sword, that I will send among them. Then took I the cup* at Jehovah's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom Jehovah had sent me to wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, and all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the Isles, which are beyond the sea, Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners, and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert, and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel; drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, thus saith Jehovah of hosts; ye shall certainly drink, for lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith Jehovah of Hosts. Therefore, prophesy thou against That is, I declared publicly the tribulation that God was about to bring upon Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, and all the nations. A. CLARKE. them all these words, and say unto them, Jehovah shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day, from one end of the earth, even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter, and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flocks to escape. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture. And the peaceable habitations are cut down, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah. He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion for their land is desolate, because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger." : Failing to produce any useful impression upon his rebellious brethren, Jehovah ordered the prophet to have recourse to the memorable instance of the Rechabites' strict obedience, to a mere temporal recommendation of their great progenitor. "Co unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the cham bers, and give them wine to drink. Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; and I brought them into the house of Jehovah, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God; who was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door and I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites, pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, drink ye wine. But they said, we will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever: neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers.* Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters: nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither *"Ye shall drink no wine. Ye shall preserve your bodies in temperance; shall use nothing that would deprive you of your sober reason at any time; lest in such an hour ye should do what might be prejudicial to yourselves, injurious to your neighbour, or dishonourable to God. Neither shall ye build house, &c. Ye shall not become residents in any place; ye shall not covet wealthy possessions; ye shall live free from ambition and from envy, that ye may be free from contention and strife. But ye shall dwell in tents. Ye shall imitate your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the rest of the patriarchs, who dwelt in tents, being strangers and pilgrims upon earth; looking for a heavenly country, and being determined to have nothing here that would indispose their minds towards that place of endless rest, or to prevent them from passing through temporal things, so as not to lose those that are eternal. There must necessarily be more in these injunctions, than meets the eye in the letter of this account." A. CLARKE, have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, come, and let us go to Jerusalem, for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.^ Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying, thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel; go and tell the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith Jehovah. The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me. I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other Gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me. Because the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me: therefore, thus saith Jehovah the God of Hosts, the God of Israel; behold, I will bring upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered. And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel; because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept commanded you, therefore, thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab, the son of Rechab, shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.' ""* * That is, a scribe, whose business it was to occupy themselves in the study of the law. (1 Chron. ii. 55.)—Jer. xxxv. 2—19. The history of this branch of the family of Abraham affords almost as illustrious a fulfilment of prophecy, and consequently of the proof of the Old Testament Scriptures, as those relating to the Jews in general, or to the descendants of Ishmael in particular; but the peculiar interest they are calculated to excite, arises from some late discoveries respecting them. The house of Rechab descended from Hemath, who is said to have been the father of it, (1 Chron. ii. 55.); but respecting whom we have no other information. Rechab himself is not presented to us under a very favourable aspect, for we only know him, and his brother Baanah, as the assassins of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, whom Abner placed upon the throne of Israel on his father's death, (2 Sam. iv. 2-S.). For this regicidal act, instead of rewarding them as they had anticipated, David ordered them both to be hanged as malefactors. (2 Sam. iv. 9—12.) Their father's name was Rimmon, a Beerothite, of the tribe of Benjamin. The only mention we have of Jonadab, the son of this Rechab, (as we may suppose) is when he joined himself to Jehu, and united with him in executing the judgments of God upon the house of Ahab, and the prophets of Baal. (2 Kings, x. 15. 17. 23.) And then follows the foregoing remarkable prophecy relating to this family, who were selected by Jehovah himself, as examples of obedience to the commands of a mere wordly progenitor, given almost 300 years before, contrasting it with the universal rebellion and ingratitude of the Jews in general, to the authority of Jehovah himself. It is not mentioned before, that Jonadab gave any such command; but it is worthy of notice, that he from whom no secrets are hid, and with whom all things are alike from the beginning to the end, not only was aware of the command itself, but of its rigid and conscientious observance; "Go to the house of the Rechabites, and take them into a chamber, and give them wine to drink." (Jer. Xxxv. 2.) The prophet obeyed, and placed before them pots of wine and cups to drink out of, and invited them to drink; and as the invitation came from a prophet of God, they might have ren |