2 Kings 10.15-28: 15 Now when he had departed from there, he found Jehonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב, υἱὸν Ρηχαβ] coming to meet him; and he blessed him and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?” And Jehonadab said, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. 16 He said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.” So they made him ride in his chariot. 17 When he came to Samaria, he smote all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, until he had destroyed him, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke to Elijah. 18 Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much. 19 Now, summon all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests; let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal; whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu did it in cunning, so that he might destroy the worshipers of Baal. 20 And Jehu said, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal.” And they proclaimed it. 21 Then Jehu sent throughout Israel and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. And when they went into the house of Baal, the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other. 22 He said to the one who was over the wardrobe, “Bring out garments for all the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought out garments for them. 23 Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב, υἱὸς Ρηχαβ]; and he said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search and see that there is here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but only the worshipers of Baal.” 24 Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he had said, “The one who permits any of the men whom I bring into your hands to escape, it shall be his soul for his soul.” 25 Then it came about, as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the runners and to the royal officers, “Go in, smite them; let none come out.” And they smote them with the edge of the sword; and the runners and the royal officers threw them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal. 26 They brought out the sacred pillars of the house of Baal and burned them. 27 They also broke down the sacred pillar of Baal and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day. 28 Thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel.
Jeremiah 35.1-19:
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2 “Go to the house of the Rechabites [אֶל־בֵּית הָרֵכָבִים, εἰς οἶκον Αρχαβιν] and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.” 3 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites [καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκίαν Αρχαβιν, וְאֵת כָּל־בֵּית הָרֵכָבִים], 4 and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the doorkeeper. 5 Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites [κατὰ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν, לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי בֵית־הָרֵכָבִים] pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine!” 6 But they said, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב, υἱὸς Ρηχαβ], our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever. 7 You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but in tents you shall dwell all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ 8 We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב], our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons or our daughters, 9 nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; and we do not have vineyard or field or seed. 10 We have only dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and have done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. 11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come and let us go to Jerusalem before the army of the Chaldeans and before the army of the Arameans.’ So we have dwelt in Jerusalem.”
12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 13 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not receive instruction by listening to My words?” declares the Lord. 14 “The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב, υἱοῦ Ρηχαβ], which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are observed. So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. But I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking; yet you have not listened to Me. 15 Also I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them, rising early and speaking, saying, ‘Turn now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to worship them. Then you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers; but you have not inclined your ear or listened to Me. 16 Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב, υἱοῦ Ρηχαβ] have observed the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me.’”’ 17 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.’”
18 Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites [לְבֵית הָרֵכָבִים], “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you [υἱοὶ Ιωναδαβ υἱοῦ Ρηχαβ] have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands and done according to all that he commanded you; 19 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Jonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב, υἱοῦ Ρηχαβ] shall not lack a man to stand before Me all the days.”’”
1 Chronicles 2.55: 55 The families of scribes who lived at Jabez were the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Sucathites. Those are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab [בֵית־רֵכָב, οἴκου Ῥηχά]. [Judges 4.11: 11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the terebinth in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.]
Nehemiah 3.14: 14 Malchijah the son of Rechab [בֶן־רֵכָב, υἱὸς Ῥηχάβ], the official of the district of Beth-Haccherem repaired the Refuse Gate. He built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars.
Mishnah, Taanit 4.5: The wood festival was celebrated by the priests and the people nine times. On the first of Nissan it was the family of Arah, of the tribe of Judah; on the twentieth of Tammuz it was the family of David, of the tribe of Judah; on the fifth of Av it was the family of Parosh, of the tribe of Judah. On the seventh of that month it was the family of Yonadav the son of Rechab [בֶּן רֵכָב]; on the tenth of that month it was the family of Senaah, of the tribe of Benjamin; on the fifteenth of that month it was the family of Zatu, of the tribe of Judah, and with them were the priests, the Levites, and anyone who was not sure of his tribe, and the family of the pestle smugglers, and the family of the fig cutters. On the twentieth of that month it was the family of Pahat-Moav, of the tribe of Judah. On the twentieth of that month it was the family of Adin, of the tribe of Judah. On the first of Tevet, the family of Parosh returned for a second turn. On the first of Tevet, there was no maamed since Hallel was recited and there was a mussaf offering and a wood-offering.
