The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 121: Cycle of Violence (2025)

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

Fr. Mike talks about how revenge and violence can become a cycle that doesn't end until someone chooses to end it. He also points out how the genealogy in 1 Chronicles reflects the genealogy of Christ.The reading for today are 2 Samuel 2, 1 Chronicles 2, and Psalm 24. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 121 and we are reading today from second Samuel chapter 2 from first Chronicles chapter 2 more names thank the Lord and we're also praying Psalm 24 if you're interested the Bible translation that I am reading from is a revised standard version second Catholic edition I'm

reading from the great adventure Bible from Ascension if you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and then you'll be subscribed and it'll be great. But as I said, it's day 121, so great. We're reading 2 Samuel chapter 2, 1 Chronicles chapter 2, and Praying Psalm 24. 2 Samuel Chapter 2. David Anointed King of Judah.

After this David inquired of the Lord, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said to him, Go up. David said, To which shall I go up? And he said, To Hebron. So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David brought up his men who were with him, every one with his household, and they dwelt in the towns of Hebron.

And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, it was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul, David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your Lord and buried him. Now may the Lord show mercy and faithfulness to you, and I will do good to you because you have done this thing. Now therefore let your hands be strong and be valiant, for Saul your Lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them." Ishibusheth made king of Israel. Now Abner, the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army,

had taken Ishibusheth, the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim, and he made him king over Gilead and the Asherites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. Ishibusheth, Saul's son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. The Battle of Gibeon. Abner the son of Ner and the servants of Eshbasheth the son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. And Joab the son of Zerui, and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down,

the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men arise and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise. Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and Ash-shibashah the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. And each caught his opponent by the head, and thrust his sword into his opponent's side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helcath Hazarim, which is at Gibeon. And the battle was very fierce that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David. And the three sons of Zerui were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel.

Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle, and Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him and said, Is it you, Asahel? And he answered, It is I. Abner said to him, Turn aside to your right hand or to your left, and seize one of the young men and take his spoil. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.

And Abner said to Asahel, Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab? But he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner struck him in the belly with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back, and he fell there and died where he was.

And all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, stood still. But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and as the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Amma, which lies before Gia on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. And the Benjaminites gathered themselves together behind Abner, and as the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Amma, which lies before Gia on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon. And the Benjaminites gathered themselves together behind Abner, and became one band, and took their stand on the top of a hill. Then Abner called to Joab, Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be better? How long will it be before you bid your people turn from the pursuit of their brethren?

And Joab said, As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would have given up the pursuit of their brethren in the morning. So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped, and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight any more. And Abner and his men went all that night through the Ereba. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole forenoon they came to Mahanaim. Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner, and when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David's servants nineteen men besides Asahel. But the servants of David had slain of Benjamin three hundred and sixty

of Abner's men. And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the tomb of his father which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and buried him in the tomb of his father which was at Bethlehem and Joab and his men marched all night and the day broke upon them at Hebron The first book of Chronicles chapter 2 sons of Israel and descendants of Judah These are the sons of Israel Ruben Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, the sons of Judah, Ur, Onan, and Shelah. These three, Bathshewah, the Canaanites, bore to him. Now Ur, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord,

and he slew him. His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him, Perez and Zerah, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he slew him. His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Peres and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all, the sons of Peres, Hezran, and Hamul, the sons of Zerah, Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Chalcol, and Dara, five in all, the sons of Karmie, Akar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the matter of the devoted thing, and Ethan's son was Azariah, the sons of Hezron, that were born to him, Jeremiel, Ram, and Chulubai. Ram was the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab was the father of Nashon, prince of the sons of Judah. Nashon was the father of Salma, Salma of Boaz, Boaz of Obed, Obed of Jesse. Jesse was the father of Eliab

his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third, Nathanael the fourth, Radai the fifth, Ozem the sixth, David the seventh, and their sisters were Zerui and Abigail, the sons of Zerui, Abishai, Joab, and Asahal, three. Abigail bore Amasa, and the father of Amasa was Jethur the Ishmaelite. Caleb, the son of Hezron, had children by his wife Azubah and by Jeraoth. And these were her sons, Jeshur, Shobab, and Ardan. When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him her.

