"Promises, Promises"
October 19, 2025
Background: Jeremiah 35:1-19; Print: Jeremiah 35:5-11;
Key Verse: Jeremiah 35:14; Devotional: 2 Corinthians
 

Jeremiah 35:5-11 (ESV)
⁵  Then I set before the Rechabites pitchers full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, “Drink wine.”
⁶  But they answered, “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever.
⁷  You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’
⁸  We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,
⁹  and not to build houses to dwell in. We have no vineyard or field or seed,
¹⁰  but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
¹¹  But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Syrians.’ So we are living in Jerusalem.”

Jeremiah Chapter 35 (Commentary)

35:1-5 Previously, God sent the prophet to visit a Jewish clan called the Rechabites, nomads who were forced to move to Jerusalem when the Babylonians marched into Judah. The story in this chapter is actually a flashback to the years before Zedekiah came to the throne and faced the siege. Jeremiah was instructed by God to invite several Rechabite leaders to a side room in the temple and offer them wine (35:2). Jeremiah obeyed the Lord and encouraged them to drink up (35:3-5).

35:6-11 But the Rechabites’ leaders kindly rejected the offer. They were under a long-standing family covenant not to drink wine or even live in permanent homes. Jonadab, son of [their] ancestor Rechab, had given them this command, and they were determined to keep it—they and their entire families (3:6-10).

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