The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 222: Idolatry and Adultery (2023)

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

Fr. Mike explains the relationship between idolatry and adultery, and how one can easily lead to another, especially in our relationship with God. He also talks about the difference between discipline and abuse, as we cover some tough topics today. Today's readings are Isaiah 65, Ezekiel 23-24, and Proverbs 13:21-25. 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 222, triple two. And we're reading Isaiah. What am I? This is a phone call? Call triple two. Anyways, day 222, we're reading Isaiah chapter 65. We only have one more chapter left after this chapter. Remember, Isaiah from chapters one to

39 was the book of woe. And now we've experienced the book of consolation. We're coming to a close in the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 65. We're also reading Ezekiel, chapter 23 and 24, Proverbs, chapter 13, verses 21 through 25. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from 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 plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com

slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and you'll be subscribed and all will be right in the world. And man, you can mark the day 222 with that was the day I subscribed. That was the day. I remember it because there's three twos right in a row, just like that. And we're reading Isaiah 65, Ezekiel 23 and 24, Proverbs 13 verses 21 through 25. Ezekiel 23 and 24, Proverbs 13 verses 21 through 25.

The book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 65, the righteousness of God's judgment. I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me. I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, here am I, here am I to a nation that did not call on my name. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices. A people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon bricks, who sit in tombs and spend the night in secret places,

who eat swine's flesh and broth of abominable things is in their vessels, who say, Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am set apart from you. These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. Behold, it is written before me, I will not keep silent, but I will repay. Yes, I will repay into their bosom their iniquities and their father's iniquities together, says the Lord. Because they burned incense upon the mountains and reviled me upon the hills, I will measure into their bosom payment for their former doings. Thus says the Lord. As the wine is found in the cluster and they say, do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it.

So I will do for my servants' sake, and not destroy them all. I will bring forth descendants from Jacob and from Judah, inheritors of my mountains. My chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down for my people who have sought me. But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for destiny, I will destine you to the sword. And all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because when I called you did not answer, when I spoke you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry. Behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame. Behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for anguish of spirit. You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse and the Lord God will slay you, but his servants he will call by a different name so that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.

For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. No more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days. For the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be

accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord and their children with them. Before they call, I will answer. While they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, Chapter 23, Oholah and Oholibah The word of the Lord camezekiel, chapter 23, Oholah and Oholibah. The word of the Lord came to me, son of man. There were two women, the daughters of one mother. They played the harlot in Egypt. They played the harlot in their youth. There their breasts were pressed, and their virgin bosoms handled. Oholah was the name of the elder, and Oholibah the name of her sister.

They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Aholah is Samaria, and Aholibah is Jerusalem. Aholah played the harlot while she was mine, and she doted on her lovers the Assyrians, warriors clothed in purple, governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She bestowed her harlotries upon them, the choicest men of Assyria, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She bestowed her harlotries upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of every one on whom she doted. She did not give up her harlotry which she had practiced since her days in Egypt, for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her. Therefore,

I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians upon whom she doted. These uncovered her nakedness. They seized her sons and her daughters, and her they slew with the sword. And she became a byword among women, when judgment had been executed upon her. Her sister Aholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her doting and in her harlotry, which was worse than that of her sister. She doted upon the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. And I saw that she was defiled. They both took the same way. But she carried her harlotry further.

She saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. When she saw them, she doted upon them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea, and the

Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust. And after she was polluted by them, she turned from them in disgust. When she carried on her harlotry so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her as I had turned from her sister. Yet she increased her harlotry, remembering the days of her youth when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt and doted upon her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys and whose issue was like that of horses. Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed your young breasts. Therefore, O Aholibah, thus says the Lord God, behold, I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned

in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side, the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekad and Shoah and Koah and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and commanders, all of them, officers and warriors, all of them riding on horses. And they shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield and helmet. And I will commit the judgment to them and they shall judge you according to their judgments. And I will direct my indignation against you, that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire.

They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels. Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to the Egyptians or remember them anymore. For thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust. And they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of those from whom you turned in disgust. And they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor

and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your harlotry have brought this upon you because you played the harlot with the nations and polluted yourself with their idols. You have gone the way of your sister. Therefore, I will give her cup into your hand. Thus says the Lord God, You shall drink your sister's cup, which is deep and large.