Eusebius, History of the Church 2.23.3-18: 3 The manner of the death of James has been already indicated by the abovementioned words of Clement, who records that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple and was beaten to death with a club. But Hegesippus, who lived immediately after the apostles, gives the most accurate account in the fifth book of his Memoirs. He writes as follows: 4 “James, the brother of the Lord, succeeded to the government of the church in conjunction with the apostles. He has been called Just by all from the times of the Lord to the present day, for there were many that bore the name of James. He was holy from the womb of his mother. 5 He drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh. No razor came upon his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not use the bath. 6 He alone was permitted to enter into the holy place [εἰς τὰ ἅγια, Rufinus in sancta sanctorum]; for he wore not woolen but linen garments. And he was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and he was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel in consequence of his constantly bending them in his worship of God and asking forgiveness for the people. 7 Because of his exceeding great justice he was called the Just, and Oblias, which in Greek signifies a bulwark of the people and justice, in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him. 8 Now some of the seven sects, which existed among the people and which have been mentioned by me in the memoirs, asked him: What is the gate of Jesus? And he replied that it was the savior. 9 On account of these words some believed that Jesus is the Christ. But the sects mentioned above did not believe either in a resurrection or in the coming of one to give to every man according to his works. But as many as believed did so on account of James. 10 Therefore, when many even of the rulers believed, there was a commotion among the Jews and scribes and Pharisees, who said that there was danger that the whole people would be looking for Jesus as the Christ. Coming therefore in a body to James they said, ‘We entreat you, restrain the people, for they have gone astray in regard to Jesus, as if he were the Christ. We entreat you to persuade all that have come to the feast of the Passover concerning Jesus; for we all have confidence in you. For we bear you witness, as do all the people, that you are just and that you do not respect persons. 11 Persuade, therefore, the multitude not to be led astray concerning Jesus. For the whole people, and all of us also, have confidence in you. Stand therefore upon the pinnacle of the temple, that from that high position you might be clearly seen, and that your words may be readily heard by all the people. For all the tribes, with the gentiles also, have come together on account of the Passover.’ 12 The aforesaid scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple and cried out to him and said, ‘Just one, in whom we ought all to have confidence, forasmuch as the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us what the gate of Jesus is.’ 13 And he answered with a loud voice, ‘Why do you ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man? He himself sits in heaven at the right hand of the Great Power, and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven!’ 14 And, when many were fully convinced and gloried in the testimony of James, and said, ‘Hosanna to the son of David,’ these same scribes and Pharisees said again to one another, ‘We have done badly in supplying such testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, in order that they may be afraid to believe him.’ 15 And they cried out, saying, ‘Oh, oh, the just one is also in error!’ And they fulfilled the scripture written in Isaiah, ‘Let us take away the just one because he is troublesome to us; therefore they shall eat the fruit of their works’ (= Isaiah 3.10; Wisdom of Solomon 2.12). 16 So they went up and threw down the just one, and said to each other, ‘Let us stone James the Just.’ And they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall, but he turned and knelt down and said, ‘I entreat you, Lord God our Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ 17 And while they were thus stoning him one of the priests of the sons of Rechab, a son of the Rechabites [εἷς τῶν ἱερέων τῶν υἱῶν Ῥηχὰβ υἱοῦ Ῥαχαβείμ], who are mentioned by Jeremiah the prophet (= Jeremiah 35.1-19), cried out, saying, ‘Cease! What are you doing? The just one is praying for you!’ 18 And one of them, one of the fullers, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just one on the head. And thus he suffered martyrdom. And they buried him on the spot, by the temple, and his monument still remains by the temple. He became a true witness, both to Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ. And immediately Vespasian besieged them.”
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 91b: 91b .... “These were the potters and those who dwelt among plantations and hedges; there they dwelt, occupied in the king’s work” (= 1 Chronicles 4.23). “These were the potters [היוצרים, hayoṣerim].” These are the sons of Jonadab, son of Rechab [בני יונדב בן רכב], who kept [שנצרו, naṣeru, same root as noṣri] their father’s oath. ....
