Chapter 35 of Jeremiah tells a very interesting story. God asked the prophet to invite the family of the Rechabites to a room in the temple and offer them wine to drink. I imagine that it must have been an honor for the Rechabites to be invited there. It was the kind of invitation that one does not refuse, similar to an invitation from a king. And in such a circumstance, in front of such a prophet, there are things that are simply not done. When you are offered a drink, you drink; when you are offered food, you eat.

Recently, I was in the office of a 54-year-old pastor whom I greatly respect because of his work for the Lord. The person in charge of the guests offered me a drink; I declined, thanking her. Then, a few minutes later, the pastor arrived, and she offered him a drink, and he asked for coffee. Then the person asked me again if I wanted something to drink, and the pastor told me that the French vanilla coffee was excellent. The problem is that I don’t drink coffee. I’ve never had it, and I find it really disgusting. I didn’t say anything, but he praised its excellent taste: he really seemed to want me to try it! He then ordered three French vanilla coffees for himself, my friend, and me.

You see, in that circumstance, I didn’t dare say no. Here, the prophet Jeremiah placed full jars of wine and cups in front of these people and said, “Drink wine!” This was certainly not just any wine, they were in the Temple! But they answered Jeremiah:

“We will not drink wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall never drink wine, you nor your sons forever‘” (Jer. 35:6).

Some husbands struggle to keep a promise made to their wives, but here, this family succeeded in obeying an ancestor who had died! But that’s not all that Jonadab had asked! He had also said:

“You shall not build houses, you shall not sow seed, you shall not plant vineyards, nor shall you have them; but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you are strangers” (Jer. 35:7).

Imagine what an unheard-of request this was! Imagine a fiancée making such a request of her fiancé for marriage: “For you to marry me, I ask only one thing: we will live in tents or a caravan, and this will be for the rest of our lives. We will own nothing but that.” I imagine the marriage would be postponed forever!

They added, in response to their refusal: “We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us: we will not drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters. We will not build houses to dwell in; we do not have vineyards or fields, nor do we plant seed. We dwell in tents, and we follow and obey all that Jonadab our father commanded us” (Jer. 35:8-10).

What faithfulness! In a time like today, where men are rebellious to their parents, disobedient, and insolent, the family of the Rechabites is a model of respect and faithfulness.

God then asked Jeremiah to speak to the people of Judah and Jerusalem so that they could learn a lesson from this family’s obedience: God, who had sent all His servants, the prophets, early in the morning, and for a long time, to bring them back to Him, had received only rebellion and disobedience, while a simple man, Jonadab, whose demands and expectations were far greater, had received submission and obedience.

Because of the faithfulness of the Rechabites, God proclaimed that this family would never lack descendants who stand in His presence. And indeed, that’s what happened.

We hear of this Jonadab in 2 Kings, chapter 10: he was invited by Jehu, who had been anointed as king at the command of the prophet Elisha. Jehu had been chosen by God to avenge the death of God’s prophets by destroying the house of Ahab.

Jehu killed Joram, he killed Ahaziah, he killed Jezebel, and 70 sons of Ahab. He killed all of Ahab’s family and 42 men from Ahaziah’s family. It was then that he invited Jonadab, saying: “Is your heart right, as my heart is toward yours?” (2 Kings 10:15). Upon the affirmative, Jehu said to him: “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord” (2 Kings 10:16).

Accompanied by Jonadab, Jehu killed the rest of Ahab’s family that was in Samaria and pretended to be a great servant of Baal before the people: announcing a great ceremony in honor of Baal, he asked that all those who served Baal, without exception, be present at the Baal temple. Jehu had everyone killed, thus putting an end to Baal’s reign. He overthrew and burned every object of Baal worship, fully executing God’s will regarding the house of Ahab.

Jonadab had a sincere and upright heart, and he saw, in those days, a man who was totally zealous and radical for God, with no half-measures. It is certain that this left a lasting impression on him. It is no surprise that much later, his descendants, the family of the Rechabites, also had sincere and upright hearts, full of zeal in their obedience to their ancestor.

This family is, for us today, a sign, calling us to complete faithfulness to God, no matter the price to be paid or the things to be abandoned. We can then declare with them: “We obey all that the Lord has commanded us… and we follow and practice all that He has commanded us” (Jer. 35:8-10).

Is our faithfulness to social media or our toothbrush greater than the faithfulness we show to God? Are we faithful to Him, or have we, in some way, abandoned Jesus?

This text is an excerpt from the book “UNJUST LOVE” written by Jérémy Sourdril.

We invite you to read the following article “WHAT IS YOUR IMAGE OF GOD?“