Shared ground
These verses present the Rechabites’ own explanation for why they refuse the wine set before them. The text is explicit that their refusal is not based on taste, circumstance, or a momentary vow, but on obedience to a long-standing family command.
The command they cite is comprehensive. It includes (1) never drinking wine, including their descendants (“your sons”), and (2) rejecting settled, property-based life: no houses, no sowing, no vineyards, and instead living in tents. The stated purpose is longevity “in the land” where they live as outsiders (“sojourn”).
Within the larger scene (Jeremiah 35:1–19), their steady obedience functions as a contrast point for Judah’s repeated refusal to listen to God’s words. That contrast is not stated in vv. 6–7 themselves, but these verses supply the content that makes the later comparison possible.
Where interpretation differs (only where needed)
What “forever” means. Some readers take “forever” as an absolute, unending requirement for every generation. Others read it as conventional endurance language: a permanent-looking family rule meant to last indefinitely, without settling the question of whether exceptions could ever arise.
What “nor have any” refers to. Some understand it narrowly (“do not possess any vineyard”), matching the immediately preceding phrase. Others read it more broadly as a ban on owning such settled assets in general, fitting the overall anti-settlement list (house/fields/vineyards).
How to understand “our father.” Some take it straightforwardly as “our ancestor” (Jonadab as founding figure). Others allow that it can also reflect group identity language (a revered founder functioning as “father” of the community), even if not a direct biological father of every speaker.
Why the disagreement exists
The Hebrew-style phrasing can be compact and idiomatic. Words like “forever” often function as durability language, and short phrases like “nor have any” can depend heavily on what the reader thinks is being carried forward from the previous clause. Also, “father” can mean immediate parent or a founding ancestor.
What this passage clearly contributes
Jeremiah 35:6–7 gives a concrete picture of multi-generational obedience grounded in a remembered command, expressed as a whole way of life (not merely one rule). It also frames that way of life as fitting for people who see themselves as resident outsiders in the land. The passage’s explicit claims center on what the Rechabites refuse, whose command they cite, how broad that command is, and the purpose they attach to it (long life while sojourning).
