Worship or Tradition?
June 8, 2022
Commentary
As background for this passage the “Rechabites” were a tribe of people who lived during the reign of Ahab, were staunch resisters to the worship of fertility gods and were somewhat related to Israel by marriage. They were descendants of the Kenites, the tribe of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Some three hundred years before Jeremiah’s time, one of their number, Rechab, was an associate of Jehu, king of Israel, at the time of Elisha. Rechab’s son was Jonadab, and this account tells us that Jonadab grew tired of life in the city and longed for a simpler way of life (vv. 1-9). Jonadab evidently felt so strongly about it that he commanded his sons to drink no wine, to build no houses, and to have no vineyard or field or seed. They were to live in tents as nomads all their lives. When Nebuchadnezzar came up against Judah, the Rechabites took refuge in the city of Jerusalem, and Jeremiah now is sent to them by God (vv. 10-11).
The chapter opens with God’s command to Jeremiah to go to the Rechabites, bring them into the temple, and offer them wine to drink. I do not believe this has anything to do with the question of whether or not one should drink wine. These Rechabites were commended not necessarily because they did not drink wine, but because they were faithful to the command of their father. When Jeremiah offered them wine they refused to drink it, as God knew they would. God requires of a nation, or of a church, a continual review of the methods of the past in the flashing light of the revelation of God today. If we are not going back over and over, reviewing what has been done in the past, and asking ourselves, “Is this in line with what we understand now to be the truth?” we are certain to sink more and more into the ooze and mire of tradition, to be lost in its swamps.
Application
I never want to be hung up on just following tradition but always open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life.
Jeremiah 35:1– 11 (NET)
1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah: 2 “Go to the Rechabite community. Invite them to come into one of the side rooms of the Lord’s temple and offer them some wine to drink.” 3 So I went and got Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah the grandson of Habazziniah, his brothers, all his sons, and all the rest of the Rechabite community. 4 I took them to the Lord’s temple. I took them into the room where the disciples of the prophet Hanan son of Igdaliah stayed. That room was next to the one where the temple officers stayed and above the room where Maaseiah son of Shallum, one of the doorkeepers of the temple, stayed. 5 Then I set cups and pitchers full of wine in front of the members of the Rechabite community and said to them, “Have some wine.” 6 But they answered, “We do not drink wine because our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us not to. He told us, ‘You and your children must never drink wine. 7 Do not build houses. Do not plant crops. Do not plant a vineyard or own one. Live in tents all your lives. If you do these things you will live a long time in the land that you wander about on.’ 8 We and our wives and our sons and daughters have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us. We have never drunk wine. 9 We have not built any houses to live in. We do not own any vineyards, fields, or crops. 10 We have lived in tents. We have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab and done exactly as he commanded us. 11 But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded the land we said, ‘Let’s get up and go to Jerusalem to get away from the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ That is why we are staying here in Jerusalem.”
Illustration: Leaving Church Empty Hungry And Frustrated
Do you know what is really sad? Many people leave churches feeling empty every week. They come hungry for the Word of God, but when they aren’t fed, they go empty, hungry, and frustrated. Eventually, unless all they want out of church is the security of tradition (and listen many people are very comfortable at that level) or if they just want an entertainment fix, they will drift away in an effort to find a place that’s offering some substance. (Michael Demastas – Sermon Central)