Man living at the time of Divided Monarchy
Rechab was the ancestor of the Rechabites, a nomadic tribe known for their faithfulness to God's commands.
🗺 Places mentioned alongside Rechab on the map →
Also known as Rekab · Rechabite · Rekabite
Rechab was the father of Jehonadab (2Ki.10.15) and the ancestor of the Rechabites, a nomadic tribe known for their strict adherence to God's commands (Jeremiah 35). The Rechabites were descendants of the Kenites, who were associated with the Israelites since the time of Moses (Jdg.1.16). Jehonadab, son of Rechab, supported Jehu in his purge of Baal worship in Israel (2Ki.10.15-23). The Rechabites were known for their obedience to the commands of their ancestor Jonadab, which included abstaining from wine, not building houses, not sowing seed, and not planting vineyards (Jer.35.6-7). When the prophet Jeremiah tested their obedience by offering them wine, they refused, demonstrating their commitment to their ancestral vows (Jer.35.1-11). God commended the Rechabites for their faithfulness and promised that they would always have a descendant to serve Him (Jer.35.18-19). The example of the Rechabites stands as a model of obedience and devotion to God in the midst of a society that had largely abandoned His ways.
More background: search Wikipedia ↗
12 verses in 3 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H7394
When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, “Is your heart as true to mine as my heart is to yours?” “It is!” Jehonadab replied. “If it is,” said Jehu, “give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and Jehu helped him into his chariot,
Next, Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rechab entered the temple of Baal, and Jehu said to the servants of Baal, “Look around to see that there are no servants of the LORD here among you—only servants of Baal.”
and the clans of the scribes who lived at Jabez—the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.
“Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them to one of the chambers of the house of the LORD to offer them a drink of wine.”
So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons—the entire house of the Rechabites—
Then I set pitchers full of wine and some cups before the men of the house of the Rechabites, and I said to them, “Drink some wine.”
“We do not drink wine,” they replied, “for our forefather Jonadab son of Rechab commanded us, ‘Neither you nor your descendants are ever to drink wine.
And we have obeyed the voice of our forefather Jonadab son of Rechab in all he commanded us. So we have not drunk wine all our lives—neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters.
The words of Jonadab son of Rechab have been carried out. He commanded his sons not to drink wine, and they have not drunk it to this very day because they have obeyed the command of their forefather. But I have spoken to you again and again, and you have not obeyed Me!
Yes, the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not listened to Me.
Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites: “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you have obeyed the command of your forefather Jonadab and have kept all his commandments and have done all that he charged you to do,
this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Jonadab son of Rechab will never fail to have a man to stand before Me.’”
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.