What about Those Rechabites? (35:1-19) 579
Look I am bringing ... all the evil. On this Jeremianic expression, see Note
for 6:19.
to fudah and to all the inhabitants oflerusalem. See above v 13. The LXX
omits "all."
because I have spoken to them and they have not listened, and I have called to
them and they have not answered. The LXX omits, but GL, Theod, S, T, and Vg
all have the words. Giesebrecht says this is Jeremiah's way of speaking, which it
is (7: 13, 27). There is an unhappy consequence to blatant contempt: when the
people call, Yahweh will not answer (11:11, 14). Yahweh refuses also the inter-
cessions of Jeremiah (7: 16; 11: 14; 14: 11; 15: 1 ). But in future days things will be
better (33:3).
- But to the house of the Rechabites feremiah said, Thus said Yahweh of
hosts, God o{Israel. After addressing the people of Judah and Jerusalem, Jere-
miah turns now to address the Rechabites, who are apparently present at the
larger gathering. The LXX omits "but to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah
said,'' which can be attributed to haplography (homoeoteleuton: w ... w). It
begins the verse with an abbreviated messenger formula but precedes it with
an added dia touto (=Heb laken, "therefore"; cf. 31:27), after which its reading
is somewhat different than in MT but with little change in meaning. One al-
teration it makes is from second person to third-person speech, which does
away with the direct address to the Rechabites. Some scholars (Duhm; Cornill;
Janzen 1973: 105-6; Holladay) prefer the LXX; others (Giesebrecht; Volz; Ru-
dolph; Bright) prefer MT, saying that the LXX has abbreviated. But with two ar-
guable cases of LXX haplography in the verse, the shorter LXX text is probably
due to a defective Hebrew Vorlage. The Versions support MT
and you have kept all his commands. The LXX omits, which can be attrib-
uted to haplography (homoeoarcton: wt ... wt).
- Therefore thus said Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel. The LXX omits, which
can be attributed to haplography (homoeoarcton: l ... l). The T and Vg have
the formula.
There shall not be cut off a man belonging to f onadab son of Rechab who
stands before me all the days. In this dark hour the Rechabites receive a prom-
ising word from Yahweh, just as Baruch and Ebed-melech did (45:4-6; 39:16-
18). Promises similar to the present one are made concerning the lines of
David and the Levitical priests in 33: 17-18, giving support to the view that this
is an unconditional "covenant of divine commitment" (D. N. Freedman
1964), or what Weinfeld (1970) and Levenson (1976) call a "covenant of
grant." Compare also the bittersweet prophecy to Eli in 1 Sam 2:33. "To stand
before Yahweh" can mean to worship, intercede, receive a word from, or be in
the service of Yahweh, and the one so standing may be a prophet, priest, or
ordinary individual (see Notes for 15:1and15:19). Calvin rejected the view
of certain Rabbis that the Rechabites were destined to become priests or Le-
vites. The Rechabite clan reportedly survived into the New Testament period,
with references to them occurring in the Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrashim
(Abramsky 1967). The Mishnah (Taanith 4:5), for example, states that it was
