580 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSthe family of Jonadab the son of Rechab who brought up the wood offering of
the priests and the people on the 7th of Ab. Eusebius (Ecc Hist ii 23; ANF 8:
763), too, preserves an account by Hegesippus that one of the priests of the sons
of Rechab protested the martyrdom of James, the brother of the Lord(= James
the Just).
all the days. Hebrew kol-hayyamfm. On this expression, see Note for 31:36.
The LXX expands to "all the days of the earth" (cf. Gen 8:22).MESSAGE AND AUDIENCE
The audience is told in this narrative that Yahweh by divine word instructed
Jeremiah to go to the clan of the Rechabites, speak with them, and bring them
into one of the Temple chambers, where he was to offer them wine to drink.
Presumably the audience knew what Jeremiah knew, that these people, conser-
vative as they were and living in somewhat of a time warp, would certainly
refuse the wine. Jeremiah says that he carried out the directive, taking Jaaza-
niah with his brothers and all his sons, indeed the whole clan of Rechabites, to
the Temple, where they proceeded to the chamber of the sons of Hanan, which
was next to the chamber of the princes and above the chamber of Maaseiah,
the keeper of the threshold, who probably provided them the Temple access.
Jeremiah says he set before the Rechabites full pitchers of wine and cups
and bid them to drink wine. They refused, saying that Jonadab son of Rechab,
their father, commanded his descendants not to drink wine then or in the fu-
ture, and not to build houses, sow seed, plant or keep vineyards, but to live in
tents. In so doing, they could hope to live long in the lr1ml where they were
sojourning. The Rechabites announced with satisfaction that they had obeyed
Jonadab and done as he commanded. They were living in tents and had en-
tered Jerusalem now because Nebuchadrezzar had come into the land, and
there was danger in outlying areas from the Chaldean and Aramaean armies.
With the demonstration now over, Yahweh spoke a second time to Jeremiah,
perhaps right away or sometime later, and told him to go and speak to the
people of Judah and Jerusalem. This would have been a more public setting,
perhaps in the outer court of the Temple. Jeremiah in an oracle was to say to
those assembled: "Will you not take correction and listen to my words?" The
command by Jonadab to his descendants had been carried out, as those
present in the chamber saw with their own eyes when the Rechabites refused
the wine. Yahweh, however, has spoken to the covenant people continually
and they have not listened; he has sent prophets with a message that they re-
turn from their evil ways and make good their doings and thus continue on the
soil given to them and their ancestors, but they have not so much as bent an
ear. The point is clear: the sons of Jonadab carried out their father's command,
while the covenant people have not heeded Yahweh and the commands he
has given them.
Jeremiah then speaks a divine word of judgment to the people of Judah and
Jerusalem. Not addressing them directly, he says that Yahweh will bring upon