RECABITES. – A nomadic clan descended from the Kenites or Qenites (1 Chron. 2:55), which in the 9th century B.C. received from Jonadab, son of Recab, a special statute of a religious and moral character: against the Dionysian excesses of the cult introduced by the Phoenician Jezebel, they abstained from wine, and against the general tide of idolatry they were bound to a nomadic life, far from settled centers and agriculture (Jer. 35:2-11).
They have been called “Nazirites” or likened to them. They were among the faithful Yahwists who did not bow their knees to Baal (cf. 1 Kings 19:18); their leader enjoyed great esteem and influence: Jehu (842 B.C.) wished him at his side, on his own chariot, when, after the slaughter of the dynasty of the Omrides, he set out for Samaria to take the throne of Israel and carry out the massacre of all the worshippers of Baal (ibid. 10:45). Jeremiah meets the Recabites in Jerusalem, where they had sought refuge before the advance of Nebuchadnezzar’s army (588 B.C.), and upbraids the foolish Jews, rebels against God’s voice, by holding up the example of their centuries-old fidelity to the precepts of their ancestor (Jer. 35:12-19). After the return from exile, the Recabites took part in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 3:14).
The sociological school (A. Causse) appeals to Jer. 35 to portray the prophets as social agitators, nostalgic for nomadism and opposed to culture; but this is entirely without foundation, since Jeremiah celebrates the fidelity of the Recabites, abstracting from any judgment on the nature of the statute given them by Jonadab, in order to reproach the Jews for their persistent rebellion against the precepts of God.