Her was the father of Uri. Uri was the father of Bezalel. Afterward, Hezran went in to the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead, who he married when he was 60 years old, and she bore him Segub. And Segub was the father of Jair, who had 23 cities in the land of Gilead. But Geshur and Aram took from them Havoth Jja'ir, Qenath and its villages, sixty towns. All these were descendants of Makir, the father of Gilead. After the death of Hezran, Caleb went into Ephrathah, the wife of Hezran his father, and she bore him Ashur, the father of Tekoa. The sons of Jeremiah, the firstborn of Hezran, Ram his firstborn, Buna, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah.

Jeremiel also had another wife whose name was Atara. She was the mother of Onam. The sons of Ram, the firstborn of Jeremiel, Maaz, Jamin, and Eker. The sons of Onam, Shammai, and Jada. The sons of Shammai, Nadab, and Abishur. The name of Abishur's wife was Abihel, and she bore him Aban and Molid. The sons of Nadab, Saled and Appaim, and Saled died childless. The sons of Appaim, Ishi.

The sons of Ishi, Shashan. The sons of Shashan, Alai. The sons of Jada, Shammai's brother, Jethur and Jonathan, and Jethur died childless, the sons of Jonathan, Peleth and Zaza. These were the descendants of Jeremiel. Now, Shashan had no sons, only daughters, but Shashan had an Egyptian slave whose name was Jarha.

So Shashan gave his daughter in marriage to Jarha his slave and she bore him Attai. Attai was the father of Nathan and Nathan of Zebad. Zebad was the father of Eflal and Eflal of Obed. Obed was the father of Jehu and Jehu of Azariah. Azariah was the father of Helez and Helez of Eliasa. Eliasa was the father of Sismai and Sismai of Shalom. Shalom was the father of Giacomai and Giacomai of Elishema. The sons of Caleb, the brother of Jeremiah, Marasha, his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph, the sons of Marasha, Hebron, the sons of Hebron, Korah, Tapua, Rekem, and Shema. Shema was the father of Reham, the sons of Hebron, Korah, Tapua, Rakem, and Shema.

Shema was the father of Raham, the father of Jerkaam, and Rakem was the father of Shemae. The son of Shemae, Maon, and Maon was the father of Beth-Zur. Ephah also, Caleb's concubine, bore Haran, Mosah, and Gezez, and Haran was the father of Gezez. The sons of Jadai, Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Palet, Ephah, and Shaaf. Ma'aqqa, Caleb's concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhana. She also bore Shaaf the father of Makmana, Sheva the father of Makbana, and the father of Gibeah, and the daughter of Caleb was Akzah. These were the descendants

of Caleb. The sons of her, the firstborn of Ephrathah, Shabal, the father of Kiryath-Jerim, Salma, the father of Bethlehem, and Haraf, the father of Bet-Gadair. Shabal, the father of Kiryath-Jerim, had other sons, Heruah, half of the Menuhoth, and the families of Kiryath-Jerim, the Ithralites, the Puthites, the Shumathites, and the Mishraites. From these came the Zorathites and the Eshtawites. The sons of Salma, Bethlehem, the Natuphathites, Etroth-Beth-Johab, and half of them Menahathites, the Zorites. The families also of the scribes that dwelt at Jebez, the Tirathites and the Shimiathites, and the Sukathites. These are the Kienites who came from Hamath, the father of the house of Rakhab.

Psalm 24. Entrance into the Temple. A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully.

He will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory today. We thank you so much for the unfolding of time. We thank you for the unfolding of the story, the story of salvation and the story of how Lord God, you're willing to take time. You're willing to be patient not only with us in our weakness, our littleness, and our falseness. You're also willing to be patient with just the passage of time with other people's decisions and the fact that we have to grow and it takes time to grow. And so we thank you. We thank you for being patient

with us. We thank you for giving us time. We thank you for allowing this time to be used. So we ask you actually not just thank you Lord, but we ask you help us to use this time to grow. Help us to use this time to grow. Help us to use this time not as wasted time, not as stalling out time, but as time where we can always find you and you will always always find us where we are in this moment. We give you praise, we thank you and make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So as I said yesterday, we have a lot of names

in first Chronicles, and that's gonna be how it is for the next few days, and I'm just so sorry about that. I'm not just sorry for you, I'm sorry for me. I'm sorry for myself that we have to do this, but it's gonna be good. In fact, one of the great things, incredible connection, I love it. The names all mean something, right?