John Bright, Jeremiah (Anchor Bible), pages 190-191: The Rechabite vow is in its major features clearly reminiscent of life in the desert. This is certainly true of their refusal to till the soil or live in houses, and probably of their abstinence from wine as well, viticulture doubtless being regarded by them as a symbol of the sedentary life which they rejected. The Rechabites were thus a clan who by their manner of life symbolized their renunciation of the agrarian and urban culture to which their nation had long since assimilated, and who expressed their loyalty to Yahweh and to their ancestor’s wishes by clinging to the simple seminomadic life of their remote forefathers. The founder of this clan, Jonadab ben Rechab, is known from II Kings x 15-17 as one who had physically assisted Jehu in his bloody purge of the house of Ahab in the ninth century. Apparently the excesses of Ahab and Jezebel, their importation of the worship of the Tyrian Baal, together with the progressive urbanization of Israelite society then taking place and the attendant disintegration of social patterns, had awakened in many minds both revulsion and a nostalgia for the traditions and simpler ways of the past. Some — and Jonadab was one of them (the great prophet Elijah, in his own way, was another) — had consciously returned to ancient patterns of life in protest against the prevailing decay, both social and religious. The history of the Rechabites prior to the ninth century cannot be traced. If they were of Kenite origin (I Chron ii 55), they stemmed from a people who claimed kinship with Moses (Judg i 16), and who for a long time after Israel’s settlement continued their seminomadic life both in the southern desert (I Sam xv 6), and within Israelite territory itself (Judg iv 17; v 24). The fact that the Rechabite vow is in some respects similar to that of the Nazirite almost certainly indicates some connection between the two (as we learn from Num vi the Nazirite vow forbade not only the drinking of wine, but the use of the produce of the vine in any form, whether grapes or raisins, grape juice or vinegar). The Nazirite vow had had a long history in Israel, reaching back to the days of the conquest and the judges (Samson [Judg xiii 4-7], and apparently Samuel [I Sam i 11] were Nazirites), and may well have originally symbolized opposition to Canaanite culture as well as ritual fitness to fight the holy wars of Yahweh.
Jeremiah 35.1-19:
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2 “Go to the house of the Rechabites [אֶל־בֵּית הָרֵכָבִים, εἰς οἶκον Αρχαβιν] and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.” 3 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites [καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκίαν Αρχαβιν, וְאֵת כָּל־בֵּית הָרֵכָבִים], 4 and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the doorkeeper. 5 Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites [κατὰ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν, לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי בֵית־הָרֵכָבִים] pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, “Drink wine!” 6 But they said, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב, υἱὸς Ρηχαβ], our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever. 7 You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but in tents you shall dwell all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.’ 8 We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב], our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons or our daughters, 9 nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; and we do not have vineyard or field or seed. 10 We have only dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and have done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. 11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come and let us go to Jerusalem before the army of the Chaldeans and before the army of the Arameans.’ So we have dwelt in Jerusalem.”
12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 13 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Will you not receive instruction by listening to My words?” declares the Lord. 14 “The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב, υἱοῦ Ρηχαβ], which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are observed. So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father’s command. But I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking; yet you have not listened to Me. 15 Also I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them, rising early and speaking, saying, ‘Turn now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to worship them. Then you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers; but you have not inclined your ear or listened to Me. 16 Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב, υἱοῦ Ρηχαβ] have observed the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me.’”’ 17 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I spoke to them but they did not listen, and I have called them but they did not answer.’”
18 Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites [לְבֵית הָרֵכָבִים], “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you [υἱοὶ Ιωναδαβ υἱοῦ Ρηχαβ] have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands and done according to all that he commanded you; 19 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Jonadab the son of Rechab [בֶּן־רֵכָב, υἱοῦ Ρηχαβ] shall not lack a man to stand before Me all the days.”’”
1 Chronicles 2.55: 55 The families of scribes who lived at Jabez were the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Sucathites. Those are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab [בֵית־רֵכָב, οἴκου Ῥηχά]. [Judges 4.11: 11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, from the sons of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the terebinth in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.]
Nehemiah 3.14: 14 Malchijah the son of Rechab [בֶן־רֵכָב, υἱὸς Ῥηχάβ], the official of the district of Beth-Haccherem repaired the Refuse Gate. He built it and hung its doors with its bolts and its bars.