You shall be laughed at and held in derision, for it contains much. You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister Samaria. You shall drink it and drain it out, and pluck out your hair and tear your breasts, for I have spoken, says the Lord God. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and harlotry. The Lord said to me, Son of man, will you judge Ahola and Aholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds. For they have committed adultery, and blood is upon their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the sons whom they had born to me.

Moreover, this they have done to me. They have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my sabb Sabbaths. For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house. They even sent for men to come from far, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments. behold, they came. For them, you bathed yourself, painted your eyes and decked yourself with ornaments. You sat upon a stately couch with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil. The sound of a carefree multitude was with her. And with men of the common sort, drunkards were brought from the wilderness and they put bracelets upon the hands

of the women and beautiful crowns upon their heads. Then I said, Do not men now commit adultery with her when they practice harlotry with her? For they have gone into her as men go into a harlot. Thus they went into Oholah and to Oholibah to commit lewdness. But righteous men shall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses and with the sentence of women that shed blood because they are adulteresses and blood is upon their hands. For thus says the Lord God, Bring up a host against them, and make them an object of terror and a spoil. And the host shall stone them, and dispatch them with their swords. They shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses. Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done.

And your lewdness shall be repaid upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry. And you shall know that I am the Lord God. Chapter 24. The Boiling Pot. In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day, and utter an allegory to the rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord God,

Set on the pot, set it on, pour in water also, put in it the pieces of flesh, all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder, fill it with choice bones, take the choicest one of the flock, pile the logs under it, boil its pieces, seethe also its bones in it. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose rust is in it and whose rust has not gone out of it. Take out of it piece after piece without making any choice, for the blood she has shed is still in the midst of her. She put it on the bare rock. She did not pour it upon the ground to cover it with dust. To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance,

I have set on the bare rock the blood she has shed, that it may not be covered. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. Heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil well the flesh, and empty out the broth, and let the bones be burned up. Then set it empty upon the coals, that it may become hot, and its copper may burn, that its filthiness may be melted in it, its rust consumed. In vain I have wearied myself. Its thick rust does not go out of it by fire. Its rust is your filthy lewdness, because I would have cleansed you, and you were not cleansed from your filthiness. You shall not be cleansed anymore till I have satisfied my fury upon you. I, the Lord, have spoken. It shall come to pass. I will do it. I will not go

back. I will not spare. I will not repent. According to your ways and your doings, I will judge you, says the Lord God. Ezekiel's wife dies. Also the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke. land, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke. Yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban and put your shoes on your feet. Do not cover your lips nor eat the bread of mourners. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. And the people said to me, Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus? Then I said to them, The word of the Lord came to me,

say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, turbans shall be on your heads and your shoes on your feet, you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall pine away in your iniquities and groan to one another. Thus shall Ezekiel be to you a sign, according to all that he has done you shall do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God. And you, son of man, on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their hearts' desire, and also their sons and daughters, on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their hearts desire, and also their sons and daughters, on that day a fugitive will come to you to report to you the news. On that day your mouth will be opened to the fugitive, and you shall speak and be no longer mute. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know

that I am the Lord. In the book of Proverbs, chapter 13, verses 21 through 25. Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous. The fallow ground of the poor yields much food, but is swept away through injustice. He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked suffers want.

Father in heaven, we thank you so much. We give you praise. Gosh, Lord God, thank you for this day and thank you for continuing to call us back. We get off course so easily, Lord God, but you are just so gentle with us in bringing us back often. Sometimes you're not. Sometimes we need to be woken up, and sometimes you shout to us to wake us up, and we thank you for that. We thank you for your gentleness.

We also thank you for your strength. We thank you that you are desperate. In some ways, you're so desperate, Lord, to bring us back to your heart. So please, today, do whatever it takes. Do whatever it takes to bring us back to your heart today, please today, do whatever it takes. Do whatever it takes to bring us back to your heart today. Lord God, whether that be a gentle call, gentle correction, or whether that be something big, Lord God, do whatever it takes

to get us back to your heart this day so we can live our eternity, this day, so we can live this day and our eternity with you forever. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Gosh, the Lord wants to bring us back and that's one of the reasons why we've been journeying through Isaiah this whole time. And of course, Ezekiel and all these other prophets,

because God continues to call out to his people. And think about this. Think about the goodness of God is that he does not, he refuses to essentially, he refuses to just let his people go whatever way they want. And sometimes we think that permissiveness is a sign of goodness. Sometimes we think permissiveness is a sign of love, even. That just, you know, I'll support you no matter what you do. And yet, here in Proverbs, you have this proverb, right? He who spares the rod hates his son.

