Jethro Goes Home to Bring His People Under the Wings of Heaven

"And Moses sent his father-in-law on his way" (Exodus 18:27). Rabbi Yehoshua says: he sent him off with the honor of the world. Rabbi Elazar of Modiin says: he gave him many gifts. He said to him: I am going to lead and convert the people of my province. As you can learn from the answer he gave them, know what they said to him, "Do not, please, leave us" (Numbers 10:31). They said to him: you gave us good and beautiful counsel, and the Omnipresent agreed with your words; do not leave us. He said to them: of what use is a lamp except in a place of darkness? What use is a lamp between the sun and the moon? You are the sun and Aaron is the moon; rather, I will go and convert the people of my province, that I may bring them under the wings of Heaven. One might think he went and did not return; Scripture teaches, "And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the city of palms with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people" (Judges 1:16). "People" is nothing but Torah, as it says, "Truly you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you" (Job 12:2). From here they said: as long as a sage lives, his wisdom lives; when he dies, his wisdom is lost with him. And so we find that when Rabbi Nathan died, his wisdom was lost with him. They went and dwelt beside Jabez, as it says, "And the families of the scribes who dwelt at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab" (1 Chronicles 2:55). Just as he loved the Torah, so his sons loved the Torah after him. So the Omnipresent says to Jeremiah, "Go to the house of the Rechabites... and give them wine to drink" (Jeremiah 35:2). And he set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups, and said to them, Drink wine. He said to them: the Omnipresent told me that you should drink wine. They said to him: our father commanded us not to drink wine all the days that this house lies in ruins, though it was not yet ruined. Rather he said to us: mourn for it, for in the end it will be destroyed; and he said to us, do not anoint yourselves, do not cut your hair, and do not dwell in houses; and we heard and did according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. Therefore they were called Shimeathites, Tirathites, Sucathites. Tirathites, because they did not wish to cut their hair; Sucathites, because they did not wish to anoint themselves; Shimeathites, because they heeded the voice of their father. Another interpretation: Tirathites, because they heard the blast at Sinai; another, because they would sound an alarm in their prayer and be answered. Shimeathites, because they heeded the voice of the words of Torah; another, because their prayer was heard. Sucathites, because they dwelt in booths, as it is written, "And we dwelt in tents"; another, because they sheltered over Israel and protected them. There was an incident: one declared, "the offering of a household of water-drinkers today." A heavenly voice went out from the Holy of Holies and said to them: He who accepted the offering of your fathers in the wilderness, He will accept your offering at this hour. And who are these? "The Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab." The prophet who foresaw that the Temple would in the future be destroyed arose and decreed three decrees upon his sons: that they not drink wine, that they not build houses, and that they not plant vineyards, as it says, "And they said, We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, You shall drink no wine, neither you nor your sons forever; neither shall you build a house, nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor have any; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn" (Jeremiah 35:6-7). And from where did he learn that abstaining from wine lengthens days? For four men were eager after the soil and were not found as they should be: Cain, Noah, Lot, and Uzziah. Cain - "And Cain was a tiller of the ground" (Genesis 4:2). Noah - "And Noah, the man of the soil, began" (Genesis 9:20). Lot - "And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the plain of the Jordan" (Genesis 13:10). Uzziah - "for he loved the soil" (2 Chronicles 26:10). Rabbi Nathan says: greater is the covenant the Holy One, blessed be He, made with the children of Jethro than the covenant He made with the children of David. For the covenant made with David is a covenant only on condition: "If your children keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their children also forever shall sit upon your throne" (Psalm 132:12). But the covenant made with Jonadab the son of Rechab was not made on condition, as it says, "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever" (Jeremiah 35:19). Some say he married off his daughters to priests, and high priests arose from him, and the Omnipresent gave him a covenant that high priests should never cease from him. Rabban Shimon said: but has not the high priesthood already ceased? How then do I uphold "shall not lack a man to Jonadab"? Rather, that those who sit in the Sanhedrin never ceased from him. If one who came from the nations of the lands and from the families of the soil, because he acted out of love, the Omnipresent gave to him out of love, how much more so to these who were of Israel! Concerning them Scripture says, "These were the potters, and those who dwelt among plantations and hedges; they dwelt there with the king for his work" (1 Chronicles 4:23) - these are the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab, who knew the power of the forming of the world. Another interpretation: that their sustenance came without distress. Another: that they guarded the oath of their father's command. Rabbi Abbahu said: Jethro merited that from his descendants there went forth those who raised up great ones of Torah in Israel. And who was this? Jabez, as it says, "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him what he asked" (1 Chronicles 4:10). "That You would bless me indeed" - in the study of Torah; "and enlarge my border" - with disciples; "and that Your hand might be with me" - that I not forget my learning; "that You would keep me from evil" - that the evil inclination not prevent me from studying; "that it may not grieve me" - that the evil inclination not grieve me from learning; "and God granted him what he asked" - this teaches that He gave him what he asked. This is the teaching of Rabbi Nathan.