The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 165: The Lover and the Beloved (2023)

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

Fr. Mike connects today's reading from Songs to the teachings of St. John Paul's Theology of the Body. He also points out how helpful it is to track the timelines of the kings of Israel and Judah as we read from Kings and Chronicles simultaneously. The readings are 1 Kings 15-16, 2 Chronicles 16-17, and Song of Solomon 4. 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. Today is day 165. We are reading from 1 Kings chapter 15 and 16, 2 Chronicles chapters 16 and 17, and the Song of Solomon chapter 4. That's a lot of chapters today. That's five

chapters today, so that's going to be great. So buckle up and hang on. We are reading from the Bible translation called the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to get your own Great Adventure Bible from Ascension, you can go to ascensionpress.com. You can also go to Amazon or wherever you find Bibles are sold and get those there. If you want to download your own free Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. And if you want to subscribe to this podcast, you can by clicking on subscribe. As I said, it is day 165, which is so good. You guys, congratulations. This is remarkable. I imagine for the last 165

days or at least 165 times, you've allowed God's word to shape your mind and shape your heart and shape the way in which you see the world. It's so good. What a gift. So day 165, reading 1 Kings 15 and 16, 2 Chronicles 16 and 17, and the Song of Solomon, chapter 4. The first book of Kings, chapter 15. Abijam reigns over Judah. Now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maaka, the daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins which his father did before him. And his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God as the heart of David his father. Nevertheless, for David's sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him and establishing

Jerusalem. Because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life, the rest of the acts of Abisham, and all that he did are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abisham and Jeroboam. And Abisham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead. Asa Reigns Over Judah

In the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maaka, the daughter of Abishalom. And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done. He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. He also removed Maaka, his mother, from being queen mother because she had an abominable image made for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days. And he brought into the house of the Lord the votive gifts of his father

and his own votive gifts, silver and gold and vessels. War between Asa and Baasha And there was war between Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days. Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or to come in to Asa, the king of Judah. Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house, and gave them into the hands of his servants. And king Asa sent them to Ben-Hadad, the son of Teprimon, the son of Hesion, king of Syria,

who dwelt in Damascus, saying, Let there be league between me and you, as between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me. And Ben-Hadad listened to king Asa, and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-Beth-Ma'aka, and all Chinneroth, in all the land of Naphtali. And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and dwelt in Tirzah. Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building. And with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.

Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in his old age he was diseased in his feet, and Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead. Nadab reigns over Israel. Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah and he reigned over Israel two years.

He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in his sin which he made Israel to sin. Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha struck him down at Gibethon, which belonged to the Philistines. For Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibethon. So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. And as soon as he was king, he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He left to the

house of Jeroboam not one that breathed, until he had destroyed it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shalaneit. It was for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned and which he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel. Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. Baasha reigns over Israel. In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he made Israel to sin. Chapter 16. And the word of the Lord came to

Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasha, saying, Since I exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins. Behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city, the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field, the birds of the air shall eat. Now the rest of the acts of Baasha and what what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried at Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned in his stead. Moreover, the word of the Lord came

by the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasha and his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because he destroyed it. Elah Reigns Over Israel In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah, the son of Baasha, began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned two years. But his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him when he was at Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arzah, and he reigned two years. But his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. When he was at Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arzah, who was over the house of Tirzah, Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of

Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. When he began to reign, as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he killed all of the house of Baasha. He did not leave him a single male of his kinsmen or his friends. Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet. For all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son which they sinned, and which they made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols. Now the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did

are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? Conspiracy and Death of Zimri In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the troops were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, and the troops who were encamped heard it and said, Zimri has conspired and he has killed the king. Therefore all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. So Omri went up from

Gibbethon and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's house, and burned the king's house over him with fire, and died, because of his sins which he committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin. Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the conspiracy which he made, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. Omri reigns over Israel and builds Samaria. Then the sons of Israel were divided in two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni, the son of Ginnath, to make him king, and half followed Omri.

But the people who followed Omri overcame the people who followed Tibni, the son of Ginnath, so that Tibni died and Omri became king. In the 31st year of Asa, king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel and reigned for 12 years. Six years he reigned in Tirzah. He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemar for two talents of silver, and he fortified the hill, and called the name of the city which he built Samaria, after the name of Shemar, the owner of the hill. Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him

for he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in the sins which he had made Israel to sin provoking the Lord the God of Israel to anger by their idols now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did and the might that he showed are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel and Omri slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and Ahab his son reigned in his stead. Ahab reigns over Israel and does evil.

