The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 189: Follow the Lord (2023)

Episode Date: July 8, 2023

Fr. Mike explains why it's important to focus on our own journey with the Lord over those around us while highlighting the leadership of king Josiah. He also reminds us how the mistakes of past kings had led Israel down a dark path. Today's readings are 2 Kings 23, 2 Chronicles 34, and Proverbs 8:1-21. 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 189. It's the last day on this whatever number of pages this is, maybe page three. Gosh, for crying out loud. Day 189, we're reading 2 Kings 23, 2 Chronicles 34.

We're also reading Proverbs chapter eight, verses one through 21 is always the Bible translation that I'm using is the revised standard version, the second Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plans, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. If you want to subscribe to this podcast, you can. And if you don't, you don't have to. But I'm going to keep reminding you because that's my job. That's one of the things that I've been told to do.

So I do it. Okay, here we are. We are at Josiah. We got introduced to him yesterday. And just phenomenal. Really great king. And yet every good thing comes to an end. Every good king comes to an end. Every good kingdom comes to an end. And we are getting

closer and closer to the end of second Kings, which and second Chronicles, which means we're getting closer and closer to the end of this time of Israel. They're gone. The kingdom of Israel, nation of Israel that is gone. Also the kingdom of Judah is about to be put into, spoiler alert, into exile, coming up soon. Today, 189, we have 2 Kings 23, 2 Chronicles 34, Proverbs 8, chapter 1, verses 1 through 21. The second book of Kings, chapter 23, Josiah's reforms. Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. And the king went up to the house of the Lord and with him, all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both

small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his covenants and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant. And the king commanded to Kiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord, all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. And he deposed the idolatrous

priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places at the cities of Judah and round about Jerusalem. Those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the hosts of the heavens. And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord outside Jerusalem to the brook Kidron and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes, which were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places, where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua,

the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city. However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren. And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the son at the entrance to the house of the Lord by the chamber of Nathan-melech, the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made,

and the altars which Manasseh had made, in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built for Ashteroth, the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover, the altar at Bethel,

the high place erected by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and he broke in pieces its stones, crushing them to dust. Also, he burned the Asherah. And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them upon the altar and defiled it

according to the word of the Lord, which the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. Then he said, what is yonder monument that I see? And the men of the city told him, it is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things which you have done against the altar at Bethel. And he said, Let him be, let no man move his bones.

So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria, and all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger, Josiah removed. He did to them according to all The Passover is celebrated. all the people, keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant. For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel, or the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem. Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and

with all his soul and with all his might according to all the law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him. Still, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. Josiah dies in battle. Now, the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? In his days, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates.

King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Necho slew him at Megiddo when he saw him. And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him and made him king in his father's stead. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. And Pharaoh Necho put him in bonds at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid upon the

land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. And Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land from everyone according to his assessment to give it to Pharaoh Necho. Jehoiakim reigns over Judah. Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was

Zebediah, the daughter of Pediah of Rumah. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. The second book of Chronicles, chapter 34, Josiah's reign over Judah. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father. And in the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the graven and the molten images.

And they broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he hewed down the incense altars which stood above them. And he broke in pieces the Asherim and the graven and the molten images, and he made dust of them and strewed it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins round about, he broke down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the images into powder, and hewed down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel.

Then he returned to Jerusalem. The book of the law is found. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan, the governor of Azaliah, and Maaseah, the governor of the city, and Joah, the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. They came to Hilkiah the high priest and delivered the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord his God. They came to Hilkiah the high priest and delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They delivered it to the workmen who

had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house. They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone, and timbers for binders and beams for the buildings which the kings of Judah had let go to ruin. And the men did the work faithfully. Over them were set Jathan and Obadiah the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshulam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to have oversight. The Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music, were over the burden-bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service.

And some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers. While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given through Moses. Then Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. Shaphan brought the book to the king and further reported to the king, all that was committed to your servants they are doing. They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen. Then Shaphan the secretary told the king,

Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahicham the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, Go inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord to

do according to all that is written in this book. The prophetess Huldah consulted. and spoke to her to that effect. And she said to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Tell the man who sent you to me. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book which was read before the king of Judah, because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore, my wrath will be poured out upon this place and will not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say

to him, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, regarding the words which we have heard, because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord. Behold, I will gather you to your fathers,

and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants. And they brought back word to the king. The covenant renewed. Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people, both great and small.

And he read in their hearing all the words of the priests and the Levites, all the people, both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his covenants and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the sons of Israel, and made all who were in

Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers. The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 8, Eternity of Wisdom Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights beside the way, in the paths she takes her stand, besides the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud, To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the sons of men. O simple ones, learn prudence. O foolish men, pay attention. Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right.

For my mouth will utter truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteous. There is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straight to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge. Take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than jewels

and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. I, wisdom, dwell in prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance, and the way of evil, and perverted speech, I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom. I have insight. I have strength. I have counsel and sound wisdom. I have insight. I have strength. By me, kings reign and rulers decree what is just.