Now, obviously, that can be taken to an extreme, right? So this is about discipline, not about beating someone. It's about correcting them and teaching, not about basically, you know, torturing somebody. And so you think about this. We think about how corporal punishment, right? So physical correction, essentially. Here's it says the rod or a switch that can be overdone, obviously. And in some ways, you can also see, so can a timeout. I mean, think about in terms of

that kind of psychological abandonment. We can say that we're advanced and we don't, I don't do corporal punishment in my household. Okay, that's great. But you can also recognize that, ah, you know, I put my child into a timeout and I was a little aggressive with that. Maybe I left them longer than they needed to. And so we realize that our own emotions can win, right? Our own emotions can get away from us. And so when it comes to no, there's a room for this kind of discipline. In fact, if I don't love my child, that's what scripture says, he who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. Again, not abuse, but to discipline, to teach. Why? Because I believe that you can come back from this. Okay. So that being said, hopefully all the caveats were made, all the qualifications and conditions were made that you understand that I'm not saying that let's endorse abuse and the Bible does not endorse

abuse in any way, shape or form. Let's jump into Ezekiel because we have Ohola and Oholibah, right? And Ohola represents Samaria, that Northern kingdom and Oholibah represents Jerusalem, the Southern kingdom. And Ezekiel has this analogy, I guess, or metaphor that here are these two sisters, and they both play the harlot. They both come from Egypt, right? Because that's the whole people of Israel coming from Egypt. They also kept looking to Egypt to save them from the Assyrians, but then they played the harlot with Assyria.

One of the big takeaways for all of this is the Lord will continue to reiterate and drill into our heads how closely idolatry is related to adultery, how here's God's people and God's people are meant to be his. Again, we've said this before, but let's say it again. There are some relationships that do not tolerate rivals, right? The relationship of a husband and wife that doesn't tolerate a rival. The relationship of one neighbor to another. Yeah, no problem.

You can have a lot of neighbors who are equally fun and you have rivals. But when it comes to a spousal relationship, to be a wife to a husband, to be a husband to a wife, does not tolerate any single rival. And God is saying that if you think that's true, and it is, the relationship between us, would scripture say, I, your maker, have become your husband. I, your maker, have become your husband. And that relationship to turn to idolatry is like adultery, which is why we had that very graphic description in verse chapter 23 about this turning away from the Lord God and giving oneself over to false gods. Even if that just simply means trusting in the Assyrians.

In fact, Aholibah, right, the south Jerusalem, didn't just kind of have their Assyrian thing, they had their Babylonian thing. And that's why Ezekiel is prophesying in Babylon saying, that's what you did. You now, you gave yourself over to Babylon. Remember when the king gave the tour of everything he had to the Babylonian emissaries and basically showed everything off. And Isaiah looked at that and said, why are you doing this? You've just given yourself away, given away all the state secrets because God wants us to have this kind of close relationship with him. That's what we're made for. If anyone, anything is a rival between us and God, that thing is an idol and we are committing adultery with the Lord, which is

just devastating, obviously. So in chapter 24, we have the boiling pot and think, okay, this is interesting. I want to highlight three things here. And if three becomes four, that's great. So the beginning of chapter 24 says, in the ninth year, in the 10th month, on the 10th day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me. So this is very specific. This is an event that's going to happen. What did this date signify? This date signified the beginning of the month, the word of the Lord came to me. So this is very specific. This is an event that's going to happen. What did this date signify? This date signified the beginning of the final siege of Jerusalem. Remember, there were three waves of deportation.

