The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 171: Elijah and Elisha (2023)

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

Fr. Mike breaks down the moment Elijah is taken up to heaven, and the miracle Elisha performs at the spring. In 2 Chronicles, we also read about how king Amaziah suddenly turned his heart away from God by worshipping idols. Today's readings are 2 Kings 2, 2 Chronicles 25, and Psalm 70. 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 171. We are reading from 2 Kings chapter 2. And I laugh because there is

greatness. There's Elijah. There's Elisha. There is some insults and there's she bears today. 2 Kings chapter 2. We're also 2 Chronicles chapter 25. And we are praying from Psalm 70 today. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the revised standard version of the 2nd Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension, which is color-coded, and you can see all of the different time periods and all of the different... Also, not only this, as we enter into this particular season in our Bible in a year, one of the things that's... I mean, we've kind of already been there for a little while, but we have the divided kingdom, right? Obviously. And we have prophets who are assigned to preach to the divided kingdom.

Some prophets go to the north, some stay in the south, and it's really helpful for us to have that Bible timeline because the timeline itself gives us a graphic, a visual of, oh, we're talking about this person in the north, okay, this person in the south, and it can be really helpful. So if you have that, that's phenomenal. If you don't, you can probably get it at ascensionpress.com. Also, if you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com

slash Bible in a year. And if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, you can click on subscribe to receive daily episodes. One of the things I've heard, people call me a pusher, not a pusher when it comes to subscribing. Just I say what they tell me to say. And kind of like when I read the Bible, I'm just read what I'm given. But when we talk about the subscription, if you subscribe, you don't get any emails.

I just want to let you know that. Someone said, I don't want to subscribe because then I'll get all the emails. You don't get any emails. You just get the Bible in the Air podcast popped up in your whatever podcast every single day. That's all I have to say about that. And that's the last time I will talk about subscribing today. On day 171, we're reading from 2 Kings chapter 2, 2 Chronicles chapter 25, and we are praying Psalm 70. The second book of Kings chapter 2, Elijah is taken up to heaven.

Now, when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Terry here, I beg you, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel. But Elisha said, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel.

And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? And he said, yes, I know it. Hold your peace. Elijah said to him, Elijah, tarry here, I beg you, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho.

The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? And he answered, Yes, I know it. Hold your peace. Then Elijah said to him, Tarry here, I beg you, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. But he said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his coat and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other till the two of them could go

over on dry ground. Elisha succeeds Elijah. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, I beg you, let me inherit a double share of your spirit. And he said, You have asked a hard thing. Yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you. But if you do not see me, it shall not be so. And as they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And

Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen. And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. And he took up the coat of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the coat of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? And when he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him over against them, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. And they said to him, Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. And he said, You shall not send. But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men, and for three days they sought him, but did not find him. And they came back to him while he tarried at Jericho, and he said to them, Did I not say to you, Do not go?

Elisha performs miracles. Now the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful. He said, Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it. So they brought it to him. Then he went to the spring of water, and threw salt in it, and said, Thus says him. Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, Thus says the Lord, I have made this water wholesome. Henceforth neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it. So the water has been wholesome to this day according to the word which Elijah spoke. He went up from there to Bethel. And while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, Go up, you baldhead, go up, you baldhead. And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two

of the boys. From there he went on to Carmel, and thence he returned to Samaria. The Second Book of Chronicles, Chapter 25, Amaziah's reign over Judah. Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoadon of Jerusalem, and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not with a blameless heart. And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he killed his servants who had slain the king, his father. But he did not put their children to death according to what is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, or the children be put to death

for the fathers. But every man shall die for his own sin. Slaughter of the Edomites Then Amaziah assembled the men of Judah and set them by father's houses under commanders of thousands and of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He mustered those twenty years old and upward and found that there were three hundred thousand picked men fit for war, able to handle spear and shield. He hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valor from Israel for a hundred talents of silver. But a man of God came to him and said, O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, with all these Ephraimites. But if you suppose that in this way you will be strong for war, God will cast you down before the enemy,

for God has power to help or to cast down. And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do about the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? The man of God answered, The Lord is able to give you much more than this. Then Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him from Ephraim to go home again. And they became very angry with Judah and returned home in fierce anger. But Amaziah took courage and led out his people and went to the Valley of Salt and struck 10,000 men of Seir. The men of Judah captured another 10,000 alive and took them to the top of a rock and threw them down from the top of the rock, and they were all dashed to pieces. But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, not letting them go with them to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria to Beth-haron, and killed three thousand people in them, and took much spoil. After Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Enamites, he brought the gods of the men of

