The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 192: The Prophet Isaiah (2022)

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

Today we begin reading the book of the prophet Isaiah and the book of Tobit! Fr. Mike helps us understand the historical context of Isaiah's ministry to Judah, and the themes of condemnation and consolation present in his writings. As we enter into the book of Tobit, Fr. Mike emphasizes Tobit's virtuous character. Today we read Isaiah 1-2, Tobit 1-2, and Proverbs 9:7-12. 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.

I'm going to read a little bit. We are in new books. In fact, two new books, including Proverbs, which is an old book for us. We're in Isaiah chapter one and two. We're in Tobit chapter one and two. And we're in Proverbs chapter nine, verses seven through 12. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the revised standard version, second Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast if you'd like to receive daily episodes and updated things. Once again, it is day 192. We're reading Isaiah 1 and 2. So Isaiah, we're going to talk

about him a bit because we are going to be with Isaiah for the next roughly 30 days, give or take, if my math is accurate, it's 30 days. And we're also diving into our secondary reading. Our second reading is Tobit. Now, if you don't have a Catholic Bible, Tobit might not be in your Bible. It might be under what's categorized as Apocrypha in non-Catholic Bibles or Deuterocanonical, or you might even have a Bible that doesn't have it in there. We're talking about why after this, but we're also diving into Isaiah. So Isaiah 1 and 2, Tobit 1 and 2 in Proverbs chapter 9 verses 7 through 12. The book of the prophet Isaiah chapter 1, the sinfulness of Judah. The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham,

Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people does not understand. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly. They have forsaken the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck

down that you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds. They are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. Your country lies desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. In your very presence, strangers devour your land. It is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard,

like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of he goats. When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and

solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good. Seek justice, correct oppression, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. How the faithful city has become a harlot, she that was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and the companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts.

They do not defend the fatherless and the widow's cause does not come to them. Therefore the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, Ah, I will vent my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes. I will turn my hand against you, and will smelt away your dross as with lye, and remove all your alloy. And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent by righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For you shall be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted,

and you shall blush for the gardens which you have chosen. For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water, and the strong shall become tau, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together with none to quench them. Chapter two, the Lord's universal reign.

The word which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning

hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of diviners from the east and soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hand with foreigners. Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures. Their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols. They bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made. So man is humbled, and men are brought low. Forgive them not. Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty. The haughty

looks of man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high, against all that is lifted up and high, against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, and against all the oaks of Bashan, against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills, against every high tower, and against every fortified wall, against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft. And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be brought low. And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols shall utterly pass away. And

men shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground from before the terror of the Lord and from the glory of his majesty when he rises to terrify the earth. In that day men will cast forth their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship to the moles and to the bats, to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the Lord and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. Turn away from man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?

The Book of Tobit, Chapter 1. The book of the acts of Tobit, the son of Tobiel, son of Ananiel, son of Aduel, son of Gabiel, of the descendants of Asiel, and the tribe of Naphtali, who in the days of Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, was taken into captivity from Thisbe, which is to the south of Kadesh, Naphtali, and Galilee, above Asher. Tobit's Youth and Virtuous Life I, Tobit, walked in the ways of truth and righteousness all the days of my life, and I performed many acts of charity to my brethren and countrymen who went with me in the land of the Assyrians to Nineveh. Now when I was in my own country, in the land of Israel, while I was still a young man, the whole tribe of Naphtali, my forefather, deserted the house of Jerusalem. This was the place which had been chosen from among all the tribes of Israel, where all

the tribes should sacrifice, and where the temple of the dwelling of the Most High was consecrated and established for all generations forever. All the tribes that joined in apostasy used to sacrifice to the Kaf Baal, and so did the house of Naphtali, my forefather. But I alone went often to Jerusalem for the feasts, as it is ordained for all Israel by an everlasting decree. Taking the first fruits and the tithes of my produce and the first shearings, I would give these to the priests, the sons of Aaron at the altar. Of all my produce, I would give a tenth to the sons of Levi who ministered at Jerusalem.

