The Rechabites, though they dwelt among the Israelites, did
not belong to any of their tribes; for they were Kenites, as appears
from 1 Chron. ii, 55, where the Kenites are said to have come of
“Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab.” These Kenites, afterward
styled Rechabites, were of the family of Jethro, otherwise called Hobab,
whose daughter Moses married; for “the children of the Kenite, Moses’s
father-in-law,” it is said, “went up out of the city of palm trees with
the children of Judah, and dwelt among the people,” Judges i, 16; and we
read of “Heber the Kenite, who was of the children of Hobab, the
father-in-law of Moses, who had severed himself from the Kenites,” or
from the bulk of them who settled in the tribe of Judah, “and pitched
his tent in the plain of Zaanaim,” Judges iv, 11. They appear to have
sprung from Midian, the son of Abraham by Keturah, Gen. xxv, 2; for
Jethro, from whom they are descended, is called a Midianite, Num. x, 23.
Of this family was Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, a man of eminent zeal
for the pure worship of God against idolatry, who assisted King Jehu in
destroying the house of Ahab, and the worshippers of Baal, 2 Kings x,
15, 16, 23, &c. It was he who gave that rule of life to his children and
posterity which we read of in Jer. xxxv, 6, 7. It consisted of these
three articles: that they should drink no wine; that they should neither
possess nor occupy any houses, fields, or vineyards; that they should
dwell in tents. This was the institution of the children of Rechab; and
this they continued to observe for upward of three hundred years, from
the time of Jehu to that of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, when
Nebuchadnezzar coming to besiege Jerusalem, the Rechabites were obliged
to leave the country and take refuge in the city. In Jer. xxxv, there is
a promise made to this people, that Jonadab, the son of Rechab, should
not want a man to stand before the Lord; that is, that his posterity
should not fail: and to this day this tribe is found among the Arabians
of the desert, distinct, free, and practising exactly the institutions
of Jonadab, whose name they bear, and of whose institutions they boast.
This is a remarkable instance of the exact fulfilment of a minute and
isolated prophecy. See BENI KHAIBIR.
not belong to any of their tribes; for they were Kenites, as appears
from 1 Chron. ii, 55, where the Kenites are said to have come of
“Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab.” These Kenites, afterward
styled Rechabites, were of the family of Jethro, otherwise called Hobab,
whose daughter Moses married; for “the children of the Kenite, Moses’s
father-in-law,” it is said, “went up out of the city of palm trees with
the children of Judah, and dwelt among the people,” Judges i, 16; and we
read of “Heber the Kenite, who was of the children of Hobab, the
father-in-law of Moses, who had severed himself from the Kenites,” or
from the bulk of them who settled in the tribe of Judah, “and pitched
his tent in the plain of Zaanaim,” Judges iv, 11. They appear to have
sprung from Midian, the son of Abraham by Keturah, Gen. xxv, 2; for
Jethro, from whom they are descended, is called a Midianite, Num. x, 23.
Of this family was Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, a man of eminent zeal
for the pure worship of God against idolatry, who assisted King Jehu in
destroying the house of Ahab, and the worshippers of Baal, 2 Kings x,
15, 16, 23, &c. It was he who gave that rule of life to his children and
posterity which we read of in Jer. xxxv, 6, 7. It consisted of these
three articles: that they should drink no wine; that they should neither
possess nor occupy any houses, fields, or vineyards; that they should
dwell in tents. This was the institution of the children of Rechab; and
this they continued to observe for upward of three hundred years, from
the time of Jehu to that of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, when
Nebuchadnezzar coming to besiege Jerusalem, the Rechabites were obliged
to leave the country and take refuge in the city. In Jer. xxxv, there is
a promise made to this people, that Jonadab, the son of Rechab, should
not want a man to stand before the Lord; that is, that his posterity
should not fail: and to this day this tribe is found among the Arabians
of the desert, distinct, free, and practising exactly the institutions
of Jonadab, whose name they bear, and of whose institutions they boast.
This is a remarkable instance of the exact fulfilment of a minute and
isolated prophecy. See BENI KHAIBIR.