The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 138: The Effect of Sin on Others (2023)

Episode Date: May 18, 2023

Fr. Mike points out how violence begets violence in the reading from 2 Samuel, and shows us how the sins we commit extend much further than ourselves. We also read about the Temple musicians in 1 Chronicles, we hear Psalm 39, written by one of those musicians, Jeduthun. Today's reading are 2 Samuel 20, 1 Chronicles 25, and Psalm 39. 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 138. We are reading today from 2 Samuel chapter 20, 1 Chronicles chapter 25. We are praying tonight, today, right now, from Psalm 39. As always,

the Bible translation that I am reading from is the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I am using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. And if you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. If you want to subscribe to this podcast, you can click on subscribe and you will be subscribed. As I said, it is day 138, reading 2 Samuel chapter 20, 1 Chronicles 25, and Psalm 39. The second book of Samuel, chapter 20, the rebellion of Sheba. Now there happened to be there a worthless fellow whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri,

a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said, We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse, every man to his tents, O Israel. So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba, the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem. And David came to his house at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go into them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood. Then the king said to Amasa, Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself. So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the

set time which had been appointed him. And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord's servants and pursue him, lest he get himself fortified cities and cause us trouble. And there went out after Abishai Joab, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba, the son of Bichri. When they were at the great stone, which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet him. Now Joab was wearing a soldier's garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened upon his loins, and as he went forward, it fell out. And Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with you, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. But Amasa did not observe the sword which was in Joab's hand. So Joab struck him with it in the body and shed his

bowels to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. And one of Joab's men took his stand by Amasa and said, Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab. And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway, and anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him. When he was taken out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab

to pursue Sheba, the son of Bichri. And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Bethma-Akkah. And all the Bichrites assembled and followed him in. And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him and Abel of Beth-ma-aka, and cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down.

Then a wise woman called from the city, Here, here, tell Joab, come here that I may speak to you. And he came near her, and the woman said, Are you Joab? He answered, I am. Then she said to him, Listen to the words of your maidservant. And he answered, I am listening. Then she said, They were wont to say in old time,

Let them but ask counsel at Abel. And so they settled the matter. I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city which is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the heritage of the Lord? Joab answered, Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy. That is not true. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, called Sheba the son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give up him alone, and I will withdraw from the city. And the woman said to Joab,

Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall. Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom, and they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel. And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites. And Adoram was in charge of the forced labor. And Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was the recorder. And Sheba was the secretary. And Zadok and Abiathar were priests. And Ira, the Jeriteite was also David's priest.

The First Book of Chronicles, Chapter 25. The Temple Musicians. David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, and of Haman, and of Jedithun, who should prophesy with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals. The list of those who did the work and of their duties was of the sons of Asaph, Zakur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asheralah, sons of Asaph under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king. Of Jedithun, the sons of Jedithun, Gedaliah, Zerai, Jeshiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattathiah. Six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. Of Haman, the sons of Haman, Bukayah,er, according to the promise of God to exalt him.

For God had given Haman fourteen sons and three daughters. They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jethethun, and Haman were under the order of the king. The number of them, along with their brethren, who were trained in the singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was two hundred and eighty-eight. And they cast lots for their duties, small and great, teacher and pupil alike. The first lot fell for Asaph to Joseph, the second

to Gedaliah, to him and his brethren and his sons, twelve, the third to Zechur, his sons and his brethren, twelve, the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brethren, twelve. The fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his brethren, twelve. The sixth to Bukayah, his sons and his brethren, twelve. The seventh to Jesharalah, his sons and his brethren, twelve. The eighth to Jeshiah, his sons and his brethren, twelve. The ninth to Metaniah, his sons and his brethren, twelve. The tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brethren, 12. The tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brethren, 12. The eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his brethren, 12. The twelfth to Hashabiah,

