{"id":71529,"date":"2020-03-11T10:38:25","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T08:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71529"},"modified":"2020-03-11T10:38:25","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T08:38:25","slug":"the-rechabites-biblical-teetotalers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-rechabites-biblical-teetotalers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rechabites \u2013 Biblical Teetotalers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In our Chapter, Jeremiah is told by God to: \u201cGo to the house of the Rechabites\u2026and bring them to the House of the Lord…and give them wine to drink\u201d (2). But they decline to imbibe: \u201cWe will not drink wine, for our ancestor, Jonadab son of Rechab, commanded us: You shall never drink wine, either you or your children. Nor shall you build houses or sow fields or plant vineyards, nor shall you own such things; but you shall live in tents all your days, so that you may live long upon the land where you sojourn\u201d ( 6-7)\u2026 And so we are living in Jerusalem\u201d (11).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the continuation, God clarifies to Jeremiah that the point of this curious encounter is to provide an example of unquestioning obedience, in contrast to the Jerusalemites, who persistently refuse to obey the commands of God. In the end of our Chapter, Jeremiah relates God\u2019s promise to the Rechabites: \u201cBecause you have obeyed the charge of your ancestor Jonadab\u2026There shall never cease to be a man of the line of Jonadab son of Rechab standing before Me\u201d (18-19).<\/span><\/p>\n

Post-Biblical tradition continues to elaborate the story of the Rechabites. This reaches its most expansive and popular form in a Christian monastic work, probably composed in the 4<\/span>th<\/span> century CE, referred to in contemporary scholarship as \u201cThe History of the Rechabites\u201d. This extensive narrative, perhaps partly based on a Hebrew original, is preserved in different versions in several ancient languages, including Ethiopic, Greek and Syriac. In this work, an ascetic named Zosimus, guided by an angel, visits the secluded island of the Blessed Ones. These turn out to be the Rechabites, who record for him on two stone tablets their history. In the time of Jeremiah, they left Jerusalem for their present island home. Here they dwell together with angels. They continue to abstain from wine as in Jerusalem but have taken on additional ascetic practices. They do not eat bread and live in caves, in a state of nakedness (like Adam and Eve in Paradise). They survive on water that tastes like honey, miraculous fruits and once every 40 days manna descends for them from heaven like that on which the Israelites subsisted in the Desert. They do marry but have sexual relations only in order to have two children, after which the women remain apart from the men living in chastity. They are not immortal, but they live for hundreds of years. When they do die, it is not because of any sickness or infirmity. Angels come to take their soul to heaven; welcoming it they say: \u201cYou, O soul, are blessed, since the will of God was fulfilled in you\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Understandably, many have claimed to be the descendants of the biblical Rechabites. For example, Genesis Rabbah 98:8 states that Rabbi Yose ben Halafta was a descendant of the biblical Jonadab son of Rechab. In later times, descendants of the Rechabites have been purportedly identified in Yemen and even China!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0 The Sons of Rechab, at Englesea Brook by Jane Richardson<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":71530,"id":71530,"title":"jer35-rechabites","filename":"jer35-rechabites.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer35-rechabites.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-rechabites-biblical-teetotalers\/jer35-rechabites\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer35-rechabites","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71529,"date":"2020-03-11 08:38:09","modified":"2020-03-11 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