In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all that were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria, and Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings

of Israel who were before him. In his days, Hiel of Bethel built Jericho, and laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram, his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son, Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua, the son of Nun. The second book of Chronicles, chapter 16, alliance with Syria condemned. In the 36th year of the reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king's house and sent them to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, Let there be a league between me and you, as between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and

gold. Go, break your league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me. And Ben-Hadad listened to king Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijan, Dan, Abel-Maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. Then king Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building. And with them, he built Geba and Mizpah. At that time, Hanani, the seer, came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians

and the Libyans a huge army with exceedingly many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord move back and forth throughout the whole earth to show his might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless before him. You have done foolishly in this. And from now on, you will have wars. Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

Asa's Disease and Death The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease, he did not seek the Lord, but sought the help from physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign. They buried him in the tomb which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier, which had been filled with various kinds of spices and prepared by the perfumer's art, and they made a great fire in his honor.

Chapter 17. Jehoshaphat's Reign. Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his stead and strengthened himself against Israel. He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim which Asa his father had taken. The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father. He did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the ways of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor. His heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord, and furthermore, he took the high places and the Assyrium out of Judah. In the third year of his reign,

he sent his princes, Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah, and with them the Levites, Shem Elishema and Jehoram. And they taught in Judah, having the book of the law of the Lord with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people. And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the land that were round about Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat. Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver for tribute, and the Arabs also brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 he goats. And Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built in Judah fortresses and store cities,

and he had great stores in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty men of valor in Jerusalem. This was the muster of them by father's houses, of Judah, the commanders of thousands. Adna, the commander, with 300,000 mighty men of valor, and next to him, Jehohanan, the commander, with 280,000, and next to him, a Messiah, the son of Zichri, a volunteer for the service of the Lord, with 200,000 mighty men of valor. Of Benjamin, Eliadah, a mighty man of valor, with 200,000 men armed with bow and shield.

And next to him, Jehozabad, with 180,000 armed for war. These were in the service of the king, besides those whom the king had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah. The Song of Solomon, Chapter 4. The bride's beauty extolled. Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats moving down the slopes of Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them is bereaved. Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like the halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. Your neck is like the Tower of David built for an arsenal, whereupon hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors. Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will hasten to the mountain of Myrrh and the hill of frankincense. You are all fair, my love. There is no flaw in you. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride. Come with me from Lebanon.

Depart from the peak of Ammanah, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards. You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride. How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice. Your lips distill nectar, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon. A garden locked is my sister, my bride.

A garden locked, a fountain sealed. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices. A garden fountain, a well of living water and flowing streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind. Blow upon my garden,

let its fragrance be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its choicest fruits. Father, we give you praise and we love you. Please receive our love. Please receive our praise in Jesus name. Amen. In the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy spirit. Amen. Okay. One note on the song of Solomon, as we noted, this is the love song between God and his people. And it's about human love as well. And there's a couple of things that Pope John Paul II, when he wrote this thing called the theology of the there's a couple of things that Pope John Paul II, when he wrote this thing called the Theology of the Body, a series of teachings that he had given for the space of roughly five years

on Wednesdays over in the Vatican, he would come out and he would teach every Wednesday for roughly, I think it was like 135 Wednesdays, not in a row, but consecutively or over the space of five or so years. And at one point he reflected on the Song of Psalms, Song of Songs, Song of Solomon.

And he noted, he said that we caught this, I think a couple of days ago, where here's the lover and the lover knocks on the door and it's the beloved, it's the woman. She can answer or she can't answer. It's hers though. He can knock and he waits. And if she answers, that's great.

He can come in. If she doesn't answer, then he doesn't force his way in. And John Paul II made this point about when it comes to love between a man and a woman, between the love of the husband and wife, he says that the woman always remains a master of her own mystery. She always remains a master of her own mystery, meaning that even if they're married, her husband, every time he approaches her, every time he initiates intimacy with her, he knocks essentially, and she can say no. John Paul II goes on to say, he says, this is the man's risk. He always risks when he initiates, even as a

husband. He's like, no, she's not mine to just use or not mine to my own pleasure. He knocks and he risks. He knocks and he waits. And she can always refuse because she remains, in John Paul's words, the master of her own mystery. In fact, we see this in chapter four, where it says, a garden locked is my sister, my bride. She's a garden locked. Another way to say it, he says a garden fountain, a well of living water. And she's a garden locked, meaning that he can't force his way in, meaning that the woman always, always has possession of herself. She gives of herself to the man or she doesn't, but she gets to choose whether she gives of herself or not. And he approaches and he approaches with love. He

approaches also with tenderness, knowing that again, it's a risk and she can refuse because she is a garden locked. Another thing to note is it says a garden locked is my sister, my bride. And John Paul, again, points out, he says, one garden locked is my sister, my bride. And John Paul, again, points out, he says, one of the things it reminds us of is that every time we approach those with whom we might even have a romantic relationship, so whether that be a man to his wife here, my sister, my bride, or a woman to her husband,

my brother, my husband, my brother, my groom, John Paul points out, he says, that it's always my sister first. And he says, why is that? Because you think I don't have a sexualized view of my sister. And in John Paul, essentially he says, yes, exactly. You first approach your bride as sister. You first approach your bride as one who exists for love, for her own sake. She exists for her own sake, not as your bride first. She first exists as herself. Does that make sense? John Paul II said,

as often as husbands and wives approach each other like this, first seeing each other as the other who exists for their own sake, for the Lord's sake, first as sister, first as brother, then they can truly give themselves as groom, can truly give themselves as bride because they've entered into this reality, right?