Mishnah, Taanit 4.5: The wood festival was celebrated by the priests and the people nine times. On the first of Nissan it was the family of Arah, of the tribe of Judah; on the twentieth of Tammuz it was the family of David, of the tribe of Judah; on the fifth of Av it was the family of Parosh, of the tribe of Judah. On the seventh of that month it was the family of Yonadav the son of Rechab [בֶּן רֵכָב]; on the tenth of that month it was the family of Senaah, of the tribe of Benjamin; on the fifteenth of that month it was the family of Zatu, of the tribe of Judah, and with them were the priests, the Levites, and anyone who was not sure of his tribe, and the family of the pestle smugglers, and the family of the fig cutters. On the twentieth of that month it was the family of Pahat-Moav, of the tribe of Judah. On the twentieth of that month it was the family of Adin, of the tribe of Judah. On the first of Tevet, the family of Parosh returned for a second turn. On the first of Tevet, there was no maamed since Hallel was recited and there was a mussaf offering and a wood-offering.
Eusebius, History of the Church 2.23.3-18: 3 The manner of the death of James has been already indicated by the abovementioned words of Clement, who records that he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple and was beaten to death with a club. But Hegesippus, who lived immediately after the apostles, gives the most accurate account in the fifth book of his Memoirs. He writes as follows: 4 “James, the brother of the Lord, succeeded to the government of the church in conjunction with the apostles. He has been called Just by all from the times of the Lord to the present day, for there were many that bore the name of James. He was holy from the womb of his mother. 5 He drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh. No razor came upon his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, and he did not use the bath. 6 He alone was permitted to enter into the holy place [εἰς τὰ ἅγια, Rufinus in sancta sanctorum]; for he wore not woolen but linen garments. And he was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and he was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel in consequence of his constantly bending them in his worship of God and asking forgiveness for the people. 7 Because of his exceeding great justice he was called the Just, and Oblias, which in Greek signifies a bulwark of the people and justice, in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him. 8 Now some of the seven sects, which existed among the people and which have been mentioned by me in the memoirs, asked him: What is the gate of Jesus? And he replied that it was the savior. 9 On account of these words some believed that Jesus is the Christ. But the sects mentioned above did not believe either in a resurrection or in the coming of one to give to every man according to his works. But as many as believed did so on account of James. 10 Therefore, when many even of the rulers believed, there was a commotion among the Jews and scribes and Pharisees, who said that there was danger that the whole people would be looking for Jesus as the Christ. Coming therefore in a body to James they said, ‘We entreat you, restrain the people, for they have gone astray in regard to Jesus, as if he were the Christ. We entreat you to persuade all that have come to the feast of the Passover concerning Jesus; for we all have confidence in you. For we bear you witness, as do all the people, that you are just and that you do not respect persons. 11 Persuade, therefore, the multitude not to be led astray concerning Jesus. For the whole people, and all of us also, have confidence in you. Stand therefore upon the pinnacle of the temple, that from that high position you might be clearly seen, and that your words may be readily heard by all the people. For all the tribes, with the gentiles also, have come together on account of the Passover.’ 12 The aforesaid scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple and cried out to him and said, ‘Just one, in whom we ought all to have confidence, forasmuch as the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us what the gate of Jesus is.’ 13 And he answered with a loud voice, ‘Why do you ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man? He himself sits in heaven at the right hand of the Great Power, and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven!’ 14 And, when many were fully convinced and gloried in the testimony of James, and said, ‘Hosanna to the son of David,’ these same scribes and Pharisees said again to one another, ‘We have done badly in supplying such testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, in order that they may be afraid to believe him.’ 15 And they cried out, saying, ‘Oh, oh, the just one is also in error!’ And they fulfilled the scripture written in Isaiah, ‘Let us take away the just one because he is troublesome to us; therefore they shall eat the fruit of their works’ (= Isaiah 3.10; Wisdom of Solomon 2.12). 16 So they went up and threw down the just one, and said to each other, ‘Let us stone James the Just.’ And they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall, but he turned and knelt down and said, ‘I entreat you, Lord God our Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ 17 And while they were thus stoning him one of the priests of the sons of Rechab, a son of the Rechabites [εἷς τῶν ἱερέων τῶν υἱῶν Ῥηχὰβ υἱοῦ Ῥαχαβείμ], who are mentioned by Jeremiah the prophet (= Jeremiah 35.1-19), cried out, saying, ‘Cease! What are you doing? The just one is praying for you!’ 18 And one of them, one of the fullers, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just one on the head. And thus he suffered martyrdom. And they buried him on the spot, by the temple, and his monument still remains by the temple. He became a true witness, both to Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ. And immediately Vespasian besieged them.”