A second tenth I would sell, and I would go and spend the proceeds each year at Jerusalem. The third tenth I would give to those to whom it was my duty, as Deborah, my father's mother, had commanded me, for I was left an orphan by my father. When I became a man, I married Anna,

a member of our family, and by her I became the father of Tobias. Tobit taking captive to Nineveh. Now when I was carried away captive to Nineveh, all my brethren and my relatives ate the food of the Gentiles, but I kept myself from eating it, because I remembered God with all my heart. Then the Most High gave me favor and good appearance in the sight of Shalmaneser, and I was his buyer of provisions. So I used to go into Medea, and at once at Rages, in Medea, I left ten talents of silver in trust with Gabael, the brother of Gabrias. But when Shalmaneser died, Sennacherib, his son, reigned in his place, and under him the highways were unsafe, so that I could no longer go into Medea. Courage in burying the dead. In the days of Shalmaneser, I performed many acts of charity to my brethren. I would give my bread to the hungry and my clothing to the naked,

and if I saw any one of my people dead and thrown out behind the wall of Nineveh, I would bury him. And if Sennacherib, the king, put to death anyone who came fleeing from Judea, I buried them secretly, for in his anger he put many to death. When the bodies were sought by the king, they were not found. Then one of the men of Nineveh went and informed the king about me that I was burying them, so I hid myself. When I learned that I was being searched for to be put to death, I left home in fear. Then all my property was confiscated,

and nothing was left to me except my wife Anna and my son Tobias. But not fifty days passed before two of Sennacherib's sons killed him, and they fled to the mountains of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place, and he appointed Ahikar, the son of my brother Anael, over all the accounts of his kingdom and over the entire administration. Ahikar interceded for me, and I returned to Nineveh. Now Ahikar was cupbearer, keeper of the signet, and in charge of the administration of the accounts, for Esarhaddon had appointed him second to himself. He was my nephew. Chapter 2. When I arrived home and my wife Anna and my son Tobias were restored

to me at the Feast of Pentecost, which is the sacred festival of the seven weeks. A good dinner was prepared for me, and I sat down to eat. Upon seeing the abundance of food, I said to my son, Go and bring whatever poor man of our brethren you may find among the exiles in Nineveh, who is mindful of the Lord, and he shall eat together with me. I will wait for you until you come back. So Tobias went out to look for some person of our people. When he came back, he said, Father, and I replied, Here I am, my child. And he went on to say, Look, Father, one of our own people has been murdered and thrown into the marketplace, and now he lies there strangled. So before I tasted anything, I sprang up and removed the body to a place of shelter until sunset when I might bury it. And when I

returned, I washed myself and ate my food in sorrow. Then I remembered the prophecy of Amos and how he had said against Bethel, your feasts shall be turned into mourning and all your songs into lamentation. And I wept. Tobit becomes blind. When the sun had set, I went and dug a grave and buried the body. and my neighbors laughed at me and said, He is still not afraid. He has already been hunted down to be put to death for doing this, and he ran away, yet here he is burying the dead again. On the same night, after I, Tobit, returned from burying the dead, I went into my courtyard

and slept by the wall of the courtyard, and my face was uncovered because of the heat. I did not know that there were sparrows on the wall, and their fresh droppings fell into my open eyes, and white films formed on my eyes. I went to physicians to be healed, but the more they treated me with ointments, the more my vision was obscured by the white films until I became completely blind. For four years I remained unable to see. All my kindred were sorry for me, and a hiker took care of me for two years until he went to Elimeas. Tobit's wife earns their livelihood.

Then my wife Anna earned money at women's work. She used to send the product to the owners and they paid her wages. One day, the seventh of distress, when she cut off a piece which she had woven and sent it to the owners, they paid her full wages and they also gave her a kid. When she returned it to me, it began to bleat, so I called her and said to her,

Where did you get the kid? It is not stolen, is it? Return it to the owners, for it is not right to eat what is stolen. And she said, It was given to me as a gift in addition to my wages. But I did not believe her, and told her to return it to the owners, and I blushed for her. Then she replied to me, Where are your charities and your righteous deeds? You seem to know everything. Proverbs chapter 9, 7 to 12. He who corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase

in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life. If you are wise, you are wise for yourself. If you scoff, you alone will bear it. Father in heaven, we give you praise. We thank you for this new step, this new day, this day 192, when we get to enter into two new books, and not only two new books, the books of the prophets, and also this book of Tobit, that for many people who are listening

have never heard your word in this way before. And so we give you thanks for that. We give you thanks for the opportunity, like Tobit, to seek righteousness and to seek doing what is right, to try to be faithful no matter where we're living. Lord God, please help us to be faithful no matter where we're living, no matter who we're living with, no matter the people, the nation, the family, the roommate, whoever it is that we're living with. Lord God, help us to remain faithful to you in all things, in all places, at all times.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, so a couple of notes, and these notes are going to be about not necessarily what has been said, although it's really important to say what's been said. But, okay, we have the book of the prophet Isaiah. Now, Isaiah is one of the first. Actually, he's probably noted as the most major of the major prophets. Remember that we have some minor prophets as well. We had some early prophets. Those early prophets are things that we've already heard. That's Judges is considered one of the early prophets in the Hebrew tradition, in the Jewish

