executed for their wicked deed against a righteous man.—2 Sam. 4:2, 5-12.

2. A Kenite father or ancestor of Jehu’s companion Jehonadab and forefather of the Rechabites.—1 Chron. 2:55; 2 Ki. 10:15, 23; Jer. 35:6, 8, 14, 16, 18, 19; see RECHABITES.

3. Father or ancestor of the Malchijah who helped Nehemiah repair a gate of Jerusalem’s wall. (Neh. 3:14) If he is the same Rechab as No. 2 above, Malchijah’s presence confirms the fulfillment of Jehovah’s promise to the Rechabites as found at Jeremiah 35:19.

RECHABITES

(Reʹcha·bites).

Descendants of Rechab the Kenite through Jehonadab.—Jer. 35:6; 1 Chron. 2:55.

During Jehonadab’s time it seems that at least some of the Rechabites lived in the northern kingdom, for it was there that Jehonadab joined Jehu (king, 905-876 B.C.E.) in opposing Baal worship and “all who were left over of Ahab’s in Samaria.” (2 Ki. 10:15-17) Jehonadab laid a command on his family (whether before or after the experience with Jehu is not stated) to live in tents, not sowing seed or planting vineyards and not drinking wine, because they were alien residents in the land.—Jer. 35:6-10.

In the final part of Jehoiakim’s reign (628-618 B.C.E.) a number of Rechabites dwelt in Judah. When Nebuchadnezzar came against the land, the Rechabites entered Jerusalem for protection from the Chaldeans and Syrians. At Jehovah’s order, Jeremiah brought Jaazaniah their leader and all the Rechabites to a dining room in the temple. (Jer. 35:1-4) That they could all fit in one of the temple’s dining rooms suggests that they were not very numerous. Jeremiah, as God had directed, put cups of wine before them and said: “Drink wine.” Out of respect for the command of their ancestor they refused to do so, and they explained that they had recently left their usual habitat to move into the city only because of the invading armies.—Jer. 35:6-11.

Jehovah was pleased with the respectful obedience they showed. Their unswerving obedience to an earthly father stood in contrast to the disobedience of the Judeans to their Creator. (Jer. 35:12-16) God gave the Rechabites the rewarding promise: “There will not be cut off from Jonadab the son of Rechab a man to stand before me always.”—Jer. 35:19.

During Nehemiah’s governorship after the exile, “Malchijah the son of Rechab” repaired the Gate of the Ash-heaps. If this Rechab is the same one who was the father or ancestor of Jehonadab, it shows that Rechabites survived the exile and returned to the land. (Neh. 3:14) The superscription of Psalm 70 (71 in NW) in the Septuagint mentions ‘the sons of Jonadab, the first that were taken captive,’ and this is often understood to refer to the Rechabites. At 1 Chronicles 2:55 Hammath is listed as “the father of the house of Rechab.” It is uncertain whether Hammath was an ancestor of the Rechabites or was a town from which they came.

RECONCILIATION

To reconcile means to bring back into harmony or cause to be friendly again; also to adjust or settle, as in reconciling differences. In Greek, the words related to reconciliation are derived from the verb al·lasʹso, which, basically, means “to make otherwise or different” or “to change” (compare its use at Acts 6:14; 1 Corinthians 15:51; Galatians 4:20); also “to exchange.”—Rom. 1:23.

Thus, the compound form ka·tal·lasʹso, while meaning, basically, “to exchange,” came to have the meaning “to change from enmity to friendship; to reconcile.” Paul used this verb when speaking of a woman’s ‘making up again’ with her husband, from whom she had separated. (1 Cor. 7:11) The related di·al·lasʹso appears at Matthew 5:24 in Jesus’ instructions that one should first ‘make his peace’ with his brother before presenting an offering on the altar.

RECONCILIATION WITH GOD

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, his second letter to the Corinthians, and his letter to the Colossians, he uses ka·tal·lasʹso and a·po·ka·tal·lasʹso (an intensified form) in dealing with man’s being reconciled to God by means of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus.

Such reconciliation with God is necessary because an alienation has existed, a separation, a lack of harmony and of friendly relations, more than that, a state of enmity. This came through the first man Adam’s sin and the resultant sinfulness and imperfection inherited by all his descendants. (Rom. 5:12; compare Isaiah 43:27.) The apostle could therefore say that “the minding of the flesh means enmity with God, for it is not under subjection to the law of God, nor, in fact, can it be [due to its inherited imperfect, sinful nature]. So those who are in harmony with the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom. 8:7, 8) Enmity exists because God’s perfect standards do not allow for his approving or condoning wrongdoing. (Ps. 5:4; 89:14) Of his Son, who reflected his Father’s perfect qualities, it is written: “You loved righteousness, and you hated lawlessness.” (Heb. 1:9) Hence, even though “God is love” and even though “God loved the world [of mankind] so much that he gave his only-begotten Son” on mankind’s behalf, the fact remains that mankind as a whole has been in a state of enmity toward God and that God’s love toward the world of mankind was love toward enemies, a love guided by principle (Gr., a·gaʹpe) rather than fondness or friendship (Gr., phi·liʹa).—1 John 4:16; John 3:16; compare James 4:4.

Since God’s standard is one of perfect righteousness, he cannot countenance, or view with favor, sin, which is the violation of his express will. He is “gracious and merciful,” and “rich in mercy” (Ps. 145:8, 9; Eph. 2:4); but he does not display mercy in disregard of his justice. As correctly observed in M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (Vol. VIII, p. 958), the relation between God and sinful man is thus “a legal one, as that of a sovereign, in his judicial capacity, and a criminal who has violated his laws and risen up against his authority, and who is therefore treated as an enemy.” This is the situation into which mankind was brought due to the inheritance of sin from their first father, Adam.

The basis for reconciliation

It is only by and through the ransom sacrifice of Christ Jesus that full reconciliation with God is possible; he is “the way” and no one comes to the father except through him. (John 14:6) His death served as a “propitiatory sacrifice [Gr., hi·la·smosʹ] for our sins.” (1 John 2:2; 4:10) The word hi·la·smosʹ signifies “a means of appeasing,” an “atonement.” Clearly, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was not a “means of appeasing” in the sense of soothing hurt feelings on the part of God, mollifying him, for the death of his beloved Son certainly would produce no such effect. Rather, that sacrifice appeased or satisfied the demands of God’s perfect justice by providing the just and righteous basis for pardoning sin, so that God “might be righteous even when declaring righteous the man [the hereditarily sinful man] that has faith in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:24-26) By supplying the means for expiating (or making complete satisfaction for) man’s sins and unlawful acts, Christ’s sacrifice made it propitious (favorable) for man’s seeking and receiving a restoration to right relations with the Sovereign God.—Eph. 1:7; Heb. 2:17; see RANSOM.

Thus, through Christ, God made it possible to “reconcile again to himself all other things by making peace through the blood he [Jesus] shed on the torture stake,” and thereby persons once “alienated and enemies” due to having their minds on wicked works could now be “reconciled by means of that one’s fleshly body through his death, in order to present [them] holy and unblemished and open to no accusation before him.” (Col. 1:19-22) Jehovah God