Seir, and set them up as his gods, and worshipped them, making offerings to them. Therefore the Lord was angry with Amaziah, and sent to him a prophet who said to him, Why have you resorted to the gods of a people which did not deliver their own people from your hand? But as he was speaking, the king said to him, Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be put to death? So the prophet stopped, but said, I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel. Israel defeats Judah. Then Amaziah, king of Judah,

took counsel and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look at one another in the face. And Joash, the king of Israel, sent word to Amaziah, king of Judah, a thistle on Lebanon, word to Amaziah, king of Judah, a thistle on Lebanon, sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son for a wife. And a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. You say, See, I have struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up in boastfulness. But now stay at home. Why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you? But Amaziah would not listen, for it was of God, in order that he might

give them into the hands of their enemies, because they had sought the gods of Edom. So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Bet Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. And Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, son of Ahaziah, at Bet Shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits from the Ephraim gate to the corner gate. And he seized all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the house of God and Obed-Edom with them. He seized also the treasuries

of the king's house and hostages, and he returned to Samaria. Death of Amaziah. Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived 15 years after the death of Joash, the son of Jehoaz, king of Israel. Now, the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, from first to last, are they not written in the death of Joash, the son of Jehoaz, king of Israel. Now, the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, from first to last, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? From the time when he turned away from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachshish. But they sent after him to Lachshish, and slew him there. And they brought him upon horses, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David. Psalm 70, Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies, to the Choir Master, a Psalm of David for the memorial offering. Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O Lord,

make haste to help me. Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my harm. Let them be appalled because of their shame who say, Aha, aha. May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. May those who love your salvation say evermore, God is great, but I am poor and needy. Hasten to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer. O God, do not delay. Father in heaven, we give you praise and thank you. Thank you for the deliverance that you've given us. We thank you for delivering us from the hand of the evil one. We thank you for all the times that you have helped us through dangers that we didn't even know about.

Thank you, Lord. No matter what our age is on this day, day 171 of the Bible in a year, whether we're still in our single digits of years or whether we're approaching triple digits in years, God, none of those days were earned by us. None of those days were earned by us. None of those days are things we deserve. Even this breath right now, even this heartbeat right now,

we don't deserve. They're just simply your gift. And you've brought us to this day and you give us this breath and you continue to allow our hearts to beat in our chests. And we thank you. Please receive our thanks today in Jesus' name, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, so we have in 2 Kings chapter 2, I mentioned there are going to be she-bears, and so we're going to get to that in a little bit, but let's go backwards today. We're going to go from 2 Chronicles 25. We're getting to the end of 2 Chronicles. We only have a couple more days here, three more chapters, 26, 27, and 28, but today is chapter 25, and we have, again, 27, and 28. But today is chapter 25.

And we have, again, Amaziah. Amaziah is reigning over Judah. So keep in mind, here we are in the southern kingdom, right? So this is the southern kingdom, Judah, kingdom of Judah, with Judah and Benjamin. And Amaziah, not bad. Scripture says he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not with a blameless heart. And this is, this is one of those, once again, here's a person who is like, maybe like all of us who does right and then does wrong.

Amaziah goes into battle. Amaziah wants to win a battle and he wants to win, right? So he not only has the 300,000 mighty men of valor from Judah, but he also hires 100,000 men of Israel for a hundred talents. And then the prophet, the man of God comes to him. We don't know his name. He's unnamed and says, no, don't go up there. God can give you victory. And so Amaziah, he has that faith. And so he does, he does that. And even not only that, but he asked the question, what should I do about the fact that we paid them? Do we get the money back or do we let them keep the money? And the man of God says, no, let them keep the money. You're going to get way more back anyways. And that does what happens,

but it doesn't happen in the sense that Amaziah took courage and he let out the people and they went, struck down the men of Seir and they won. And great, good job. But then Amaziah, his heart turns away from the Lord. He takes the gods of the people of Seir and become his gods. And it's just this crazy, like, I wonder what's the story in between those lines, right? What's the story between the verses where here's Amaziah, who is doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord, listening to the prophet of God. And then when he has victory by God himself, by the Lord God himself, his heart turns and