tradition. Samuel, Kings, those books that we just came through, those are considered to be somewhat prophetic books. We would look at them and thinking they're historical books, but in the Jewish way of understanding, they would be the early prophets. Now, these are the later prophets. And a couple things to keep in mind. We did hear from prophets beforehand, right before this. We heard from Hosea. We heard from Amos. We heard from Jonah. We heard from Micah. Now, all four of those prophets, well, three of those prophets were sent to Israel. Remember the northern kingdom of Israel,

except for Jonah, who was sent to Assyria, where Tobit happens to be right now. He was sent to Nineveh in Assyria. But those other three prophets were specifically sent to Israel, even though they might have had some words for Judah as well. Now, Isaiah is going to specifically, and in fact, most of the rest of the prophets are going to specifically be oriented towards preaching to the southern kingdom of Judah. Keep this in mind. They will say things about Israel, but pretty soon we're going to get past where there's no longer an Israel in the north. When Isaiah begins his ministry, it's roughly 740 or so, 744 maybe BC. And then we know that the northern kingdom is destroyed in 722. And so, yep, Israel is around, but then it's not going to be around for the rest of his

ministry. So he has a ministry that lasts 50 to 60 years, as we can see this, because when he begins this writing of the book of the prophet Isaiah, it says, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, right? So it's southern kingdom. And the days of who? Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. So his ministry spans four different kings. In fact, there's thought

that his ministry, in fact, spans five kings because after Hezekiah, okay, remember we had some good kings, right? We had Uzziah. Uzziah got sick toward the end. So Jotham, his son, became his co-regent and then Jotham took over. But then there was Ahaz who was born, who was a horrible, horrible king. And there was Hezekiah. And then remember, Hezekiah got an extension on his life. In fact, we saw Isaiah in Hezekiah's life in second Kings. We saw his presence when Hezekiah was a couple of times, but one in particular, when Hezekiah was dying and Isaiah the prophet came to him and said, yeah, you're going to die. And Hezekiah prays to the Lord. And Isaiah says, oh, actually God heard your prayer and you're going to, you're going to live. And Hezekiah prays to the Lord. And Isaiah says, oh, actually, God heard your prayer

and you're going to live another 15 years. And in those 15 years, he had his son Manasseh, who was a horrible, horrible king. And the legend, at least the Jewish legend, is that Manasseh then sawed Isaiah in half, that he put Isaiah to death by cutting him in half. And so that's five kings. But here in scripture, there's only four kings that are mentioned. So Isaiah has a massive, massive ministry, basically, that's, as I said, spans the lives of four different kings. And he's preaching primarily to the kingdoms in the kingdom of the South, right? The kingdom of Judah, the kings of the South. Now, I remember hearing someone describe this in the past,

like the prophets, what they would do is often they would be correcting the people of Israel. And this is the image that someone had given. And I thought, oh, this is interesting. He said, it's kind of like when you and your older brother, two brothers are upstairs and the parents downstairs are saying, okay, listen, if you don't knock it off, I'm going to come upstairs and you're not going to be happy about it. You know, that kind of situation. And then finally, after things get so bad, the one parent comes up and takes out the one child. I say takes out, I don't know, puts them in the corner. But when it comes to Israel, here's the prophets. They're going to the kingdom of the north and the kingdoms of the south, right? The kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah saying, listen, if you don't knock it off, you don't reform your ways, you're going to end up destroyed. And by 722, that's

exactly what happens. That brother, the one brother in the north, the kingdom of Israel, is taken away and it's never, never found again, which actually sounds pretty dark, but that's how it went down. And now with the rest of these prophets, we're going to go through Isaiah and Joel and Nahum and Habakkuk and Zephaniah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah, they're primarily going to be preaching to Judah in the south. And they're sent by the Lord for a very particular reason, because God wants to bless the world through the line of David, right? God wants, he promised that he would bless the world through the people of these Jewish people who are chosen as his own. The northern tribe is going to be destroyed and brought into exile by the Assyrians.

