Chapter 35

Humans excel at missing the point.

Jeremiah chapter 35 contains a superb example of this, but you have to go back to 1920s Methodists to understand this particular example.

Let’s get straight into it. In one of the object lessons that is a hallmark of this book, God asks Jeremiah to go to some of the guys who worked at the Temple, the Recabites. He’s told to bring wine. And as soon as he gets there, he’s to pour them a glass of wine.

A Recabite informs him that they never drink . . wine. In fact, their ancestor Jonadab (obviously enough, the son of Recab!) commanded them never to drink wine (or, oddly enough, to live in permanent homes). And the Recabites have honoured this vow for many years.

My grandmother has always described herself as a Recabite. If you ask her why, she’ll explain that the Recabites were commended for their refusal to drink wine, and so the modern day Recabites[1] chose to swear off alcohol. Though curiously they were all okay with living in permanent homes . . .

Now, I don’t drink . . wine[2]. Or beer, or any other alcoholic drink; and clearly, I believe there’s much that’s good about avoiding alcohol. But here’s where missing the point comes in. See, if you read this passage, it’s actually not telling Jeremiah that he’s to avoid the Demon Drink. You may notice that Jeremiah has wine, so he’s not a teetotaler[3]. That’s not what God is asking for!

Remember yesterday’s passage was about Judah’s failure to keep their promises? Well, this is following on from that. God has sent Jeremiah to talk to the Recabites for the simple reason that THEY KNOW HOW TO KEEP A PROMISE.

Jeremiah is brought to these people to observe them as a case study in how to do it right.

Each of us can think about people of integrity, and one of the features of people of integrity is that they keep their promises.

So the cash value of this passage for each of us is that we need to become persons of integrity, and there are others around us who can help by showing us good examples.

[1] When I say Modern Day, we’re talking 1920s. Which is a long time ago for us, but it’s pretty recent compared with the 2500 years ago that Jeremiah wrote . . .

[2] That joke just never gets old, does it?

[3] In fact in a pre-refrigeration world, forswearing alcohol made your life quite difficult. Fruit juice couldn’t be preserved except in the form of wine, so this puts the Recabites’ vow in a different light!