his sons and his brethren, 12. To the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brethren, twelve. To the fourteenth, Mattathiah, his sons and his brethren, twelve. To the fifteenth, Jeremoth, his sons and his brethren, twelve. To the sixteenth, to Hananiah, his sons and his brethren, twelve. To the seventeenth, to Joshbekeshah, his sons and his brethren, twelve. To the eighteenth, to Hanani, his sons and his brethren twelve. To the nineteenth, to Melithai, his sons and his brethren twelve. To the twentieth, to Aliathah, his sons and his brethren twelve. To the twenty-first, to Hothir, his sons and his brethren twelve. To the twenty-second, to Gedaltte, his sons and his brethren, twelve. To the twenty-third, to Mahazioth, his sons and his brethren, twelve. To the twenty-fourth, to Ramamte-Ezer, his sons and his brethren, twelve.

Psalm 39, Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness To the Choir Master, to Jedithun A Psalm of David I said, I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue. I will bridle my mouth, so long as the wicked are in my presence. I was mute and silent. I held my peace to no avail. My distress grew worse. My heart became hot within me.

As I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue, Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is. Behold, you have made my days a few hand breaths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely every man stands as a mere breath. Surely man goes about as a shadow. Surely for naught are they in turmoil. Man heaps up and knows not who will gather. And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Make me not the scorn of the fool. I am silent. I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it. Remove your stroke from me. I am spent by the blows of your hand. When you chasten man with

rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him. Surely every man is a mere breath. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry. Hold not your peace at my tears, for I am your passing guest, a sojourner like all my fathers. Look away from me, that I may know gladness before I depart and be no more. Father in heaven, we give you praise and we thank you. And we know that you love us. And we know that we can trust in your love for us, even in the midst of darkness, even in the midst of failure, even in the midst of discipline.

Lord God, as Psalm 39 says, that even when your hand is heavy upon us, even when your hand is heavy upon us, in discipline, in correction, we know that we can trust you. Help us to see your fatherhood and your discipline, to not give in to the temptation to see a tyrant when you are actually a good father, to not see a dictator when you're actually a good dad. But help us to receive the discipline that you allow to come our way, to receive the discipline that you bring into our lives

so that we can have a change of heart. We can have a change of direction so that we can become more and more like you, our God, our Father, our Dad. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. So in 1 Chronicles chapter 25, it's kind of, I think there's a really awesome connection today because what do we have in Chronicles 25? It talks about the temple musicians and it describes the sons of Asaph, right? And of, sorry, not just Asaph,

of Asaph, of Heman, or Heman, but hard for me not to say Heman, of Heman and Jeduthun, which is great, not only because we have all the names of their sons who were part of this, but what were they set apart for? They were set apart for certain kinds of service. What was the service? The service was prophecy in song, like praise of God in song. They're the temple musicians. And so you have these three sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun. And then we read Psalm 39, which is a Psalm of Jeduthun. So that's, I thought, wow, that's really, that's pretty cool. Pretty neat. Great connection today. But in 2 Samuel, what do we have? In 2 Samuel, we have a rebellion against King David, right? So David has now, I mean, in the previous chapter, in chapter 19, David has been hailed as he's the king. We're

unanimous in this. Yes, we want him as our king. All of Israel, they were competing to say, who can claim David sooner? Who can honor David more when he's crossing the Jordan? And they were resentful of Judah because they got to honor David by crossing over the Jordan with him. And now there's this guy, Sheba, the son of Bichri, who is what? A Benjaminite, right? Benjamin, tribe of Benjamin, same as King Saul, former King Saul. And he claims, no, you guys leave King David. I'm the new king. And so all these tribes of Israel who had just been fighting to be the ones to honor David, a lot of them go over to follow Sheba, the son of Bichri. And again, it just goes to show the fickleness of

the human heart. This is us. This isn't just way back when. This is completely us. You know, someone promises more, someone promises better. Someone is, you know, the idea of like new is always better. So we've had Saul, we've had David, let's go with Sheba, the son of Bichri. And it doesn't go well, not only because they're able to defeat Bikri pretty handily. And how they defeat him is they go to the city, Abel of Beth Ma'aka. And Joab is going to tear down the whole thing. They're going to destroy the city. And it says, this wise woman calls and says, listen, we don't have a dog in this fight. We don't have a horse in this race. We don't have a horse in this race.