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 91b: 91b .... “These were the potters and those who dwelt among plantations and hedges; there they dwelt, occupied in the king’s work” (= 1 Chronicles 4.23). “These were the potters [היוצרים, hayoṣerim].” These are the sons of Jonadab, son of Rechab [בני יונדב בן רכב], who kept [שנצרו, naṣeru, same root as noṣri] their father’s oath. ....
John Bright, Jeremiah (Anchor Bible), pages 190-191: The Rechabite vow is in its major features clearly reminiscent of life in the desert. This is certainly true of their refusal to till the soil or live in houses, and probably of their abstinence from wine as well, viticulture doubtless being regarded by them as a symbol of the sedentary life which they rejected. The Rechabites were thus a clan who by their manner of life symbolized their renunciation of the agrarian and urban culture to which their nation had long since assimilated, and who expressed their loyalty to Yahweh and to their ancestor’s wishes by clinging to the simple seminomadic life of their remote forefathers. The founder of this clan, Jonadab ben Rechab, is known from II Kings x 15-17 as one who had physically assisted Jehu in his bloody purge of the house of Ahab in the ninth century. Apparently the excesses of Ahab and Jezebel, their importation of the worship of the Tyrian Baal, together with the progressive urbanization of Israelite society then taking place and the attendant disintegration of social patterns, had awakened in many minds both revulsion and a nostalgia for the traditions and simpler ways of the past. Some — and Jonadab was one of them (the great prophet Elijah, in his own way, was another) — had consciously returned to ancient patterns of life in protest against the prevailing decay, both social and religious. The history of the Rechabites prior to the ninth century cannot be traced. If they were of Kenite origin (I Chron ii 55), they stemmed from a people who claimed kinship with Moses (Judg i 16), and who for a long time after Israel’s settlement continued their seminomadic life both in the southern desert (I Sam xv 6), and within Israelite territory itself (Judg iv 17; v 24). The fact that the Rechabite vow is in some respects similar to that of the Nazirite almost certainly indicates some connection between the two (as we learn from Num vi the Nazirite vow forbade not only the drinking of wine, but the use of the produce of the vine in any form, whether grapes or raisins, grape juice or vinegar). The Nazirite vow had had a long history in Israel, reaching back to the days of the conquest and the judges (Samson [Judg xiii 4-7], and apparently Samuel [I Sam i 11] were Nazirites), and may well have originally symbolized opposition to Canaanite culture as well as ritual fitness to fight the holy wars of Yahweh.
Some commentators have claimed that Benjamin of Tudela wrote of some Rechabites in century XII, but Marcus Nathan Adler writes in a footnote (148 online) to his translation:
Marcus Nathan Adler, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, footnote 148: In reading through the foregoing account of the Jews in Arabia, it is quite clear that Benjamin never visited the country, nor did he pretend to have done so. In the words of Mr. C. E. Beazley (The Dawn of Modern Geography, p. 252), “It is no longer, for the most part, a record of personal travel; it is rather an attempt to supplement the first part ‘of things seen’ by a second ‘of things heard.’” But Beazley is wrong when he characterizes as “wild” the account of the Jews of Southern Arabia “who were Rechabites.” Does Benjamin say so? There is no such reading in the MS. of the British Museum. The student, it is thought, will by this time have come to the conclusion that it is the oldest and most trustworthy of our available authorities. The whole misconception has arisen from the fact that the unreliable MS. E and all the printed editions have transposed the letters of Hebrew כיבר and made רכב of it. Rapoport, in the article already referred to, seems to suspect the faulty reading: to justify it, he connects the men of Kheibar with the Rechabites and the sons of Heber the Kenite, basing his argument upon Jer. xxxv, Judges i. 16, I Sam. xxvii. 10, and I Chron. ii. 55. [Link.]
So that particular reference seems to be a dead end. But feel free to let me know of any references I may be missing. (I am putting the text and translation of the History of the Rechabites in the next post; it has too many characters for this one.)
Ben.