The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 22: Go to Joseph (2024)

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

Fr. Mike shows us how the faithfulness of Joseph in the Old Testament foreshadows the faithfulness of St. Joseph, the husband of Mary, in the New Testament. Today's readings are Genesis 41-42; Job 33-34 and Proverbs 4:1-9. 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, I'm 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. This is day 22. Let us get started and keep on rolling. We are going to be reading from Genesis chapter 41 and 42. We're going to continue following

our new friend, Joseph. We are also going to be walking with our old friend, Job, in chapters 33 and 34. And we'll be reading from the fourth chapter of Proverbs verses one through nine. If you want to have your own Bible in a year reading plan so you can follow along and see this, you can go to ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can download that and it's free. It's accessible, super simple. We're also reading from the Bible translation called the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. And I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension, which is super helpful because it has the eras, you know, the stages of the timeline that are built into, like color-coded into the Bible. Really, really helpful, as well as some notes

that can help us as we follow along. You also, I want to invite you to subscribe to this podcast app. So every time we have an update, you get updated. Here we go. We're going to read from Genesis chapter 41 and 42, following our young friend, our new friend, Joseph. Genesis chapter 41 and 42. After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, sleek and fat, and they fed in the reed grass. And behold, seven other cows, gaunt and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and then stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. And the gaunt and thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. And Pharaoh awoke, and he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing

on one stalk. And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind. And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dream, but there was none who could interpret it to Pharaoh. Then the chief butler said to Pharaoh, I remember my faults today. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief banker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, he and I each having a dream with its own meaning. A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. And when we told him,

he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us, so it came to pass. I was restored to my office and the baker was hanged. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. And I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. Joseph answered Pharaoh, it is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, behold, in my my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile, and seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. And seven other cows came up after them, poor and very gaunt and thin, such as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. And the thin and gaunt cows ate up the first seven fat cows, but when they had eaten them, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as gaunt as at the beginning. Then I awoke. I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good, and seven ears withered, thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could

explain it to me. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dream of Pharaoh is one. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years and the seven good ears are seven years. The dream is one. The seven lean and gaunt cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. It is as I told Pharaoh. God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine,

and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. But after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of that famine which will follow, for it will be very grievous. And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land, and take the fifth part of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plenteous years, and let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and lay up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities and let them keep it. That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine,

which are to befall the land of Egypt so that the land may not perish through the famine. The proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find such a man as this in whom is the spirit of God? So Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has shown you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command, only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand and arrayed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And he made him to ride in his second chariot and they cried before him, bow the knee.

Thus, he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh and without your consent, no man shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Siphonath-Paniah, and gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. During the seven plenteous years, the earth brought forth abundantly,

and he gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty in the land of Egypt and stored up food in the cities. He stored up in every city the food from the fields around it. And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance food from the fields around it. And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured. Before the year of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of On, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, for he said, God has made me forget all

my hardship in all my father's house. The name of the second he called Ephraim, for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the lands, but in the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians,

Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do. So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth. When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, Why do you look at one another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt.

Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die. So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might befall him. Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. Now Joseph was governor over the land. He it was who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.

Joseph saw his brothers and knew them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. Where do you come from? He said, They said, From the land of Canaan, to buy food. Thus Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed of them, and he said to them, You are spies. You have come to see the weakness of the land. They said to him, No, my lord, but to buy food have your servants come. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies. He said to them, No, it is the weakness of the land that you have come to see. And they said, We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this

day with our father, and one is no more. But Joseph said to them, It is as I said to you, you are spies. By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain in prison, that your words may be tested whether there is truth in you, or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies. And he put them all together in prison for three days. On the third day, Joseph said to them, do this and you will live. For I fear God. If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined in your prison and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households and bring your youngest brother to me so that

your words will be verified and you shall not die. And they did so. Then they said to one another, in truth, we are guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us and we would not listen. Therefore, this distress has come upon us. And Reuben answered them,

did I not tell you not to sin against the lad? But you would not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood. They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. Then Joseph turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to replace every man's money in his sack and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them. Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food at the lodging place, he saw his money

in the mouth of the sack. And he said to his brothers, my money has been put back. Here it is in the mouth of my sack. At this, their hearts failed them. And they turned trembling to one another saying, what is this that God has done to us? When they came to Jacob, their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had befallen them saying, the man, the Lord of the land spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. But we said to him, we are honest men. We are not spies. We are 12 brothers, sons of our father. One is no more. And the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. And the man, the Lord of the land said to us, by this, I shall know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for your famine to your households and go your way. Bring your

youngest brother to me, then I shall know that you are not spies, but honest men, and I will deliver to you your brother, and you shall trade in the land. As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were dismayed. And Jacob, their father, said to them, You have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more. Simeon is no more. And now you would take Benjamin. All this has come upon me.

Then Reuben said to his father, Slay my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you. But he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm should befall him on the journey that you are about to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. to Sheol. The book of Job chapter 33 and 34. Elihu addresses Job. But now hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words. Behold, I open my mouth, the tongue in my mouth speaks. My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely. The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Answer me if you can. Set your words in order

before me. Take your stand. Behold, I am toward God as you are. I too was formed from a piece of clay. Behold, no fear of me need terrify you. My pressure will not be heavy upon you. Surely, you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words. You say, I am clean without transgression. I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me. Behold, he finds occasions against me. He counts me as his enemy. He puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.

Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you. God is greater than man. Why do you contend against him, saying, He will answer none of my words? For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men while they slumber on their beds,

then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings that he may turn man aside from his deed and cut off pride from the man. He heaps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword. Man is also chastened with pain upon his bed and with continual strife in his bones so that his life loathes bread and his appetite dainty food. His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen and his bones, which were not seen, stick out. His soul draws near the pit

and his life to those who bring death. If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand to declare to man what is right for him and he is gracious to him and says, deliver him from going down to the pit, I is right for him. And he is gracious to him and says, deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. Let his flesh become fresh with youth and let him return to the days of his youthful vigor.

Then man prays to God and he accepts him. He comes into his presence with joy. He recounts to men his salvation and he sings before men and says, I have sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall see the light. Behold, God does all these things twice, three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he might see the light of life.

Give heed, O Job, listen to me. Be silent, and I will speak. If you have anything to say, answer me. Speak, for I desire to justify you. If not, listen to me. Be silent, and I will teach you wisdom. Then Elihu said, Hear my words, you wise men. Give ear to me, you who know. For the ear tests words as the palate tests food. Let us choose what is right. Let us determine among ourselves what is good. For Job has said, I am innocent and God has taken away my right.

In spite of my right, I am counted a liar. My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression. What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water, who goes in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men? For he has said, should do wrong. For according to the work of a man, he will repay him, and according to his ways, he will make him befall him. Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world? If he should take back his spirit to himself, and gather to himself his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.

If you have understanding, hear this. Listen to what I say. Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty, who says to a king, worthless one, and to nobles, wicked man, who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor? for they are all the work of his hands. In a moment they die. At midnight the people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away by no human hand. For his eyes are upon the ways of a man,

and he sees all his steps. There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves, for he has not appointed a time for any man to go before God in judgment. He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place. Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed. He strikes them for their wickedness in the sight of men, because they turn aside from following him and had no regard for any of his ways,

so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted. When he is quiet, who can condemn him? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man? That a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people. For as anyone said to God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend anymore. Teach me what I do not see. If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more. Will he then make repayment to suit you because you reject it? For you must choose and not I. Therefore, declare what you know.

Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say, Job speaks without knowledge. His words are without insight. Would that Job were judged to the end because he answers like wicked men. For he adds rebellion to his sin and claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God. Proverbs chapter 4 verses

1 through 9. Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive that you may gain insight. For I give you good precepts. Do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, Let your heart hold fast to my words. Keep my commandments and live. Do not forget and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Get wisdom.

Get insight. Do not forsake her and she will keep you. Love her and she will guard you. Love her and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this, get wisdom. And whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly and she will exalt you. She will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a fair garland.

She will bestow on you a beautiful crown. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your gift. We thank you for revealing your heart to us as you reveal yourself to us always, constantly through this journey of this Bible in a year. We ask that you continue to lift up our minds and hearts to you as you reveal your mind and your heart to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Man, oh man, one of the words in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis is, go to Joseph. It's three words. Go to Joseph. Ite ad Joseph in Latin. And it becomes a marker, in fact, for many of those people who have a devotion to St. Joseph. In so many ways, what do we do? When we go to Our Lady, when we go to Mary, she points us to Jesus. So we approach Mary and say, Mary, bring me to your son. There are so many ways in which the Lord God has given us this foster father of Jesus as well, Saint Joseph in the New Covenant, in the New Testament, to be the one that we can go to,

the one who took care of the food, the bread from heaven, the one who guarded the bread from heaven to be able to be distributed to people who were dying of hunger. That's us. That's Jesus in the Eucharist, and that's us who are dying for him. And so what we do is we can have a devotion to St. Joseph. In fact, there's this remarkable consecration to St. Joseph done by Father Calloway, and it is a remarkable journey of 30 or so days to get to know Joseph better, the one who's silent in the New Testament, silent in the Bible, but to have a heart like his. We realize the Old Testament Joseph had a heart as well, a heart like God's. Because why? Because he was faithful. We talked about these yesterday, but how Joseph, God was with him, but also Joseph fought for God to be with him. Like Joseph, he had opportunities, Old Testament Joseph had

opportunities to rebel, he had opportunities to sin, Joseph had opportunities to rebel. He had opportunities to sin, but he fought to stay faithful to the Lord and he was faithful to the Lord. No matter what we're going through today, we also are invited to do the same, to fight to be faithful, to go to Joseph and let him take us through his intercession,

the New Testament Joseph, through his intercession, to take us to his intercession, the New Testament, Joseph, through his intercession to take us to his foster child, but his Lord, our God, Jesus Christ. Keep praying for each other as we continue this journey with each other. We are now launched into the fourth week, you know, day 22 today, and you're trucking along. So keep it up. Don't give up. We're almost to the end of Genesis and we're almost to the end of the book of Job. But we have just started, so let's keep each other in prayer. My name is Father Mike, and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.