Rechabites

The Rechabites were a clan within Israel who maintained an ascetic, nomadic way of life in strict obedience to the commands of their ancestor Jonadab (Jehonadab) son of Rechab. Jonadab had commanded his descendants to drink no wine, build no houses, sow no seed, and plant no vineyards — to live always in tents as sojourners in the land (Jeremiah 35:6–7). Jonadab was the same man who accompanied Jehu in his violent purge of Baal worship from Israel (2 Kings 10:15–23), and the Rechabites' lifestyle reflected a conservative, Kenite-related tradition of pre-agricultural religious simplicity.

Jeremiah's encounter with the Rechabites (Jeremiah 35) is one of the most striking symbolic acts in the prophetic literature: God commanded Jeremiah to offer them wine; they refused. God then used their obedience to Jonadab's human command as a rebuke to Judah's disobedience to the divine command — and rewarded the Rechabites with the promise that they would never lack a man to stand before the LORD.