he begins worshiping the idols and the gods of the people they just defeated. I just wonder, what is it in the human heart that can do that so, so quickly? Oftentimes, when something gets exposed that quickly, it's exposed that it was never strong in the first place. And that's not to say that a person can't genuinely be for the Lord and then genuinely turn against him or vice versa. But it is to say, it seems when it's happened so quickly like that, one of the things we need to do, I need to do is inspect my own heart and say, okay, Lord, am I just on the outside faithful to you?

But deep inside, I can be broken. I'm hollow. And maybe that was Amaziah. But then Amaziah, he gets a little big for his britches and he wants to fight against Israel. And so essentially, Joash says, fine, remember Joash? Joash was another king who started out pretty well and ends up not great and comes down and defeats Judah massively, massively. Not only that, does Amaziah turn his heart away from the Lord God, but also then he wants to fight against Israel. And so he says, hey, come down that we can see each other face to face.

And you think, wow, this guy is getting a little big for his britches. He challenges Israel to battle. And so Joash, king of Israel, says, all right, fine, I will. And they thump, thump Judah. And not only that, but they break down the wall of Jerusalem for 400 cubits. And he seizes all the gold, all the silver, all the vessels that were in the house of God. So all the temple, everything. He seizes all the treasures of the king's house and takes hostages and then returns up to Samaria. And Amaziah is not. Started out pretty decent. And he was, remember, he was

the son of Joash, the king of Judah. So this is confusing, right? Because there's Joash in the north and Joash in the south. Amaziah is the son of Joash in the south. Joash just started out well, started up pretty good when he was seven years old as a king, when he had Jehoiada with him, and then turns to be not a good cookie. And same thing with Amaziah, was not a good cookie. It turns out to be not a good cookie. But here's Joash, king of Israel in the north, right? Two Joashes who was never a good cookie. And he defeats and thumps, as I said, the people of Judah. And so that's their state right now as we go into chapter 26 tomorrow. But today, second Kings chapter two, we also see a transition and the transition is from Elijah to Elisha. And so that's going to be the name Elijah with a J and Elisha

with an SH are the people. So Elijah, great prophet, in fact, incredible prophet for the north. And yet he, like all lives, his life comes to an end. And so he has already recruited Elisha to be with him. And so here they are journeying. They go to Bethel. They go to Jericho. They go to the Jordan. If you ever get to Israel, you can see how that travel, how that travel would happen.

And they'll be going further and further to the east from Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan. If you ever get to Israel, you can see how that travel, travel, how that travel would happen. And they would be going further and further to the east from Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan. And what does Elijah say? Elijah says, Elisha, finally ask me, what is it I can do for you? And Elisha basically says, I want a double portion of your spirit. Give me a double share of your spirit. And this is the recognition that Elisha realizes, like, listen, I don't have any of the gifts you have. Like you are an incredible prophet. And if I could have half the gifts you have, but Elisha doesn't say that. He says, I want a double portion. Now, one of the things you'll see if you have the great adventure Bible itself is that that double share, the eldest son inherited a double share of the father's property. And so Elisha

regards him himself as the son. So he asks for Elijah's spirit as his inheritance. Like, I don't want anything else. I just want your spirit, double portion of your spirit. Elijah says, I can't promise that, but if you see me taken up, then it's yours. And what happens? Gets taken up on fiery chariots, fiery horses, and his coat falls to the ground. Elisha picks it up. He rends his own garments. Elisha picks it up and he rends his own garments. Elisha picks it up, and he can do exactly what Elijah had done. Remember, Elijah had walked across the Jordan, slapped his cloak against the water, separated from the right to the left, just like the Red Sea, just like when Joshua led the people of Israel over the Jordan.

Now, Elisha can do the exact same thing. Now, what we're going to see is, well, for all the incredible things that Elijah did, Elisha can do even greater. So we saw Elijah raise someone from the dead. We're going to see Elisha do that in even more, I don't want to say dramatic fashion because Elijah was a really dramatic guy. I mean, talk about a big exit, right? Chariots of flames and horses of flames taking him away. Elisha is not as flashy as Elijah, yet Elisha has double the portion of Elijah. And so we're going to see that. It's remarkable. Now, little note, before we get to Elisha performing miracles, we have the people, the prophets of Jericho, who say, hey, let's go search for your master. And Elisha says, you don't have to search for him.

