2 Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak with them, and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.
and the families of the scribes who dwelt at Jabez: the Tireathites, the Shimeathites, the Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.
For in their trust these four were the chief doorkeepers: they were Levites; and they were over the chambers and over the treasuries of the house of God;
And against the wall of the house he built floors round about, [against] the walls of the house, round about the temple and the oracle; and he made side-chambers round about. The lowest floor was five cubits broad, and the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for in the [thickness of the wall of] the house he made resets round about outside, that nothing should be fastened in the walls of the house.
and I brought them into the house of Jehovah, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.
and before the cells was a walk of ten cubits in breadth, [and] a way of a hundred cubits inward; and their entries were toward the north. And the upper cells, because the galleries encroached on them, were shorter than the lower, and than the middle-most of the building. For they were in three [stories], but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts; therefore [the third story] was straitened more than the lowest and the middle-most from the ground. And the wall that was without, answering to the cells, toward the outer court in the front of the cells, its length was fifty cubits: for the length of the cells that were against the outer court was fifty cubits; but behold, before the temple it was a hundred cubits. And under these cells was the entry from the east, as one goeth into them from the outer court. In the breadth of the wall of the court toward the south, before the separate place, and before the building, were cells; and a passage before them, like the appearance of the cells that were toward the north, according to their length, according to their breadth and all their goings out, and according to their fashions, and according to their doors. And according to the doors of the cells that were toward the south there was a door at the head of the way, the way directly before the corresponding wall toward the east as one entereth into them. And he said unto me, The north cells [and] the south cells, which are before the separate place, they are holy cells, where the priests that come near unto Jehovah shall eat the most holy things; there shall they lay the most holy things, both the oblation and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering: for the place is holy.
And he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of the side-chambers, four cubits, round about the house on every side. And the side-chambers were three, chamber over chamber, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which the house had for the side-chambers round about, that they might have hold; but they had not hold in the wall of the house. And for the side-chambers there was an enlarging, and it went round about [the house] increasing upward; for the surrounding of the house increased upward round about the house; therefore the house had width upward, and so ascended [from] the lower [story] to the upper, by the middle one. And I saw that the house had an elevation round about: the foundations of the side-chambers, a full reed, six cubits to the joint. The thickness of the wall, which was for the side-chambers without, was five cubits, as also what was left free along the building of the side-chambers that pertained to the house. And between the cells [and the house] was a width of twenty cubits round about the house on every side. And the entry of the side-chambers was toward what was left free, one entry toward the north, and one entry toward the south; and the width of the space left free was five cubits round about.
And there were closed windows to the chambers, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the projections; and the windows round about were inward; and upon [each] post were palm-trees.
And [each] chamber was one reed long and one reed broad; and between the chambers were five cubits; and the threshold of the gate, beside the porch of the gate within, was one reed. And he measured the porch of the gate within, one reed. And he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward. And the chambers of the gate which was toward the east were three on this side and three on that side: they three were of one measure; and the posts on this side and on that side had one measure. And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; [and] the length of the gate, thirteen cubits. And there was a border before the chambers of one cubit, and a border of one cubit on the other side; and the chambers were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. And he measured the gate from the roof of [one] chamber to the roof [of the other], a breadth of five and twenty cubits, entry opposite entry.
And he built the floors against all the house, five cubits high; and they held to the house by the timbers of cedar.
And it grieved me much, and I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobijah out of the chamber. And I commanded, and they purified the chambers; and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, the oblation and the frankincense.
had prepared for him a great chamber, where formerly they laid the oblations, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine and the oil, which was commanded for the Levites and the singers and the doorkeepers, and the heave-offerings of the priests.
Watch and keep [them] until ye weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the chiefs of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Jehovah.
And Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of Jehovah; and they prepared [them],
For their place was by the side of the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of Jehovah, over the courts, and over the chambers, and over the purifying of all holy things, and [for] the work of the service of the house of God;
And these were the singers, chief fathers of the Levites, [who were] in the chambers free from service; for they were employed day and night.
And he departed thence, and found Jehonadab the son of Rechab [coming] to meet him; and he greeted him, and said to him, Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab said, It is. -- If it be, give [me] thy hand. -- And he gave [him] his hand; and [Jehu] took him up to him into the chariot, and said, Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah. So they made him ride in his chariot.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 35
Commentary on Jeremiah 35 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 35
A variety of methods is tried, and every stone turned, to awaken the Jews to a sense of their sin and to bring them to repentance and reformation. The scope and tendency of many of the prophet's sermons was to frighten them out of their disobedience, by setting before them what would be the end thereof if they persisted in it. The scope of this sermon, in this chapter, is to shame them out of their disobedience if they had any sense of honour left in them for a discourse of this nature to fasten upon.
Jer 35:1-11
This chapter is of an earlier date than many of those before; for what is contained in it was said and done in the days of Jehoiakim (v. 1); but then it must be in the latter part of his reign, for it was after the king of Babylon with his army came up into the land (v. 11), which seems to refer to the invasion mentioned 2 Ki. 24:2, which was upon occasion of Jehoiakim's rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar. After the judgments of God had broken in upon this rebellious people he continued to deal with them by his prophets to turn them from sin, that his wrath might turn away from the. For this purpose Jeremiah sets before them the example of the Rechabites, a family that kept distinct by themselves and were no more numbered with the families of Israel than they with the nations. They were originally Kenites, as appears 1 Chr. 2:55, These are the Kenites that came out of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab. The Kenites, at least those of them that gained a settlement in the land of Israel, were of the posterity of Hobab, Moses's father-in-law, Jdg. 1:16. We find them separated from the Amalekites, 1 Sa. 15:6. See Jdg. 4:17. One family of these Kenites had their denomination from Rechab. His son, or a lineal descendant from him, was Jonadab, a man famous in his time for wisdom and piety. he flourished in the days of Jehu, king of Israel, nearly 300 years before this; for there we find him courted by that rising prince, when he affected to appear zealous for God (2 Ki. 10:15, 16), which he thought nothing more likely to confirm people in the opinion of than to have so good a man as Jonadab ride in the chariot with him. Now here we are told,
Jer 35:12-19
The trial of the Rechabites' constancy was intended but for a sign; now here we have the application of it.