Lives of Scripture

Jonadab (also called Jehonadab), son of Rechab, appears first riding into Samaria alongside King Jehu during Jehu's violent purge of the house of Ahab and Baal worship from Israel. Meeting him on the road, Jehu asked, "Is your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?" and when Jonadab answered "It is," Jehu said, "If it is, give me your hand," pulled him up into his chariot, and declared, "Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD" (2 Kings 10:15-16). Jonadab witnessed and evidently endorsed Jehu's ruthless deception and slaughter of Baal's priests and worshipers at the temple of Baal, which Jehu then tore down (10:18-28) -- a zeal for God's exclusive worship that Scripture commends even though Jehu's own motives and methods were mixed and violent. Jonadab is remembered for more than this one episode: he founded the Rechabite clan, binding his descendants by vow to drink no wine, build no houses, and live as tent-dwelling herdsmen, refusing to assimilate into settled Canaanite culture (Jeremiah 35:6-10). Generations later, during Jerusalem's final crisis before the exile, Jeremiah tested the Rechabites by offering them wine; they refused, faithful to Jonadab's command centuries after his death. God used their obedience to a mere human ancestor to rebuke Judah's repeated refusal to obey Him, promising the Rechabites that Jonadab would never lack a descendant to serve before the LORD (35:12-19).