Rechab

Horseman, or chariot. (1.) One of Ishbosheth’s “captains of bands” or leaders of predatory troops (2 Sam. 4:2).

(2.) The father of Jehonadab, who was the father of the Rechabites (2 Kings 10:15, 23; Jer. 35:6-19).

(rider).

1. One of the two "captains of bands" whom Ish-bosheth took into his service, and who conspired to murder him. (2 Samuel 4:2) (B.C. 1046.)

2. The father of Malchiah, ruler of part of Beth-haccerem. (Nehemiah 3:14) (B.C. before 446.)

3. The father or ancestor of Jehonadab. (2 Kings 10:15,33; 1 Chronicles 2:65; Jeremiah 35:6-19) (B.C.before 882.) It was from this Rechab that the tribe of the Rechabites derived their name. In (1 Chronicles 2:55) the house of Rechab is identified with a section of the Kenites, a Midianitish tribe who came into Canaan with the Israelites, and retained their nomadic habits. The real founder of the tribe was Jehonadab. [JEHONADAB] He and his people had all along been worshippers of Jehovah, circumcised, though not looked upon as belonging to Israel and probably therefore not considering themselves bound by the Mosaic law and ritual. The worship of Baal was offensive to them. Jonadab inaugurated a reformation and compelled a more rigid adherence than ever to the old Arab life. They were neither to drink wine, nor build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant nor have any vineyard. All their days they were to dwell in tents. (Jeremiah 35:6,7) This was to be the condition of their retaining a distinct tribal existence. For two centuries and a half they adhered faithfully to this rule. The invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, in B.C. 607, drove the Rechabites from their tents to Jerusalem, where they stood proof against temptation, and were specially blessed. (Jeremiah 35:2-19) There is much of interest in relation to the present condition of these people. Dr. Wolf reports that the Jews of Jerusalem and Yemen told him that he would find the Rechabites of Jere 35 living near Mecca, in the mountainous country northeast of Medina. When he came near Senaa he came in contact with a tribe, the Beni-Khabir , who identified themselves with the sons of Jehonadab. They claimed to number 60,000, to adhere to the old rules, and to be a fulfillment of the promise made to Jehonadab.

re'-kab, rek'-a-bits (rekhabh, rekhabhim): Rechab is the name of two men of some prominence in the Old Testament records:

(1) A Benjamite of the town of Beeroth, son of Rimmon (2Sa 4:2); he and his brother Baanah were "captains" of the military host of Ish-bosheth. On the death of Abner (2Sa 3:30) the two brothers treacherously entered Ish-bosheth's house, when at noon he was resting and helpless, beheaded him, and escaped with the head to David at Hebron (2Sa 4:6-8). They expected to receive reward and honor from David for the foul deed, which left him without a rival for the throne of all Israel. But the just and noble-minded king ordered their immediate execution (2Sa 4:9-12), as in the case of the Amalekite, who asserted that he had killed Saul (2Sa 1). For some reason the Beerothites left their own town and fled to Gittaim, another town in Benjamin, where they were still living when the Books of Samuel were written (2Sa 4:3).

(2) The more prominent of the men bearing this name was a Kenite (see KENITES), a descendant of Hammath (1Ch 2:55). A part of the Kenite tribe joined the Israelites during the wilderness wanderings (Nu 10:29-32; Jud 1:16; 4:17), becoming identified with the tribe of Judah, although Heber and Jael his wife were settled in Northern Palestine (Jud 4:17). Rechab was the ancestor or founder of a family, or order, in Israel known as the Rechabites, who at various times were conspicuous in the religious life of the nation. The most notable member of this family was Jehonadab (2Ki 10:15ff, 23), or Jonadab, as he is called in Jer 35. Jehonadab was a zealous Yahweh-worshipper and took part with Jehu in the extirpation of Baal-worship and the house of Ahab. He set for his descendants a vow of asceticism: that they should drink no wine, nor plant fields or vineyards, nor build nor live in houses throughout their generations (Jer 35:6,7). That must have been a singular feature in Palestinian life: the simple, nomadic life of this family from generation to generation in the midst of settled agricultural and industrial conditions! They followed this simple life in order to guard against the enervating tendencies of sensualism, and as a covenant of fidelity to Yahweh, to whom they wholly devoted themselves when they joined themselves to Israel. Jeremiah used the Rechabites, who had been driven into Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's investment of the land, as an object-lesson to covenant-breaking Judah. The Rechabites, hungry and thirsty, refused wine when it was set before them, because of the command of their ancestor Jonadab (Jer 35:8-10); but Judah refused to heed Yahweh's commands or to keep His covenant (Jer 35:14,15).

If the Rechab of Ne 3:14 is the same as this Kenite, then his descendant Malchijah, who assisted Nehemiah in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, may have abandoned the vow of his ancestors, for he was "ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem" (i.e. "house of the vineyard").

Edward Mack