Jeremiah 35:2-4 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Go to the house of the Rechabites “The Rechabites, as may be collected from Jeremiah 35:7, were not of the children of Israel, but strangers of another race that dwelt among them. From 1 Chronicles 2:55, they appear to have been Kenites, a people originally settled in that part of Arabia Petræa which was called the land of Midian. At what time Rechab lived, who gave his name to the family, is not certain, nor whether he was the immediate father, or remote ancestor of Jonadab; for the word son often denotes nothing more than a lineal descendant. But it is most likely that the Jonadab here spoken of, as having dictated a rule of living to the Rechabites, was the same person of whom mention is made 2 Kings 10:15. For that this latter was a man of considerable eminence is manifest from the respect shown him by Jehu; and his being taken along with that prince to witness his zeal for the honour of the true God, shows him to have been a man of right and religious principles. The institutions he left with his posterity bespeak a principal concern for the purity of their morals, which he might rightly suppose would be less liable to be corrupted whilst they adhered to the simplicity of their ancient usages, than if they adopted the refinements of modern luxury. He, therefore, enjoined them not only to abstain from the use of wine, but to live as the patriarchs did of old, and as many of their countrymen, the Scenite Arabs, continue to do at this day, without any fixed habitations or possessions, far from the society of cities, in the open country, feeding their flocks, and maintaining themselves by the produce of them.” Blaney. And bring them into the house of the Lord Into one of the chambers adjoining to the temple. By this it appears that the Rechabites were not idolaters, for it was not lawful for such persons to come within the precincts of the temple. I brought them into the chamber of the sons of Hanan The chambers adjoining to the temple, of which there were several, were for the use of the priests and Levites, during the time of their ministrations. They were also used as repositories for laying up the holy vestments, and vessels, and whatever stores were necessary for the daily sacrifices, and the other parts of the temple service. The son of Igdaliah, a man of God That is, as this name usually imports, a prophet, or one who had been employed upon a divine commission. Which was by the chamber of the princes The chamber where the princes, or the members of the sanhedrim, or great council, used to assemble. Above the chamber of Maaseiah, the keeper of the door That is, one of the keepers; for there were several Levites appointed to that office, both to open and shut the gates of the temple in due time, and likewise to attend at them all day, for preventing any thing that might happen to the prejudice of the purity, or safety of that holy place. Some of these officers had likewise the custody of the holy vessels.