chapter 10 The Rechabites in the Book of and Their Historical Roots in Israel

Herbert B. Huffmon

1 Introduction

The primary textual appearance of the Rechabites in the is in Jer 35, editorially assigned (35:1) to the period of King Jehoiakim (608–598), more specifically to a time when Judah was being threatened by the forces of King Nebuchadrezzar of who had recruited Aramaean allies (35:11) to assist in his attempt to subjugate Judah. The focus of Jer 35 is Jeremiah’s engagement with the Rechabites, a community with a long tradition of loyalty to a rather distinctive “rule” that they themselves assign to J(eh)onadab,1 whom they de- fine as “our (founding) father” (Jer 35:6). Jehonadab is mentioned in 2 Kgs 10 as a contemporary of the usurper and dynastic founder, Jehu. This Rechabite group is important for Jeremiah because of its enduring loy- alty to the “rule” of Jehonadab for about two and a half centuries, which means eight or more generations. It is not Jehonadab himself who is the model of loy- alty but the Rechabite followers, whose long-time loyalty – not the individual rules – becomes for Jeremiah a model that the people of Judah and Jerusalem need to imitate. As Mulder observed, there is already a contrast between the Rechabites, who are loyal to a founding “father,” and Jeremiah, whose loyalty centers on the one God, Yahweh.2 God’s command through Jeremiah challenges the disloyal people of Israel to “take instruction” from these somewhat strange Yahwistic Rechabites who show intense loyalty to a human, ancestral leader (v. 13). As the exemplary teachers of Israel, Jeremiah advises the Rechabites that “there will be an unending line, through Jehonadab ben Rechab, stand- ing before me” (v. 13).3 Though this may be a priestly role (Jer 33:18), it is an

1 The longer form of the founder’s name predominates in the MT, whereas the shorter form reigns in the OG. Hereafter I will cite only the longer form. 2 Martin J. Mulder, De Rekabieten in Jeremia 35, SKC 68 (Kampen: J.H. Kok, 1990), 9–10. 3 Unless noted otherwise, all translations are my own.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/9789004373273_011 192 Huffmon intercessory role that conceivably will be filled by Rechabites, in the spirit of the intercessory prophets who, like Jeremiah, stand before Yahweh.4

2 Jeremiah’s Message and the Encounter with the Rechabites

The message of the prophet Jeremiah focuses especially on the present disloy- alty of the people and the ultimate consequences of that disloyalty, described in Jer 34:2 as God delivering Jerusalem into the hands of the Babylonians who will burn the city down, albeit that oracle is set in the time of King Zedekiah (597–586), thus a few years later than the ostensible period of Jer 35, that of the prior king, Jehoiakim (608–598). Moreover, Jer 34:8–22 describes a covenant that King Zedekiah and the people entered into, a special covenant of release of fellow Hebrews, male and female, who had been enslaved, a covenant which was quickly violated. This violation is regarded by Jeremiah as a fundamental act of disloyalty, prompting God to make the cities of Judah desolate. Thus, edi- torially the consequences of quick disloyalty are described in detail prior to the special attention given to the long-term loyalty on the part of the Rechabites, the centerpiece of Jer 35. Jeremiah 36 again makes reference to King Jehoiakim, specifically his fouth year (Jer 36:1), and presents Yahweh’s request for a written record that includes “all the words that I have spoken to you (Jeremiah) … from the time of to this day,… all the disaster that I am planning to bring about for them” (Jer 36:2– 3). These cumulative words might lead the people to recognize their disloyalty and to repent so that God might pardon them. (This is the famous scroll report- edly written down by the scribe Baruch ben Neriah [Jer 36:4]). Thus the editors of the book of Jeremiah bracket Jer 35 with references to Jeremiah’s repeated call for obedience, even the written record, supposedly, of all of Jeremiah’s oracles up to that time. Even though editorially Jer 35 is out of chronological sequence, the present arrangement places the example of the long-term loyalty of the Rechabites in the midst of the disastrous reigns of the last two kings of Judah. The theme of Jer 35 fits with the overall precarious situation of Judah toward the end of the sev- enth and early sixth centuries, whichever king is at hand. The people of Judah

4 On the intercessory role of the prophets, see Yohanan Muffs, Love and Joy: Law, Language and Religion in Ancient Israel (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1992), 9–48. Muffs, however, does not refer to Jer 35. Note the comments by Mulder, De Rekabieten in Jeremia 35, 19–20 and 33–34, where he describes the Rechabites’ almost fanatical loyalty, like that of others such as the prophets who form part of the backbone of later Israel.