The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 134: Devastating Effects of Sin (2023)

Episode Date: May 14, 2023

Fr. Mike talks about the horrible things that can happen when we turn away from God and stop asking him "what's the next step?" In today's readings we see David humbled and humiliated, Absalom revealing how devastating sin is, and the evil that comes from war. Today's readings are 2 Samuel 16, 1 Chronicles 21, and Psalm 15. 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 134. We are reading from 2 Samuel chapter 16, also 1 Chronicles chapter 21, and we're praying Psalm 15. If you're interested in knowing what Bible translation I am reading

from, it is the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I'm using 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, and you can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe. As I said, it is day 134. We, reading 2 Samuel 16, 1 Chronicles 21, and we're praying Psalm 15. 2 Samuel 16, David meets Ziba. When David had passed a little beyond the summit, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him with a couple of donkeys saddled, bearing 200 loaves of bread, 100 bunches of rais, a hundred of summer fruits, and a skin of wine. And the king said to Ziba, Why have you brought these?

Ziba answered, The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who faint in the wilderness to drink. And the king said, And where is your master's son? Ziba said to the king, Behold, he remains in Jerusalem. For he said, Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father. Then the king said to Ziba, Behold, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours. And Ziba said, I do obeisance. Let me ever find favor in your sight, my lord the king.

Shimei curses David. When King David came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gerah. And as he came, he cursed continually. And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David. And all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And Shimei said as he cursed, the king, why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head. But the king said, what have I to do with you, you sons of Zerui? If he is cursing because the lord has said to him, curse David, who then shall say, why have you done so? And David said to

Abishai and to all his servants, behold, my own son seeks my life. How much more now may this Benjaminite? Let him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look upon my affliction and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing of me today. So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. And the king and all the people who were with him arrived weary at the Jordan, and there he refreshed himself. The Council of Ahithophel. Now Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. And when Hushai, the

archite, David's friend, came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, Long live the king, long live the king. And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend? And Hushai said to Absalom, No, for whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, his I will be, and with him I will remain. And again, whom shall I serve? Should it not be his son? As I have served your father, so I will serve you. Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your counsel, what shall we do?

Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go into your father's concubines, whom he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father, and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened. So they pitched a tent for Absalom upon the roof, and Absalom went into his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. Now in those days, the counsel which Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the oracle of God. So was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed both by David and by Absalom.

The First Book of Chronicles, Chapter 21, the census and the pestilence. Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, go number Israel from Beersheba to Dan and bring me a report that I may know their number. But Joab said, may the Lord add to his people a hundred times as many as they are. Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord's servants? Why then should my lord require this? Why should he bring guilt upon Israel? But the king's word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went through all Israel and came back to Jerusalem. And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to David. In all Israel, there were

1,100,000 men who drew the sword, and in Judah, 470,000 who drew the sword. But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king's command was abhorrent to Joab. But God was displeased with this thing, and he struck Israel. And David said to God, I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now I pray you take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly. And the Lord spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and say to David, Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them that I may do it to you. So Gad came to David and said to him, Thus says the Lord, Take which you will, either three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes,

while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord, pestilence upon the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel. Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me. Then David said to Gad, I am in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, but let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, and there fell 70,000 men of Israel. And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but when he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw and he repented of the evil. And he said to the destroying angel, It is enough.

Now stay your hand. And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornon the Jebusite. And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven. And in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David said to God, Was it not I who gave the command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done very wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray you, O Lord my God, be against me and against my father's house, but let not the plague be upon your people.

David's altar and sacrifice. Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So David went up at Gad's word, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. He turned and saw the angel and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went forth from the threshing floor and did obeisance to David with his face to the ground. And David said to Ornan, give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it and alter to the Lord. Give it to me at its full price that the plague may be averted from the people. Then Ornan said to David, Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him.

