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The Family That Kept Their Word.

Jeremiah 35 — The family that shamed a nation without saying a word

6 min read

Key Takeaways

Everyone is obedient to something — we'll reorganize our lives around a job or an algorithm, but when God speaks, his words get filed away and forgotten.

God used the Rechabites as a living mirror: if one family can honor a human ancestor's command for centuries, why can't God's people listen to God himself?
The Rechabites kept a multigenerational vow with zero enforcement — no one was checking, they just genuinely respected the one who asked.

📢 Chapter 35 — The Family That Kept Their Word 🍷

This chapter takes place during the reign of King — son of the great reformer , but about as far from his legacy as you could get. was already on the move, and the whole region could feel what was coming. It's in this moment of national crisis that God gave one of his strangest assignments.

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He didn't send him to confront the king or preach in the streets. He sent him to a family — the Rechabites — with pitchers full of wine. And what happened next exposed failure in a way no sermon ever could.

Wine in the Temple 🏛️

God's instruction was specific. He told :

"Go to the Rechabites. Bring them into the Temple, into one of the chambers. Then offer them wine to drink."

So Jeremiah did exactly that. He gathered the entire family — Jaazaniah, his brothers, all his sons, the whole household — and brought them into a chamber in the , right next to where the officials met. Then he set full pitchers of wine and cups in front of them and said:

"Drink wine."

A simple offer, loaded with purpose. God already knew what the Rechabites would say. The question was never really about them. It was about creating a contrast so sharp that nobody in could look away.

Generations of Saying No 🏕️

The Rechabites didn't hesitate. They didn't bargain or rationalize. They didn't say "well, technically one glass wouldn't hurt." Their answer was immediate.

The Rechabites told :

"We won't drink wine. Jonadab son of Rechab, our ancestor, commanded us: 'You and your descendants must never drink wine — not ever. Don't build houses. Don't plant fields. Don't own vineyards. Live in tents all your days, so that you may live long in the land where you're staying.'

We have obeyed everything Jonadab commanded. None of us drink wine — not us, not our wives, not our sons, not our daughters. We don't build houses to live in. We have no vineyard, no field, no seed. We've lived in tents and done everything our father told us.

The only reason we're in Jerusalem now is because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded, and we had to take shelter from the Chaldean and Syrian armies. So here we are."

Think about what you just heard. Jonadab gave these commands generations earlier. No one was enforcing them. No one was checking up. There was no app tracking their compliance, no outside pressure holding them accountable. They kept their word simply because their ancestor asked them to — and they respected him enough to honor it across centuries.

Even their one exception proves the rule. The only thing they adjusted was living in tents, and only because a foreign army was literally invading their land. They didn't abandon their commitments. They made the minimum change necessary to survive and explained exactly why.

A Question Judah Couldn't Answer 💔

Here's where the whole thing lands. And it lands hard.

God told to deliver a message — not to the Rechabites, but to the people of and everyone living in . God said:

"Will you not learn something from this? Will you not listen to my words?"

"Jonadab son of Rechab gave his sons a command — don't drink wine — and they've kept it to this day. They obeyed their father without question.

But I have spoken to you again and again, and you have not listened to me. I sent my servants the Prophets to you, over and over, saying: 'Turn from your evil ways. Change how you're living. Stop chasing after other gods to serve them — and you can remain in the land I gave to you and your ancestors.'

But you would not listen. You would not even lean in.

The sons of Jonadab have kept what their human father told them. But this people has not obeyed me."

Let that sit for a moment. A human ancestor — not God, not a , just a clan leader — gave his family a set of rules, and they honored them across centuries. Meanwhile, God himself — the one who rescued his people, who gave them their land, who sent messenger after messenger after messenger — spoke to them persistently, and they could not be bothered to listen.

This isn't about wine. It's about what you actually take seriously. We'll honor a family tradition, follow a workplace policy, keep the unwritten social rules — but when God speaks? His words get filed away and forgotten. We'll reorganize our entire lives around an employer's expectations or an algorithm's preferences, but when God says "turn around," we act like we didn't hear it.

Then came the . God declared:

"I am bringing on Judah and all the people of Jerusalem every disaster I warned them about — because I spoke to them and they did not listen. I called to them and they did not answer."

There's no anger in that sentence. Just finality. He spoke. They didn't listen. He called. They didn't answer. The silence was theirs, not his.

A Promise That Outlasts Empires 🌿

Then turned to the Rechabites with a very different word. After the weight of what was coming for , this lands like a clearing in the storm.

Jeremiah told the Rechabites:

"This is what the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Because you obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and kept all his instructions and did everything he told you — Jonadab son of Rechab will never lack a descendant who stands before me."

That's a permanent . While was about to lose everything — their city, their , their — the Rechabites received a guarantee that their family line would always have someone who serves in God's presence. Not because they were powerful or prominent. Because they were .

Faithfulness doesn't go unnoticed. Even when it's quiet. Even when nobody's watching. Even when the world around you is coming apart. The Rechabites didn't have a platform. They weren't famous. They just kept their word, generation after generation, and God honored it with a Promise that would outlast the very empire bearing down on them.

And the question this chapter leaves you with is simple: whose voice are you actually listening to? Because everyone is to something. The Rechabites proved that humans are fully capable of sustained, multigenerational faithfulness. The issue was never ability. It was always priority.