He's gone. No, no, no. But let us search for your master. And so Elisha finally lets him. And then he come back after three days saying, we didn't find anything. And then he says, did I not say to you, don't go. I just kind of like that as a little caveat, little sidebar of how the prophets of Jericho wanted to go out to find Elijah's body. And Elisha, he knew the end of the story. I've ever been in that situation where you're like, no, I know you're not going to find him. He was taken up, not just to a mountain. He was taken up to heaven. Let's move on. Then Elijah, sorry, Elisha performs miracles there in that area. You have a lot of salt water. I mean, this is so close to the Dead Sea there. You know, the Dead Sea, it's nothing lives. There's nothing

that grows. I mean, microscopic organisms, bacteria can live there, but nothing else, nothing can live in the Dead Sea. It's too salty, has too many minerals. And so the area around the Dead Sea, that's where they are right now in Jericho. And there is some water there that's undrinkable. And so Elisha performs a miracle. He says, bring me a new bowl, put some salt in it. They brought it to him and he went to the spring of water, threw salt in that and said, thus says the Lord, I made this water wholesome. So now they can drink from it. And they had that one miracle. The last miracle here is one that confuses so many people. It is where Elisha goes from Jericho back to Bethel. And he goes along the way. And here's why it's confusing. Because our translation is a, sorry, let me clarify. This is not a bad translation. In this case, the translation is not as accurate as it could be.

Our translation in the Revised Standard Version and the King James and some other translations, it says that some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him saying, go up, you bald head, go up, you bald head. Okay, so the actual Hebrew doesn't say they were small boys. The actual Hebrew says the word that is, the use for small boys is also used for Absalom when he's fully grown is also used for people who are going into battle, the young men. So basically this is the deceptive thing about translations, right? So the original Hebrew would have been clear that, oh yeah, this could be small boys because

there's an adjective meaning young and then the subject meaning male, but it doesn't necessarily mean small boys. It can also mean young men. It also means a group of ruffians. So this is really important for us to understand. It can not only mean a group of ruffians, it could be like a gang, but also here's what's so critical. Don't think small boys because that's not inaccurate.

It is a possible translation. It's not the only translation. I'll say it like that, but also pay attention to where he is. He's in Bethel. Remember what happens in Bethel. In Bethel, there was Jeroboam had when, when the kingdom first divided Jeroboam set up places of worship in Dan and in Bethel. And then he recruited priests from wherever. They didn't have to be

Levitical priests. They were priests that he just chose from around wherever. And so what the story is, is not a story that's this moralistic kind of tale about, hey, respect your elders and don't point out the fact that they don't have any hair on top of their head. It is a different thing. This is the battle between the right worship of God and false worship of God, that it's incredibly likely that these young men, again, a group of these young men came out of the city of Bethel where there's false worship going on, where there were a band of false worshipers or even a band of false priests of this false worship of false gods, essentially. So what it is, is not a battle of the bald man against a bunch of kids.

This is right worship versus false worship. And that's at the heart of this whole thing. It is not small boys. It is adult men. And it is not respect your elders. This is worship God, the way he's asked to be worshiped. Remember, we've seen, this is two she-bears that are used, right? So two bears that are used to kill these young men. In Exodus chapter 23 and in Joshua 24, we saw God use hornets to attack idolaters in Canaan. And so here he is using other animals to attack idolaters in Bethel, in this land. And this is just important for us to understand that. Again, does that make sense? Hopefully it makes more sense. Again, putting into context, it's not whitewashing this. This is putting the whole story into context because that's what we

want, right? That's part of what this commentary is at the end is, is people to say, what did I just hear? What you just heard was not a moralistic tale about respecting your elders or not pointing out when people are bald. Although, A, respect your elders and B, don't be rude. But it is a story of idolatry versus true worship of God. And the true worship of God, God himself is willing to fight for his people to be able to know what true worship is and what false worship is. Here we are. We've made it to day 171. So let's keep praying for each other. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.