have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab, the Son of Rechab our Father, in all that he charged us, to drink

corporated with a protected and highly-privileged order of men. For although a universal religion was no more the genius of that economy than a universal monarchy, the Israelites were commanded, in various ways, to encourage the residence of strangers among them. To enforce an entrance into all the provisions of the covenant made with Abraham upon these strangers was never once imagined or hinted: but though not circumcised, and consequently not entitled to various favours common to every Israelite, still they had their choice and their liberty. At the door of Judaism, indeed, any man might knock, and implore admittance, according to the laws of entrance; and every female might so come and put her trust under the wing of the Lord God of Israel. By intermarriage, therefore, such females became incorporated with the nation, and were even included in the line of the Messiah's ancestry. This was the converse of an Israelite marrying a heathen, without any regard to a change of principle. In reference to this entrance into the congregation, several restrictions were imposed on a few tribes in the vicinity; but the record of such exceptions is an additional proof of the extent to which the privilege was carried. Even these regulations, however, referred to the right of full entrance, and the parties passing beyond the middle wall of partition. To this, after all, no one was compelled, and, retaining his liberty, the stranger in Canaan might avail himself of moral and religious advantages, which could no where else be found. Even at the dedication of the temple, when every remnant of the devoted nations was subdued, and the Jewish economy had reached the acme of its order and beauty, Solomon standing before the altar of the Lord, and imagining not in vain, that the Stranger from a far country, hearing of Jehovah's great name, would come and pray towards the temple then completed, he offers up a special request for such men as Jonadab and his posterity-the strangers of the land. For them, too, a court had been erected, separated indeed from that of the Jews by the middle-wall of partition,—a distinction which was reserved for the Messiah to break down, not only that the Jew might not "trouble them which, from among the Gentiles, were turned to God," but that these Gentiles might become, in the fullest sense, fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and joint partakers of God's promise in Christ by the gospel. Meanwhile, the stranger belonged to an order of men as highly favoured as was possible, in consistency with the theocracy itself not being invaded. Though he could not eat the Passover, nor present other

no wine, all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters; nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed : but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our Father commanded us. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came up into the land, that we said, Come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem."*—That is only until this calamity is overpast.

Ere this time, often had Judah as well as Israel grieved the Almighty by their dissolute conduct; and, though by Him nourished and brought up as Children, often had they rebelled against their heavenly Father! By this time, alas! they had not only mingled among the heathen, but learned their works;

offerings prescribed by the legislator, he could approach the priest with his burnt sacrifice, and, a worshipper of the true God, he offered it, according to a law laid down by Moses from God.-For these strangers the Sabbatical or seventh year was intended to be a year of joy and instruction equally with all Israel.-The spontaneous produce of the ground that year was as free to them as to any Jew, and, at the reading of the whole law that year, they were intended to be present.-Between the natural posterity of Abraham and these strangers, the civil or criminal judge was solemnly enjoined to hold an equal balance-to them, in case of unintentional death, the gates of the city of refuge stood open equally with the Israelite-and, to crown the whole, they were associated, in numerous passages, with the fatherless, and the widow, and the hoary head, as objects of compassion or tender regard. If a stranger

sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him: the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself." Such was the genius of a dispensation which has often been charged, most unwarrantably, with an unrelenting, severe, and unreasonable character, by the superficial and prejudiced observer.

*Jeremiah xxxv. 6-11.

and while Jonadab's posterity thus lived, their Sons and their daughters they had even sacrificed to be devoured in the flames in honour of the idols of Canaan! Amidst all this apostacy and degeneracy, what an example and a contrast of filial regard did these Rechabites exhibit! and, before noticing their Father's deep and judicious concern for his posterity, what a standing reproof were they to the most-highly favoured branch of Abraham's Children! Jonadab, with whom these family-rules originated, had long since gone down to the grave: not less than three hundred years had passed away; and now, that we may hear the secret of such rigid virtue, these, his descendants, must be drawn from their obscurity, and that by the prophet of God. Surely, when all the circumstances are observed, we cease to wonder that they should be handed down to the end of time in such terms as these:-" Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Go tell the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith Jehovah. The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his Sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their Father's commandment notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me. I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods, to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me. Be

8

cause the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have performed the commandment of their Father which he commanded them; but this people have not hearkened unto me: therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold I will bring upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard, and I have called unto them, but they have not answered. And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab, your Father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you: therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab, the son of Rechab, shall not want a man to STAND BEFORE ME FOR EVER!"

Moses in his day had promised much, but this is more, Judah, as a body, was just on the eve of being banished from "before God;" and was there ever to be a representative for Jonadab before Him, upheld and received as his accepted worshipper, even when the Jews, as a community, were cast out of his sight? So it should seem. We need not suppose, as some have done, that they were actually introduced into the temple service, although afterwards there is something very like it; but surely the expression implies as much as we have already hinted. This promise of God by Jeremiah, could not now be of large extent; for the Kenite by this time had "wasted away;" but it certainly speaks of long continuance, and indeed bears a striking resemblance to that which overcame with gratitude the heart of David, King of Israel, when he exclaimed,-" Moreover, thou hast

M

spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come." What though but little is yet known of the fulfilment of the promise? Doubtless it was performed, and perhaps may be so to this hour; at least, it seems not improbable that for ages some of this singular family may have been found among the spiritual worshippers of God.

Let us see, however, whether we can find any trace of this family, or of the Kenites, of which they formed a branch. The reader is aware, that when Jeremiah called them out, this was not the first time they had engaged the notice of a prophet. From the top of the rock, above a thousand years before, Balaam had intimated as much as, that, though they should gradually decline in numbers, they would remain in existence at the captivity; and even then be "carried away," but he does not say destroyed. "Nevertheless, said he, the Kenite shall be wasted until Asshur shall carry thee away captive;"* or, according to another reading," How long shalt thou be able to remain? Until Assyria carry thee away captive." Here, then, is a remnant of them in the days of Jeremiah; and they are brought forward, not to be destroyed, but preserved, and handed down to posterity. Balaam seems to send them to the East; and so with Judah, the tribe to which they adhered, they went; for the ten tribes were already gone. It seems also to be agreeable to very ancient tradition, that they were regarded with more than common respect, even in being "carried away." The title of the seventieth Psalm, according to the

*Numb. xxiv. 22.