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:
Jonadab ... our father - i:e., forefather and director, 300 years before (2 Kings 10:15). They were called Rechabites, not Jonadabites, having received their name from Rechab the father, previously to their adopting the injunctions of Jonadab his son. This case affords no justification for slavish deference to the religious opinions of the Christian fathers; because Jonadab's injunction only affected matters of the present life; moreover, it was not binding on their consciences, because they deemed it not unlawful to go to Jerusalem in the invasion (Jeremiah 35:11). What is praised here is not the fathers injunction, but the obedience of the sons (Calvin).