dedicating their lives entirely to its study. So long as Joshua lived,
they sat at this master's feet, but when he died, they said: "We left
our fatherland and came here only for the sake of studying the
Torah; if we were now to spend our time in cultivating the soil,
when should we study the Torah?" They therefore gave up their
dwelling-place in Jericho, and moved to the cold barren
wilderness, to Jabez, who there had his house of instruction. But
when they there beheld the priests, the Levites, and the noblest of
the Jews, they said, "How can we, proselytes, presume to sit beside
these?" Instead of sitting within the house of instruction, they
remained at the entrance of it, where they listened to the lectures,
and in this manner made further progress in the study of the Torah.
[172] They were rewarded for their piety, their prayer was heard
by God, and their good deeds served as a protection to Israel; and
on account of their pious actions they were called "the families of
the scribes," the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Suchathites,
names designating their piety and devotion to the Torah.

One of the descendants of Jethro was Jonadab, son of Rechab,
who, when he heard from a prophet that God would destroy the
Temple, bade all his children, as a toke of mourning, to drink no
wine, use no oil for anointing themselves, nor cut their hair, nor
dwell in houses. The Rechabites obeyed this command of their
sire, and as a reward for this, God made a covenant with them that
their descendants should always be members of the Sanhedrin, and
teachers of Israel. The covenant with the Rechabites was even
stronger than that with David, for to the house of the latter God
promised to keep the covenant only if his descendants were pious,
but He made an unconditional covenant with the Rechabites. God
rewarded them for their devotion to Him in this way, although they