Obedience of the Rechabites

The sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have observed the command of their father which he commanded them.

Rechab commanded his sons to not drink wine, live in houses, or plant vineyards. I wonder why. I wonder what circumstances brought this about. Oh well, the answer is bound to be somewhere.

There are a couple of other things I notice here. One is their faithfulness to the word of their father. "He's just this guy, you know." Yet down through the ages, they obeyed. I don't regret not having a vineyard, or wine, but I think I would miss my house. Sleeping in a tent would get old fast, I think. Yet it sounds like they all obeyed.

Two, the father gave a command. So many fathers are absent from their families this day. Here we see one of the reasons we need them. Sure, mothers can give commands to the families, but when there are two parents they can support each other. And many parents today are very lax. I'm pretty relaxed, but I don't think I'll give my kids as much 'freedom' as I see others doing. They need to know there are boundaries, and where those boundaries are located. Then they will grow up confident and obedient, hard-working ethical people. People who know there are rules in this world that need to be followed rather than bent. Not all rules are meant to be broken. I'm not sure any of them are.

Third, this command brought a blessing on the family. They were immortalized in the Bible for their obedience. They were used as an object lesson to the nation of Judah. Thats pretty high praise in my opinion. And the last verse in the chapter gives God's blessing. This family line will never die out. Wow.

Obedience only comes in response to a command. We cannot obey where there are no rules.