Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have [any]: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye [be] strangers.
7. neither shall ye build house, etc.] Cp. the description of the Nabataeans by Diodorus Siculus who says (19:94) that they neither sow seed, nor plant fruit-tree, nor use wine, nor build a house. In their case, however, it was not from religious motives, but to avoid risk at the hands of powerful neighbours.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The last words of the verse probably give us a reason of the former; they were no native Jews, but strangers amongst them, who commonly are envied when they are observed to thrive too much, or to live splendidly; and that envy of the natives of the place where they sojourn exposeth them to their hatred and malice, so as their lives are made uneasy to them. Jonadab therefore cautions his sons to avoid these inconveniencies by a thrifty, sober, laborious life, to which they had been bred, in keeping flocks, and to avoid any thing might expose them to envy, or hatred, or malice of the people amongst whom they were come to sojourn.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. tents (Jud4:17).
live many daysaccordingto the promise connected with the fifth commandment (Exo 20:12;Eph 6:2; Eph 6:3).
strangersThey were notof the stock of Jacob, but sojourners in Israel. Types of thechildren of God, pilgrims on earth, looking for heaven as their home:having little to lose, so that losing times cost them little alarm;sitting loose to what they have (Heb 10:34;Heb 11:9; Heb 11:10;Heb 11:13-16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard,
nor have [any],…. That is, they were not to build houses, sow seed, or plant vineyards, for themselves, for their own profit and advantage; nor possess either of these through purchase or gift: all this was enjoined them, partly because they were strangers in the land of Israel, as is suggested in the latter part of the verse, and so were to have no inheritance in it; and partly because the pastoral life was what their ancestors had lived; and therefore Jonadab was desirous it should be continued in his posterity; as well as because by this means they would live not envied by the Israelites, among whom they were; since they did not covet to get any part of their possessions into their hands; as also these being their circumstances, upon any public calamity, as sword, famine, or pestilence, they could more easily remove to other places; and likewise, by observing these rules, would not be liable to some sins, as drunkenness, worldly mindedness, c. which are often the cause of great calamities. The Essenes, a sect among the Jews afterwards, seem in some things to have copied after these Rechabites:
but all your days ye shall dwell in tents which they could move from place to place, for the convenience of pasture for the cattle, the business they were brought up in, and were always to exercise:
that ye may live many days in the land where ye [be] strangers; for they were not Israelites, as before observed, but Kenites, the descendants of Jethro; they were proselytes of the gate only; and now, partly on account of their obedience to parents, which had annexed to it the promise of long life in the land in which they lived; and partly because they would, by such a course of life, give no umbrage to, nor raise any jealousy in, the minds of the inhabitants of it, they might expect a continuance in it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jer 35:7 Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have [any]: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye [be] strangers.
Ver. 7. Neither shall ye build house. ] But be content and dwell in tents, as the ancient patriarchs were, and as your ancestors in Midian, removing from place to place, after the manner of the old nomades; so shall ye be the better prepared for a change in the state, which this good old man might foresee and foresignify to his nephews, enjoining them therefore to follow their shepherdy only, as men less addicted to the world, and bent for heaven.
That ye may live many days in the land.
Where ye be strangers
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
build. This was as essential as the former injunction.
live many days, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 20:12). App-92.
in the land = on the soil.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
all: Jer 35:10, Gen 25:27, Lev 23:42, Lev 23:43, Neh 8:14-16, Eph 5:18, Heb 11:9-13, 1Pe 2:11
Reciprocal: Jer 35:9 – General Hos 12:9 – yet
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 35:7. Their father further commanded them not to build houses to live in but to dwell in tents. They also were not to follow agricultural pursuits. We know such activities are not wrong In themselves, therefore the conclusion is that the wrong would have been in disregarding the commandments of their father.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jonadab had also commanded his family not to build a house, or plant crops or grapevines, or to own a vineyard. They were to live in tents as semi-nomads, rejecting all aspects of settled living. We do not know why Jonadab had imposed these restrictions, but he may have felt that settled living in a Canaanite culture involved some temptations that a nomadic existence guarded against. [Note: Thompson, pp. 617-18.]