of the tribe was Jehonadab. [Jehonadab] He and his people had all along been worshippers of
Jehovah, circumcised, though not looked upon as belonging to Israel and probably therefore not
considering themselves bound by the Mosaic law and ritual. The worship of Baal was offensive
to them. Jonadab inaugurated a reformation and compelled a more rigid adherence than ever to
the old Arab life. They were neither to drink wine, nor build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant nor
have any vineyard. All their days they were to dwell in tents. (Jeremiah 35:6,7) This was to be the
condition of their retaining a distinct tribal existence. For two centuries and a half they adhered
faithfully to this rule. The invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, in B.C. 607, drove the Rechabites
from their tents to Jerusalem, where they stood proof against temptation, and were specially
blessed. (Jeremiah 35:2-19) There is much of interest in relation to the present condition of these
people. Dr. Wolf reports that the Jews of Jerusalem and Yemen told him that he would find the
Rechabites of Jere 35 living near Mecca, in the mountainous country northeast of Medina. When
he came near Senaa he came in contact with a tribe, the Beni-Khabir, who identified themselves
with the sons of Jehonadab. They claimed to number 60,000, to adhere to the old rules, and to be
a fulfillment of the promise made to Jehonadab.
Rechabites
[Rechab]
Rechah
(uttermost part), probably a place in Judah—a village, Rashiah, three miles south of Jerusalem.
Recorder
an officer of high rank in the Jewish state, exercising the functions, not simply of an annalist,
but of chancellor or president of the privy council. In David’s court the recorder appeal’s among
the high officers of his household. (2 Samuel 8:16; 20:24; 1 Chronicles 18:15) In Solomon’s he is
coupled with the three secretaries. (1 Kings 4:3) comp. 2Kin 18:18,37; 2Chr 34:8
Red Sea
Name.—The sea known to us as the Red Sea was by the Israelites called “the sea,” (Exodus
14:2,9,16,21,28; 15:1,4,8,10,19; Joshua 24:6,7) and many other passages, and specially “the sea
•
of Suph .” (Exodus 10:19; 13:18; 15:4,22; 23:31; Numbers 14:25) etc. This word signifies a
sea-weed resembling wool, and such sea-weed is thrown up abundantly on the shores of the Red
Sea; hence Brugsch calls it the sea of reeds or weeds. The color of the water is not red. Ebers says
that it is of a lovely blue-green color, and named Red either from its red banks or from the
Erythraeans, who were called the red people.
•Physical description .—In extreme length the Red Sea stretches from the straits of Bab el-Mendeb
(or rather Ras Bab el-Mendeb), 18 miles wide. in lat. 12 degrees 40’ N., to the modern head of
the Gulf of Suez, lat. 30 degrees N., a distance of 1450 miles. Its greatest width may be stated at
about 210 miles. At Ras Mohammed, on the north, the Red Sea is split by the granitic peninsula
of Sinai into two gulfs; the westernmost, or Gulf of Suez, is now about 150 miles in length, with
an average width of about 20, though it contracts to less than 10 miles; the easternmost or Gulf
of el-’Akabeh, is about 100 miles long, from the Straits of Tiran to the ’Akabeh, and 15 miles
wide. The average depth of the Red Sea is from 2500 to 3500 feet, though in places it is 6000 feet
deep. Journeying southward from Suez, on our left is the peninsula of Sinai; on the right is the
desert coast of Egypt, of limestone formation like the greater part of the Nile valley in Egypt, the
cliff’s on the sea margin stretching landward in a great rocky plateau while more inland a chain