See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the cereal offering. I give it all. But King David said to Ornan, No, but I will buy it for the full price. I will not take for the lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings which cost me nothing. So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the site. And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord, and he answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. Then the Lord commanded the angel, and he put back his sword into its sheath. The site for the temple chosen.

At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he made his sacrifices there. For the temple of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord. Psalm 15. Who shall abide in God's sanctuary? A Psalm of David. O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks blamelessly and

does what is right and speaks truth from his heart, who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord, who swears to his own hurt and does not change, who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. Father in heaven, we give you praise and thank you. We honor you and give you glory, the glory you deserve. We give you the praise and honor and worship and thanksgiving of this day. Gosh, Lord,

as we follow the story of David, we ask that you please help us to discern in our own hearts where we need to be convicted of sin. Help us to see in our own hearts where we're called to be innocent, where we're called to be humbled, where we're called to be lifted up, where we're called to be strengthened, where we are called to receive encouragement, and we were called to be open to criticism. Lord God, help us to be wise in the voices that we listen to and the voices we pay attention to. And of all the voices that we hear in the course of the day, let yours be the one that is the loudest, that is the clearest, and is the one that goes directly to our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray,

in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, gosh. Okay, so quick couple things when it comes to David. As I said before, 2 Samuel is, we'll look at this as if it's real time. So here's David who's on the run from Absalom. And in 1 Chronicles, this is a little bit past this. In fact, in 1 Chronicles 21, what we've done is we've just jumped over all of the story that we're listening to right now. It doesn't even mention the fact of David's sin. It doesn't mention him killing Uriah the Hittite. It doesn't mention any of the births of his children. It doesn't mention that one of his children is leading half the nation in civil war against David and rebellion against David, Absalom. And so it doesn't even mention this.

Remember, the key thing with this is not because the chronicler is trying to hide David's sin or his wounds or his weaknesses. It's because the chronicler is telling a different story. He's telling the story of the Messiah, that ancestor or the, yeah, the one to come after David. He's telling the story of worship because that's, this is all about. So keep that in mind. All right. So go back to 2 Samuel 16, and what do we see? What we see is a couple people and some deceptions. So we have Mephibosheth, which is easy for me to say.

Wow, Mephibosheth is the son of Jonathan. And now David is told by Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, that Mephibosheth is basically just waiting in Jerusalem because he is going to be waiting to see who wins between David and Absalom. And he's going to pick up the pieces after both of them destroy each other. We're going to find out in second Samuel chapter 19, that that is not true. That's not true that he's been lied to in this moment, but just keep that in mind. Hold that in your thoughts. Mephibosheth is not a traitor to David. He's being told right

now that he is a traitor to David. I don't want to spoil it for you, but Phipposheth is not a traitor to David. He's being told right now that he is a traitor to David. I don't want to spoil it for you, but that's not going to be true. Then we have this powerful scene, I think, with Shimei, right? Who's Shimei, who's also a house of family of the house of Saul, and he's cursing David. Now keep this in mind. He even says, scripture says, he's being surrounded by all of these people, all of David's household and all of David's mighty men. And here's Shimei who's throwing rocks and throwing dust at the people while he's cursing David. And you have Abishai who's one of David's right-hand men, right? He's one of the close guys here.

Abishai says to the king, let me go over and cut off his head. And David has this response. And his response reveals that David has been humbled. He says, my own son is trying to kill me. How can it get any worse? Here's this person, this Shimei who's cursing me. Yeah, my own son is trying to kill me. I have no pride left.

