hardships and challenges are sure to come (Matthew 7:24-27). We must battle to keep God at the forefront of our hearts and minds throughout our day. Our faithfulness may inspire the next generation to fight the same fight.
Closing Questions: How can we weave God into more areas of our lives? How can we guide our day to honor Him throughout its entirety?
Churches associated with the 19th-century Restoration Movement[1] are once again on the precipice of a doctrinal split. In some ways, the split is practically an accomplished fact. No one has intended to cause or participate in such a split, but it is happening nonetheless.
[1]This article addresses an issue primarily affecting what J. D. Murch (Christians Only) described as the center of the Restoration Movement, i.e., those congregations referring to themselves in general as Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.
Jesus gave us the beatitudes in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-10). The keyword here is “attitudes.” What attitudes in this teaching from Christ can we employ in our marriages?
In our Sunday School class, we have recently been studying the book of Hebrews. The traditional view is that the recipients were Jewish Christians who lived somewhere in Palestine. No book of the New Testament would be more missed if it were absent from the canon than this epistle to the Hebrews. Every Bible student needs such a guide as this to help with their understanding of the Old and New Covenants.
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