And God is saying, let's not have that happen to you. In fact, I mean, think about in the first reading today, Isaiah chapter 1 and chapter 2, two things to highlight. One is, God says, what to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of he goats. When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Well, God, you did. The reality, of course, is he says, your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They become a burden to me. I'm weary of bearing them. And yet you realize, wait a second, God, you're the one who commanded that these feasts be

sacrificed, that celebrated. You commanded that these sacrifices be offered. And yet this is one of those key moments where God is revealing that, yeah, the worship is very important. This is the worship I asked for, but you are not the worshipers that I asked for. And this is really key for all of us. Yes, this is the worship that I asked for, but you are not the worshipers that I asked for. And this is really key for all of us. Yes, this is the worship that I asked for, but you are not the worshipers that I asked for that. This is the worship that I wanted you to bring before me, but you are not coming before

me as the worshiper who is actually here with their whole heart. And this is so important for all of us because we can look at the people of Judah here and Isaiah chapter one and think, well, yeah, we don't do that. I mean, we give God the worship he asked for. And yet, am I the worshiper that he asked for? That's the key. Of course, we're not. And so thanks be to God for, again, first Isaiah chapter one, where God says, so this is, oh my gosh, you guys have so much to say about Isaiah, but we have 30 days to say it. So save some for later. Where God in chapter one says, okay, let's reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

And this recognition that even in the midst of condemnation, the first 39 chapters of Isaiah is the book of condemnation. And from 40 to 66, it's the book of consolation. But even in the condemnation, we have consolation. And even in the consolation, we have condemnation because God continues to teach his people and call them back to himself. And that's what we got today. And not only that, but even in chapter two, the Lord's universal reign, basically the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains raised above the hills. All nations shall flow towards it. And they shall say, come, let us go up to the mountain of God,

house of God, house of the God of Jacob. And this is the, this is the fulfilled right in Jesus. This is fulfilled in the church throughout the world. Every nation, every race, every ethnicity, every, every kind of individual is represented. And we're all saying, yeah, let's go. Let's go to the house of the Lord. Let's go to this place where God has made his home. And we're all saying, yeah, let's go. Let's go to the house of the Lord. Let's go to this place where God has made his home. And that's Isaiah. Again, the first 39 chapters. We'll talk about this some more in the next few days. First 39 chapters of the book of condemnation. It's going to be rough to get through, but even in the midst of condemnation, there is this promise of consolation as well, because God, his discipline is always oriented

towards correction. It's always oriented towards salvation. And so that's going to be really, really important for us. Now, a couple of things about the book of Tobit, just because I don't want to run out of time. I'm going to talk about the question, wait, why is this book of Tobit in your Bible, Father Mike, and not in our Bible tomorrow? That'll be the topic for tomorrow. So if that's still a question for you, we're going to talk about it tomorrow. But I want to highlight, here's this story. Tobit, it can be historical fiction. In fact, there's a great note in the Great Adventure Bible on the very first page of the book of Tobit, it's page 594, that describes that this is a certain kind of literature, which could be historical. It doesn't necessarily need to be historical

because it's there to make a point, it's there to demonstrate a deeper truth. Kind of like the Song of Solomon, right? The Song of Songs wasn't historical and it wasn't necessarily meant to be taken literally. It was a story of God's love for his people and of the people for him. And this is potentially similar to that. So this is using historical material to impart a religious message. That's the point of the book of Tobit. But it's remarkable that here is Tobit, who's a member of the kingdom of Israel. And he says that, yeah, when basically the kingdom of the north, they turned away from the Lord and set up the Baals, you know, in Bethel and Dan.

I didn't go there. I would continue to go down to Jerusalem with my goods. I would continue to go down there to worship the Lord as he has asked us to worship. And not only that, but even where he's living, Tobit has chosen to have those, what we call the corporal works of mercy, including burying the dead. And he's just doing this again and again, so consistently taking care of the poor, taking care of the widows, taking care of fatherless, taking care of those who have died. And he's a righteous man.

Now, what's going to happen with Tobit is he's going to be kind of similar. He's going to kind of be a Job character, as we saw, even though he's doing all these great things. At one point, you know, he's exiled. First, he's captive into Nineveh. And then even later on after that, he is on the run from Sennacherib. And then even after that, he's burying the dead and he becomes blind. And he's blind for at least four years.

And that's where we leave Tobit for today. Even in the midst of doing right, he gets hurt, injured, attacked, exiled. Because we know, we know that that can be our story as well. But even more importantly, I think the point of first and second Tobit we just read today, or Tobit one and two, we just read today that no matter where we are, no matter who we're surrounded by, no matter who is near or far, we can always do what we're supposed to do regardless of what they're doing. And that's just such a, such an empowering and freeing and massive lesson for all of us to take in is that again, no matter what others are doing,

I can always do what God has asked me to do. And I think that's so important. So let's keep praying. Let's keep praying that we do that, like Tobit. And no matter what happens to us, no matter what price, what cost, and also no matter what anyone else is doing, let's us do what we're called to do. In Jesus' name, I'm praying for you. Please pray for me.

My name is Father Mike. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.