Difference between revisions of "Rechab"

<p> Father or ancestor of Jehonadab. (See [[Jehonadab]] .) (&nbsp;2 Kings 10:15; &nbsp;2 Kings 10:23; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 2:55; &nbsp;Jeremiah 35:6-19). RECHABITES, the dwellers in cities, are distinguished from the nomadic wanderers (&nbsp;Genesis 4:20-22); and the distinction still exists in [[Persia]] and Arabia, where the two classes are found side by side. Rechab, meaning "rider," may be an epithet that became a proper name; a wild Bedouin-like nomadic rider, as the [[Rechab]] (&nbsp;2 Samuel 4:2): a fit companion for [[Jehu]] the furious driver (&nbsp;2 Kings 9:20). Boulduc (Ecclesiastes ante Leg., 3:10) infers from &nbsp;2 Kings 2:12; &nbsp;2 Kings 13:14, that [[Elijah]] and [[Elisha]] were "the chariot ( '''''Recheb''''' ) of Israel," i.e. its safeguard, and that their austere followers were "sells of the chariot," which phrase was subsequently, through ignorance of the original meaning, made "sons of Rechab." </p> <p> John of [[Jerusalem]] says Jehonadab was Elisha's disciple (Instit. Monach. 25). The ascetic rule against wine, houses, sowing, and planting (Jeremiah 35), was a safeguard against the corrupting license of the Phoenician cities and their idolatries (&nbsp;Amos 2:7-8; &nbsp;Amos 6:3-6). They must rigidly adhere to the simplicity of their [[Arab]] tent life. Jehonadab's name, containing "Jehovah," and his abhorrence of [[Baal]] worship, imply that the [[Rechabites]] though not of [[Israel]] were included in the Abrahamic covenant; the Arab '''''Wahabees''''' , ascetics as to opium and tobacco, present a parallel. In Jeremiah's days they were still faithful to Jehovah. Their strict [[Nazarite]] vow was the ground of their admission into one of the temple chambers devoted to the sons of Hanak sprung from "Igdaliah a man of God," or prophet of special sanctity. </p> <p> There they resisted the temptation to drink wine; and Jeremiah makes their faithfulness to their earthly father a reproof of Israel's unfaithfulness to their heavenly Father. God consequently promises, "Jehonadab son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before Me forever," i.e. to minister in the sanctuary before [[Jehovah]] so long as Israel's sanctuary and polity stand: so [[Levi]] (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 10:8; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:5-7; &nbsp;Genesis 18:22; &nbsp;Judges 20:28; &nbsp;Psalms 134:1; &nbsp;Jeremiah 15:19); so the targum of [[Jonathan]] translated "ministers before Me." It was an adoption of the Rechabites into Israel, by incorporation with Levi, on the ground of their Nazarite-like purity and consecration. </p> <p> The Rechabites are spoken of as "scribes" (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 2:55); at the return from [[Babylon]] they took a profession, almost exclusively a [[Levite]] one. Kimchi (in Vatablus) cites the tradition recorded by Rechab. Judah that the Rechabites married Levites, and their children ministered in the temple. Their close juxtaposition with the sons of David (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 3:1) shows in what esteem the sacred writer held them. [[Hegesippus]] (Eusebius, H. E. ii. 23) mentions that a [[Rechabite]] priest protested against the martyrdom of James the Just. Hegesippus thus attests the existence of the Rechabites as sharing in the temple ritual down to its destruction by the Romans; fulfilling &nbsp;Jeremiah 35:19. </p> <p> [[Benjamin]] of [[Tudela]] (12th century) says that near [[El]] Jubar (Pumbeditha) he found 100,000 Rechabite Jews, who tilled, kept flocks and herds, abstained from wine and flesh, and gave tithes to teachers who devoted themselves to studying the law and weeping for Jerusalem; their prince [[Solomon]] han [[Nasi]] traced his descent to David and ruled over Thema and Telmas. Wolff found a tribe, the Beni Khaibr, near Senaa, who called themselves "sons of Jonadab," and said they numbered 60,000 (Journal, ii. 334,335). The [[Septuagint]] prefixes a title to Psalm 71, "a psalm by David, of the sons of Jonadab, and of those first carried captive": this implies, in the third century B.C., a [[Hebrew]] title existed declaring that the Rechabites shared the [[Babylonian]] captivity, and with the Levite psalmists expressed the nation's sorrows and aspirations. </p>

<li> The father of Jehonadab, who was the father of the Rechabites (&nbsp;2 Kings 10:15,23; &nbsp;Jeremiah 35:6-19 ). <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton [[M.A., DD]]  Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Rechab'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/r/rechab.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

<p> (Heb. Recchab', '''''רֵכָב''''' , ''A Rider;'' Sept. '''''῾Ρηχάβ''''' ) '','' the name of three men. </p> <p> '''1.''' The first named of the two "sons of [[Rimmon]] the Beerothite," "captains of bands," who murdered [[Ishbosheth]] in his bed in order to gain favor with David, but were put to death by him, with expressions of abhorrence for their crime (&nbsp;2 Samuel 4:5-12). B.C. 1046. [[Josephus]] calls him ''Thannus'' ( '''''Θάννος''''' , Ant. 7:2, 1). The other's name was Baanah (q.v.). </p> <p> '''2.''' The "father" of Jehonadab (or Jonadab, &nbsp;Jeremiah 35:6), who was Jehu's companion in destroying the worshippers of Baal (&nbsp;2 Kings 10:15; &nbsp;2 Kings 10:23 '').'' (See Jehonadab). B.C. ante 882. He was the ancestor of the Rechabites (q.v.). </p> <p> '''3.''' The father of Malchiah, which latter was ruler of part of Beth-haccerem, and is named as repairing the dung-gate in the fortifications of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (&nbsp;Nehemiah 3:14). B.C. ante 446. </p>