Come See My Zeal

Jer. 35  The Recabites.

Compare this to 2 Kings 10:15 - 16, where Jehu, freshly anointed king over Israel and given the task of wiping out Ahab's wicked family, meets Jonadab.  "Come, see my zeal for the Lord," Jehu exclaims to Jonadab.  But see how far Jehu's zeal lasted.  It flagged.  It was second soil religiosity, springing up at once, but withering quickly thereafter.

Yet Jonadab inculcated something into his offspring so that they were committed to following their fore-father's commands more than 250 years later.  He made his family take a strict Nazarite vow: no wine.  Wine is given to bring joy to men's hearts (Ps. 104:15), but if man finds his joy in the Lord and in His presence and Word, wine is not needed.  Wine used wrongly deadens the mind and the heart to reality.  Jonadab wanted his family to be aware of reality and not rely on worldly things for temporary joy.

He also, beyond the Nazarite vow, made them be nomads and tent-dwellers.  Such dwelling reinforced practical life lessons each and every day (according to Matthew Henry):

• A tent-dweller is seen as a poor, indigent person, teaching them to be humble.
• A tent is not suited to a life of ease with ivory & gold beds, teaching them not to indulge the body & its wants.
• Being nomadic and wandering means they do not own property, teaching them that they should not hold onto things of this earth.

We don't know at what occasion Jonadab instructed his family to do this.  Perhaps it was because of the wicked and opulent life-style of Ahab and the off-spring of Ahab.  Perhaps it was because Jehu said, "Come see my zeal for the Lord" but in the end had not zeal for the Lord but rather trusted in things and relished luxury and pleasure over anything of true religion.

And so the family line of Jonadab continued in this way of living for more than 250 years.  Contrast that with the wicked king Jehoiakim who brazenly defied and despised the Word of the Lord.  The Lord gave each their just reward.  Jehoiakim met death and ignominy; the Recabites were promised there would always be someone in that family line that would serve the Lord.  That means that somewhere today there is at least one who comes from Jonadab who is loving the Lord and serving Him.  No greater joy for a parent than to see their children walking in truth! (3 John 4)

Now who were the Recabites?

In 1 Chr 2:55 we see that they were Kenites: "These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab."

Who then were the Kenites?

In Judges 1:16 we see that they were the descendants of Moses' father-in-law: "And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people."

They remained in Israel and Judah that whole time but distinct.  This is a picture of how Christians are to live in this world: in the world but not of the world.  Notice also that they were not isolated, solitary individuals, but were clans—a body fitly joined together like we read in Ephesians 4 (esp. 4:16).

So make sure you have zeal—that is good.  But make sure it is zeal according to knowledge (Rom. 10:2) and make sure that is it a zeal that burns consistently and constantly unto the end for the Lord.  Don't be a flash in the pan only to turn into ash that is scraped out and tossed away.  Keep feeding the fire of your zeal with the rich word of the Holy Scriptures and let the Spirit fan it into flame.  He is the breath that blows across the smoldering coals of our heart and He is the oil which is fuel for the flame.  Burn brightly and burn consistently, but burn for Him!