By me, princes rule and nobles govern the earth. I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently find me. Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and prosperity. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, endowing with wealth those who love me and filling their treasuries. Father, I thank you. We just, gosh, Lord, thank you for your gift. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for also continually revealing your heart to us

and revealing your wisdom. Lord, as we go journey through Proverbs, just we ask that you please increase our wisdom, increase our ability to see what is right and what is true and not only to see it, not only to, as we said, prayed yesterday, not only to hear it, but also to truly understand, to truly listen, to be able to truly hear in the depths of our mind, in our hearts, that we can be wise, not just know a lot of stuff, but that we can be wise people in this world. Help us to be wise so that we can wisely follow after you

and wisely live and wisely lead the people who are under us, the people that we're responsible for, our families and our friends and the people in our world. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Okay, so gosh, we have Josiah. We have not only Josiah, his story of just this complete conversion, right?

The conversion of the people of Israel. Now, one of the things that, you know, all the way back in Judges, and through 1 and 2 Samuel, now 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, all these books, we have the story of leaders, right? We have the story of people who are in the king's house, the people who are the, you know, quote unquote, important people. And yet it's so easy for us to be distracted by the important people. It's so easy for us to be distracted by the fact that, away from the fact that, yeah,

here is this whole line of kings, the kings in Israel, the kings in Judah, now the kings of Assyria, the kings of Babylon we're going to be introduced to. And just focus on the kings, focus on the queens, focus on those who are leaders, but realizing that there were people who lived in these times, people who lived in those times, and they were all called to be faithful regardless of what the kings did. And that's the remarkable thing, right? That's for all of us, regardless of where we're living, regardless of when we're living, every of when we're living. Every one of us is responsible for our own house. Remember what Joshua prayed? He said,

I don't know, decide today for whom you will serve. For me and my house, we will serve the Lord. You all out there, you decide who you want to serve, but me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And this is so incredibly critical because again, we've been following how, yes, the way that the Kings go is the way the nation goes, but this is not just a nation of drones. This wasn't a nation of mindless people. These were all people who had the ability, had the potential to say, no matter what kind of King I have, if I have Ahaz or if I have Hezekiah, No matter what kind of king I have, if I have Ahaz or if I have Hezekiah, if I have Manasseh or if I have Josiah, it doesn't matter to me because I'm going to follow the Lord. And this is something that I know I need to be reminded of because it's so easy to be preoccupied with the people who are famous in our world, people who are powerful in our

world, people who are the leaders in our world and be critical and be full of praise for them and say, oh, this person's now in charge. This is the worst. This person's in charge. This is the best. As opposed to saying, okay, we have to be responsible. Duh. Duh, in our Bible studies today.

But also, I have to be responsible for me and my house. And I'm so grateful for someone like Josiah. Again, a leader who does bring about the conversion of the people. Why? Because he allows himself to be converted. In fact, scripture says multiple times he followed the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul, and this is so, so incredibly good, and that's what we're called to do, regardless of what our neighbors are doing, regardless of what the rest of our family is doing, regardless of what the rest of the world is doing, regardless of what the rest of our family is doing,

regardless of what the rest of the world is doing, to say, okay, but for me, I know I'm called to follow the Lord, to love him with all my heart and with all my soul. Two quick things about Josiah. So here is Josiah and he's in conversion mode, right? He's at repentance mode and the people follow after him. Again, good thing. Yet in verse 26, in 2 Kings 24, it says,

Still, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, but which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations which Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off the city which I have chosen. That's what's going to happen. Now, what's going to happen is there's going to be exile. There's going to be destruction. In the next chapter tomorrow, we're going to read how Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, is going to come into the promised

land, is going to come into the holy city of Jerusalem. And it's going to be destruction because we realize this, even though we can repent, there are consequences for our actions. Even though that we can, we sin and are forgiven, forgiven fully, we can repent, there are consequences for our actions. Even though that we can, we sin and are forgiven, forgiven fully, we can even be forgiven fully, but there still are consequences for our actions and we have to be willing to receive those. And even Josiah, this holy king, this good king, even Josiah dies in battle because what happens is the Pharaoh of Egypt and the king of Assyria are teaming up. They're teaming up because Babylon is raising up. Babylon's becoming more and more powerful. So here's Pharaoh and Assyria or Pharaoh

Neco and king of Assyria teaming up and Josiah goes out to fight against them and he gets killed. And this is one of the realities, right? Is that we can be really good. We can be reforming the entire nation and still die in battle and still get knocked down and still fall and still fail. And that's what's going to happen. And that's why we don't trust in princes. We don't trust in kings. We don't trust in those leaders. We trust in the Lord.

And that's the ultimate, the ultimate key so that I'm not beholden to anyone besides the Lord, and that's the ultimate key, so that I'm not beholden to anyone besides the Lord, right? Doesn't that kind of make sense as we just kind of move forward with this time, coming to a close with our time in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles as we move into the era of the prophets? We've been living in the era of the prophets here in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, but now we're going to hear from those prophets, and that's going to happen just a couple days from now.

But until then, I'll keep praying for you. Please keep praying for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.