Jeremiah 35:11
But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.
The Rechabites' presence in Jerusalem was not disobedience but a wartime exception forced by invasion. When Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, they decided to leave the open country and go to Jerusalem. They did so for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians, and thus they came to dwell at Jerusalem.
Their normal life was obedience to the special instruction of their father Jonadab son of Rechab. He had commanded them to drink no wine, to build no house, to sow no seed, to plant no vineyard, and to have no field, but to dwell all their days in tents as strangers. That rule they had kept, together with their wives and their sons and their daughters.
That obedience honored parental authority and embodied frugality and temperance in all things. It embodied simplicity of manner as a better portion than the ways of the world. God commended their course. Their faithfulness stands in contrast to the disobedience of the Jews, who had been given special light and privileges. God had guarded those Jews by a variety of means against evils that would hinder the work He had specified for them.