Because every name signifies not just one individual, it signifies their entire family family and so this is remarkable that we're getting a bit of the family tree In fact, not just any family tree We're getting the sons of Israel and the descendants of Judah specifically and so what we have we heard today Sons of Hezron is in chapter 2 verse 9 Sons of Hezron that were born to him Jermiel Ram and Shiloh by then we go into the Hezron father of Ram father of, Jermiel, Ram, and Jehlobai. Then we go into Hezron, father of Ram, father of Mindadab, and then the father of Nashon. Nashon the father of Salma, of Boaz, of Obed.

I don't know if those names and of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David the king. I don't know if you know this, if you hear this, if you recognize this, but this is the exact order that we get in Matthew's gospel. Matthew, when he gives us the genealogy of Jesus, if you're ever at the Christmas Eve Mass, we know we always read that genealogy of Jesus.

We also read it a bunch of times when it comes to the Bible, and it comes to church and mass and stuff. But this is the lineup. This is the genealogy. This is the story of leading not just from Abraham all the way to David, but then beyond that from David to Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the one who was promised from the very beginning and it just is so good and that's one of the reasons why when we read all of these

names, yes at times it can be who, what, but we recognize they mean something, they mean a ton and not only that we have one of those happy coincidences today where we have the connection between second Samuel chapter 2 and first Chronicles chapter 2 where okay Remember here is David and David is the king of Judah and he's going to battle against Shibosheth the king of some of the other Tribes of Israel and David goes into battle with a couple people Three of these people in fact are the sons of his sister Zerui and the three sons are Abishai, Joab and Asahel. Asahel is described in 2nd Samuel as being swift afoot like faster than a deer. It's awesome Asahel but Asahel is doing something. He's chasing after Abner. Remember, Abner is this massively accomplished

military folk person under King Saul. And Abner looks back and says, okay, Asahel, stop chasing me, because if I have to stand and fight you, I'm gonna kill you because, well, he's gonna. And he says, your brother Joab is gonna hold this against me. Basically, let's not have these officers

in the militaries of these group of ishbasheth and David's go at each other because not only are they in battle right now because of their the people reigning over them David and the shibbasheth but also don't let's not add revenge to the list of things and Asahel wouldn't give up chasing after Abner so Abner in self-defense he kills Asahel. And you know what happens next is Abishai and Joab, though remember those two brothers of Asahel

who just killed, the two nephews essentially of David, they chase after Abner trying to kill him. And Abner basically crawls out and says, let's end the cycle of violence right now. Now the cycle of violence is going to continue because that seems like that's how it goes. Right. And yet there was a wise moment there where Abner did call back to say to Asahel, stop fighting, stop chasing after me, or I'll have to strike you down. He does.

It's one of those really unfortunate things because this is ultimately going to be, it's not going to end here. It doesn't end with chapter two. It continues as it always does. You know, violence be getting violence. And so what we do is we recognize in this story what it's going to unfold. And this family is something that is, well, it's devastating. It's what violence does in virtually all of our lives, that violence rarely ends on its own, but it has to be ended and How is it ended? Well in any number of ways, but at some point what Jesus reveals is he takes violence upon himself Rather than afflicting violence Jesus takes violence upon himself Suffers for the sake of the unrighteous the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous

And puts an end in so many ways to that cycle and Jesus gives us an opportunity to also be part of that cycle that the cycle of violence but the cycle of mercy and the cycle of allowing oneself to suffer for the other That's why our call to forgive is so so clear in Jesus's Proclamation and so clear in Jesus's teaching yet forgiveness is one of the hardest teachings of Christianity Yet forgiveness is one of the hardest teachings of Christianity so that's all that to say is we have a lot of stuff going on in the second Samuel and in first Chronicles and One of the things for today if you recognize we recognize not only the importance of the family tree the importance of the genealogy

Which represents the promises of God, but we also recognize how deadly violence is because it rarely ends on its own. It has to be ended. And so in my heart today I just say, okay Lord, where are the places of anger? Where are the places where I desire revenge or desire to be vindicated myself because what someone else did or what someone else has said? And how do I imitate Jesus and say, okay in this moment I let them go. In this, I set them free in this moment. I am not going to make them pay me back. I'm not going to hold it against them.

In this moment, I am going to end this anger. I'm gonna end this violence. That's a thing that's hard for us to do. That's why we're praying for each other. I am praying for you. Please, as I said, pray for each other and pray for me. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.