They first see each other for who they truly are, not who you are to me, if that makes any sense. So it maintains the dignity of the person before being spouse, before being that lover, essentially. So a little reflection from John Paul II when he talks about the theology of the body. If we could go back to our not necessarily confusing, here's what I invite you to do when it comes to Kings and Chronicles is in this, write the names down. If you have the opportunity at all, if you have a great adventure Bible itself, this is where this Bible comes into handy in a massive way. Just so helpful because the timeline

that Jeff put together shows so clearly, okay, this is the next King and this is the next King. So we have some overlap, right? With Chronicles talking about the reign of Asa and then Kings talking about the reign of Asa and then Kings talking about the reign of Asa and Jehoshaphat and all these other different Kings. And we're wondering, wait, is this the North or is this the South? When you have that Great Adventure Bible timeline, even if you were to go online and order it

from ascensionpress.com, that would be really helpful. If you can't get your hands on the Bible that we have, you can also get the hands on this kind of fold out timeline that can be critical in this time. Because tomorrow even we're gonna be critical in this time, because tomorrow even we're going to be introduced to a prophet, a very famous prophet. We have other prophets we've already heard from, or Ahijah and some others, but the first really famous prophets coming up, Elijah tomorrow. And so that's really helpful to know, oh, this is the context for that.

So track down one of those great adventure Bible timelines, or even just write the names of the kings, write the names of the prophets and write where names of the prophets, and write where they're at. You know, are they in the north? Are they in the south? Little spoiler, if you haven't heard this already, none of the kings in the north are going to be good. So as we ended today with the introduction of Ahab, Ahab becomes like one of the worst ones that we get to hear from.

None of the kings in the north are going to be good. They're all going to be false and unfaithful to the Lord. They're all going to lead people into evil. We talked about a couple good kings today, though. And we had Asa. Remember Asa, he's known as a good king, and yet he doesn't end well. He's kind of like a story of Solomon, who starts out good, doesn't end good. And King Asa reigns really well for a long time, 35 years roughly.

But then you have this story where the king of Israel, Baasha, he enters into a league covenant kind of agreement with the king of Syria and the king of Syria. And he basically say, all right, we're not going to allow Asa to come in or go out. And Asa has this great idea. He says, well, you know, we're taking a bunch of money and we can get this king of Syria on our side. And he does. And it's great. And from a human perspective, this is a really good idea. But then Hanani, the seer comes to Asa and says, okay, you relied upon the king of Syria. You did not rely upon the Lord. So because of that, remember, remember the Ethiopians, do you remember yesterday? And we had Asa face down the Ethiopians. Asa had 500,000 troops. The Ethiopians had a million troops.

It was two to one kind of a situation. And he got victory. Why? Because you relied upon the Lord your God. But now, because you've entered into this agreement with Syria, you'll now be fighting. And now, rather than taking his correction, Asa rebels against the Lord. He's in a rage with the seer, puts him in stocks. It's horrible. And then not only that, but a couple of years later, Asa gets sick. He has a disease in his feet and he doesn't, again, he doesn't seek the Lord. He seeks physicians. And Asa, basically, he spends like 35 years of really good being faithful to the Lord. And the last part of his life, he's less than faithful.

And that's the big lesson, right? For all of us, we can spend so much of our lives being faithful, but we have to not just start well and not just run well, we wanna finish well, we wanna end well. Now, Jehoshaphat, his son, is gonna be someone who starts well and he reigns well and he runs well. He's gonna finish pretty well.

But keep in mind that we're gonna start following Jehoshaphat's story runs well, he's going to finish pretty well. But keep in mind that we're going to start following Jehoshaphat's story as well, as well as the story of Ahab, Ahab, the king of the north, who, spoiler alert, as I said before, is not going to be a good king, but Jehoshaphat will be a pretty good king who's in the south. So you guys, hopefully you can follow these names and all this stuff. Again, the great thing about reading Kings and Chronicles at the same time is that you hear the same story multiple times. Again, the bad thing about reading Kings and Chronicles at the same time is that you hear the same story multiple times. Again, the bad thing about hearing Kings and

Chronicles at the same time is you're at the same story and you're wondering, wait, did I hear this before? Did I not hear this before? So keep track of it. Get that Great Adventure Bible Timeline or even simply just write down the names as you hear them because you can realize, oh, they're talking about this guy again. And that can be really, really helpful. Anyways, gosh, it's been a long time. We got to bring this episode, this day of the Bible to a close as 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.