And so if you spare us, we'll get you, Sheba. We'll give you a Sheba, son of Bichri. And so that's what they do. The people of the city, rather than having their city destroyed, they essentially kill this man who was the revolutionary, who was the upstart, who was the one who wanted to become the new king.

And they win, the forces of David, they win. But here's what happens. I said, Joab, she calls Joab, this wise woman. Why didn't she call Amasa? Because remember, Amasa was made the head of David's army. Well, we heard the story that David had sent Amasa to do the fighting, to do the battle and Joab, who did not like being replaced, I imagine, one would imagine, he essentially sneaks a knife into Amasa's gut and it says it spills his bowels to the ground. Again, this violent and backstabbing and front stabbing kind of situation where Joab, who was

used to being the right hand of the king, basically makes it so that he once again is the right hand of the king by slaying Amasa. One more thing about this, and that is violence begets violence and evil doesn't stop with us. And this is one of the big key things. There is a moment, there's a one verse of injustice. There's one verse of the consequences of evil here. And it's verse three in chapter 20. It says, David came to his house in Jerusalem and the king, King David, took the 10 concubines whom he left to care for the house. Remember those 10 concubines? David had left them to care for the house while he took all the other concubines, all the other wives with him.

And while he was gone, what did Absalom do? Absalom had sexual relations with them in the sight of all the people. And so he dishonored his father in sight of the people. He raped these women in the sight of all the people. And so what does David do? He put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but he did not have sexual relations with them ever again. Because you can see this place that he knew that would not be lawful to do that kind of thing. But also he didn't want to put them away. They did nothing wrong. So they were shut up. They were essentially sequestered until the day

of their deaths. And one of the things that this highlights is we hear this and go, that is unjust. And absolutely, you're completely right. Here, these women who are caught in the crossfire, who are used by these men, first as concubines to David, then as these pawns that Absalom was using to shame David, he used it to shame David by violating them. They did nothing, nothing wrong. And one of the things we have to realize, if there's a deeper spiritual lesson in this, is how often others suffer because of our sins.

Because this is just one of the things, right? They suffer because they're suffering because of Absalom's sins, and they're also suffering because of David's sins. But here's the thing is we can look at Absalom and David and say what they did was absolutely wrong. Yes, now David didn't do the wrong thing in caring for them. Yeah, difficult situation. But he did something wrong earlier. And Absalom clearly did something wrong earlier. And the Absalom clearly did something

absolutely evil. And one of the things we just get to pause in the scripture and allow scripture to speak into our hearts and to convict our hearts, because there are so many times when you and I, we choose evil and we think it just ends with us. It's just my choices, my personal thing, my whatever, my decision. But how often do others suffer because of my sins? How often do others suffer because of your sins? And so again, yes, we need to tell the full truth about Absalom, the full truth about David, and the full heinousness of what both of these men had done. But in light of that, we also get to ask the truth. We ask the question that reveals the truth of our own lives. How often have others suffered because of my sins? Because I know if

you're like me, if you're honest like me about this, that is a hard question to answer. Not because it's hard to imagine where someone might have suffered because of our sins. It's a hard question to answer because it is hard to face the truth. It's hard to face this truth. We can only do it with God's grace. We can only actually face, I think, the truth of our brokenness with God's help or else it's too much. It's too overwhelming. And so what we need to do is not just face the truth on our own. We face the truth with each other. And that's one of the reasons why we pray for each other is because as we hear these stories and we think of these women, these 10 women who were violated and then who had to live the consequences of someone else's evil choice. I think of all the people in our lives who endured the consequences of others,

of our evil choice. And so we pray, Lord, help us to never do that again. Help us to never make choices that hurt other people ever again. And when we do, help us to turn back to you, God. Help us to turn back to the Lord and to allow him to make us new. Then in spite of our past, give us a future. So we pray for each other. I'm praying for you. Please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.