There's the first wave where Daniel and his pals, they got deported to Babylon. The second wave of deportation where Ezekiel and his wife and their family got deported. I don't know if he has a family. We don't know. That crew got deported. I don't know if he has a family. We don't know. That crew got deported. And this last one, chapter 24, ninth year, 10th month, 10th day of the month, is the beginning of the final siege of Jerusalem. And so we have this image of the pot. And the pot is what? The pot is everything gets thrown in. So basically, here is God saying, okay, there were small deportations, I mean, relatively small deportations from Jerusalem to Babylon. Now everything's going in the pot,

as you can see that God used this language. Take the good pieces, the thigh, the shoulder, everything, fill it with choice bones, basically put in all the pieces of flesh in the pot and everything gets boiled up. And this is, again, this is Jerusalem. This massive deportation that's going to happen, this massive siege of Jerusalem that's going to happen. Everything goes in, even the most powerful. But what's going to happen is, he says, it's not going to be purified though. It's going to go in and we're going to scald the whole thing. We're going to put down the fire and stoke the fire underneath this in order to burn off the rust. And it's still not going to be purified. It's still just going to be the same. In fact, scripture says, I have cleansed you, but you were not cleansed. This is in verse 13 in chapter 24. I would have cleansed you,

and you were not cleansed, and you shall not be cleansed. And this is just this reality, right? It's just so hard. But again, remember, this is not God punishing. This is God trying to call his people back. Again, not abuse, but discipline. And this is the last piece because it sounds so crazy. This is a turning point in Ezekiel's life, chapter 24 is, because in chapter 24, Ezekiel's wife dies. Now, Ezekiel on the surface has been this tough prophet, right? He is this prophet who seems to have thick skin. He seems to be able to do, I mean, thick skin, literally lying on his side for 390 days. But his heart is revealed here in chapter 24, where the word of the Lord came to him and says, Son of man, behold, I'm about to take away the delight of your eyes away from you. She's the light of your life.

This wife of yours, whom you love, take away the delight of your eyes away from you. And here's what's going to happen is your heart is going to be pierced, obviously, but you're not going to mourn. And people are going to see that you're not mourning and it's going to be a prophetic word to them. And so here it unfolds and people look and say, what, what is going on? Ezekiel, you're a tough guy, but we know that you loved your wife. Why are you not mourning? And it's a little bit of a mystery what that prophetic action is trying to communicate. But here's a suggestion. Ezekiel is saying here, my not mourning, the loss of the desire of my heart, the delight

of my eyes, the love of my life, my not mourning this is what's going to happen. This is what you're going to do. When the temple is destroyed and you hear about the temple being destroyed, you're not going to shed a tear. Now, he's not saying you should not shed a tear. He's saying you're not going to shed a tear. As weird, as strange, as off as it is for me not to mourn the loss of my life, my wife, as awful as that is to not mourn her loss, her death. It is so awful, so strange, so crazy, so bonkers that you are not going to mourn the destruction of the temple when you hear of it. But that's how you're going to be. How I am now

in your sight at the death of my wife, that's how you're going to be when it comes to the destruction of God's sanctuary in Jerusalem. You don't even care. And that's the thing. Now, Ezekiel cared about his wife. This is so clear, but he's doing this performative prophetic action, highlighting again, as I said, you think it's strange that I'm not mourning my wife. It is. And it's just as strange that you will not mourn the fact that God's sanctuary in Jerusalem will be destroyed. And yeah, it just gets, it cuts to the heart. It cuts to the heart because how often are we indifferent? How often are we indifferent to God's word?

How often are we indifferent to God being disrespected? How often are we indifferent to blasphemy that's happened? How often are we indifferent to those who have walked away from the Lord? And so I know what there's a mouthful today. I said, maybe you spent a little too much time on the discipline versus abuse thing, but I think it ought to be noted because this is a community of people who come from a bunch of different backgrounds. And I have a background with my family who they were good about discipline. I never felt abused. It was never to that point where it was like, oh my goodness, this is over the top. This is beyond the line. But I know that

in this community, there are our brothers and sisters who have been, that that discipline was much more than a discipline. It was abuse. And so I wanted to say that in order to note that there's a difference, A, and B, now to be able to say, my brothers and my sisters, this is a community. And if that line was crossed in your life, you have brothers and sisters who are right now praying for you. You actually have a father in heaven who loves you, yes, in disciplines, but doesn't abuse. With me, I think the Lord, probably he can afford to be a little bit more aggressive,

right? But my prayer is with you, if you've been hurt like that in the past, just know that your father is gentle. Father is gentle in his correction. You don't have to be afraid of him because he never loses his temper on you. He never gets out of control with you. And so please know of our prayers for you, especially if this is just one of those days

that just kind of jars you. Know that you're not alone and we are praying for you. I know you're praying for me and I'm praying for you as well. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.