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assembly of the shepherds." Here, where evidently the roads from Jezreel and
Jerusalem joined, Jehu and his followers met the forty-two princes, "the brethren of
Ahaziah, king of Judah,"^290 who were going on a friendly visit to "the children of the
king [Joram] and the children of the mistress," [lady-ruler, Gebhirah - evidently
Jezebel].^291
So rapid had been the movements of Jehu, and so great was the fear of him, that
tidings of what had passed in Israel had not traveled so far as to arrest the journey of
the princes of Judah. Jehu's order was to "take them alive." Whether they offered
resistance, or this was part of the original order of Jehu, certain it is that they were all
killed "at the cistern of Beth-Eqed,"^292 into which their bodies were probably thrown.
As Jehu passed from the scene of slaughter he met a figure that seems strange and
mysterious. "Jehonadab, the son of Rechab," who had come from Samaria to meet
the new king, belonged to the Kenites (1 Chronicles 2:55). This tribe, which was
probably of Arab nationality, appears so early as the days of Abraham (Genesis
15:19). Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, belonged to it (Judges 1:16). Part at least
of the tribe accompanied Israel into the Land of Promise (Numbers 10:29-32), and
settled in the south of Judah (Judges 1:16), where we find them by-and-by mixed up
with the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:6). Another part of the tribe, however, seems to
have wandered far north, where Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, slew Sisera on his
flight from Barak (Judges 4:17, etc.; 5:24, etc.). Thus they appear to have occupied
the extreme south and north of the country, and would even on that ground possess
political importance. But what interests us more is their religious relationship to
Israel. From the deed of Jael we infer that they were intensely attached to the national
cause. Again, from the circumstance that Jehonadab, the son of Rechab - evidently
the chief of the tribe - came from Samaria to meet Jehu, and from the anxiety which
the latter displayed as to Jehonadab's views and intentions, as well as from the
manner in which he treated him, we gather that the chieftain was a person of
considerable political importance, while the invitation of Jehu: "Come with me, and
see my zeal for Jehovah," shows that he and his tribe were identified with the service
of Jehovah in the land. All this throws fresh light on the special injunction which
from that time onward Jehonadab laid upon his tribe (Jeremiah 35:1-16). They were
neither to build houses, nor to sow seed, nor to plant or have vineyards; but to dwell
in tents, and so both to be and to declare themselves strangers in the land.
This rule, which the descendants of Rechab observed for centuries, must, from its
peculiarity, have had a religious, not a political,^293 bearing. It has with great
probability been connected with Elijah,^294 but the important question has not yet been
mooted whether it originated before or after the occupation of Samaria by Jehu.
(^)