Jeremiah 35 reminds me that many of us have family traditions, particularly around holidays. Some things just seem normal to us because our family has done it for so long. Have you ever stopped to wonder how a tradition got started? In today’s chapter we have a cultural clash between the city folks and their nomadic visitors. God used these country folks as an object lesson for the Jewish people. The chapter begins, with a Word from the Lord “Go to the Rekabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink”. These Rekabites were probably decedents of Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro. They wandered freely with their cattle and tents throughout the Promised Land, “But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded”, they came “to Jerusalem to escape”. Jeremiah obeyed, “I brought them into the house of the Lord… the whole family of the Rekabites”. Of course, they came to one of the exterior rooms, not the Temple itself. “Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”” I’m not sure about you, but if this was my entire family, he would not have to ask twice!
Their response is unwavering, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab”. While it is responsible not to be drinking while driving cattle, they explain that their patriarch gave them a command, “Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine”. Grand Pappy spoke and they listened. And he gave them a few more tidbits, “Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards… but must always live in tents”. The only rationale offered was, “Then you will live a long time in the land”. It is likely people concluded that they must be religious, but traditions are different from faith.
God told Jeremiah now “Go and tell the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem”. And He asks a pointed question, “Will you not learn a lesson and obey My words?” Some of us religiously follow family customs with little knowledge about why. Often the line between conviction, heritage blur together. God continued, “But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed Me… I sent all My servants the prophets to you… But you have not paid attention or listened to Me”. In a stinging commentary God compared His people to the Rekabites; they “have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed Me”. The chapter adds a word to some of us that blame God for not getting our attention, “I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer”. God desires our worship not through obligation, but through understanding and faith in Christ. God’s Word teaches that we worship with thanks because “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4). Are you too sophisticated to believe? “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). The apostle Paul explained, “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). I pray you find true wisdom in His Word.