I have no sense of self left that I think I'm above this person cursing me. And he says, maybe even God has told him to curse me. I have lived in such a way that I am not immune to curses. I'm not above this and I'm not so good and so innocent that Shimei isn't saying the truth. And that, again, that is a great sign of repentance for all of us. When it comes to here's someone who's cursing us, here's someone who's criticizing us, here's someone who's saying something negative about us, realize actually what you're saying, whether it's true or not, what we realize is, yeah, you're not even covering half of it. What you're criticizing me for, or even cursing me for, bawling me out for,

is not even half of it. If you knew the state of my heart at times, if you knew how much in rebellion I could be to the Lord at times, then yeah, your criticism means nothing. Here's David saying, yeah, my own son is trying to kill me. And not only this, oh gosh, it gets even worse. Now, David, remembering his sin, remembering that it was prophesied that you're going to experience incredible disgrace in the sight of all the people. You did this in the dark, but something horrible is going to happen in the light. And that horrible thing happens where Ahithophel, who is the counselor of Absalom, right? Remember his, his counsel was highly valued by David and now it's highly valued by Absalom

and Absalom asks Ahithophel for his counsel. And the counsel is go into your father's concubines, basically have intimate relations with your father's pseudo wives and do this in the sight of all the people. Again, this is not in private. This is Absalom's way of not only establishing that, okay, I'm dominant, but it's also Absalom's way of shaming his father and letting him be making him in some ways a disgrace in the eyes of the people. That's what was intended. In some ways, we recognize that the crucifixion is awful on its own. The point of crucifixion is to kill somebody.

But that's not the point. That's the end result. But to kill them in such a way that is shameful, to kill them in such a way that is humiliating. And so here is Absalom who's doing this action of, again, asserting his dominance over his father in a way that is humiliating, in a way that is shameful. And yeah, just again, the ugliness of war, the ugliness of sin and the ugliness of these violence. You think of the people who are getting caught in the crosshairs in all of this stuff. So just one note on first Chronicles and first Chronicles, we have a story that we're going to get to eventually in second Samuel here, but it's the story of David taking a census. David wants to number the people of Israel and Joab, his actual right-hand guy is saying, I don't, this is not a good idea, but David insists and wants to number

the people. Now, why is it wrong David insists and wants to number the people. Now, why is it wrong for David to want to number the people? We'll say this again when it comes to the section in 2 Samuel, but remember, the book of Numbers is all about numbering the people. The beginning of Numbers is numbering the people. The end of Numbers is numbering the people. So how is this any different? Well, it's different because in Numbers, we're talking about here's all the people that God saved at the beginning of Numbers, at the end of Numbers, and here's all the people that God saved at the beginning of Numbers. At the end of Numbers, it's, and here's all the people that God preserved in the wilderness.

So the beginning of Numbers, here's what God did. All these people from each tribe, here's the big number that he saved from Egypt. And at the end of Numbers, here's all these people that God preserved in the wilderness. And what David's doing here in 1 Chronicles chapter 21 and later on in 2 Samuel, is he's saying, who are my people? These are not God's people anymore. He's taking, in some ways he's taking ownership or taking possession of them instead of saying, yeah, these are God's people that he, he has done something great. He's more or less saying, who am I in charge of? And that is really

about motivation. He's taking ownership of God's people, and that is the wrong thing to do. He can take responsibility for God's people. He can be a steward of God's people. But when David takes a census, he is doing something evil in the sight of the Lord because he's establishing himself rather than establishing God. Hopefully that makes sense, and that's kind of the motivation. We'll talk more about that in 2 Samuel. But here we are as we continue this journey through civil war. We're going to keep on moving tomorrow with 2 Samuel chapter 17 and Chronicles 22. But today we have this moment of David being humbled. We have David being humiliated, Absalom revealing how devastating sin is and how devastating war is because as he uses and abuses these concubines of David's and just the evil

that can proliferate in our world when we refuse to ask the Lord, what is the next step? The evil that can proliferate in the world when we say, okay, I want what I want and I don't care what God wants. And so since that exists in every one of us, that exists in every single one of our hearts, we just need prayer. We need God's grace because we say, yep, God, that could be me. That could be me doing the thing that for ages ends up devastating people. And so God, help me not be an agent of devastation, but help me to be an agent for good, to belong to you fully.

So because of that, that's why I'm praying for you, that you are faithful. Please pray for me, that I also am faithful. And let's pray for each other. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.