Jeremiah — Chapter 35
Synopsis: The Rechabites — a family who kept their ancestor's prohibition against wine and settled life, for generations. God uses them as a lesson against Judah: if the Rechabites obey a human command with perfect fidelity, why cannot Israel obey God's divine commands?
Verse 14
The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, by which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, have been steadfastly kept: and they have drunk none to this day... But I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, and you have not obeyed me. The contrast between the Rechabites' obedience to a human command and Israel's disobedience to God's divine commands. Lapide: this passage is a strong proof for the binding nature of human traditions in ecclesiastical governance — if sons obey their father's customs for centuries, how much more should the faithful obey the Church's divinely-authorized traditions.