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:
This chapter is of an earlier date than many of those before; for what is contained in it was said and done in the days of Jehoiakim (Jer 35:1); but then it must be in the latter part of his reign, for it was after the king of Babylon with his army came up into the land (Jer 35:11), which seems to refer to the...
Commenting on Jeremiah 35:1-11
But they said, we will drink no wine,.... Or "we do not drink wine" (e); we are not used to it; we never do drink any; it is not lawful for us to do it; nor will we, let who will solicit us: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father; not their immediate father, but their progenitor; perhaps the same Jonadab is meant who...
Jonadab . . . our father--that is, forefather and director, three hundred years before (Kg2 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.