The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 246: Rejoice in Doing Good (2022)

Episode Date: September 3, 2022

In today's reading from Jeremiah, Fr. Mike points out how God rejoices in doing us good, and wants to pour out his grace and mercy upon us. As we begin reading from Judith, he explains that, while it might not be historically accurate, the story is there to convey truth. The readings are Jeremiah 32, Judith 1-2, and Proverbs 16:25-28. 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 246. We're reading three chapters today, Jeremiah 32, as well as Judith chapters 1 and 2, which is a new book for us.

Maybe a new book for you entirely because of the fact that in Catholic Bibles and Orthodox Bibles, Judith is there, but in some Protestant Bibles, it is not. So this would be a great introduction to all of us, to Judith 1 and 2, as well as Proverbs chapter 16, verses 25 through 28. 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 by clicking on Subscribe, and you receive daily updates and help the algorithm when it comes to the visibility of this podcast. As I said, today is day 246. Well done, by the way. Jeremiah 32, Judith 1 and 2 in Proverbs chapter 16, verses 25 through 28. The book of the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 32. Jeremiah buys a field at Amathoth. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the 10th year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, which was the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. At that time, the army of the

king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem and Jeremiah, the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of Judah. For Zedekiah, king of Judah had imprisoned him saying, why do you prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it. Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face, and see him eye to eye. And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, says the Lord. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed. Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me. Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shalom, your uncle, will come to you and say, Buy my field, which is at Anathoth,

for the right of redemption by purchase is yours. Then Hanamel, my cousin, came to me in the court of the guard in accordance with the word of the Lord and said to me, Buy my field which is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours. Buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him seventeen shekels of silver. of purchase and in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

God's assurance of the people's return. After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying, Ah, Lord God, it is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you, who show mercy to thousands, but repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them. O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of men, rewarding every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings, who have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made you a name as at this day. You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with

great terror. And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this evil come upon them. Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence, the city is given to the hands of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall take it. The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it with the houses

on whose roofs incense has been offered to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger. For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The sons of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, says the Lord. This city has aroused my anger and wrath from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, which they did to provoke me to anger, their kings and their princes, their priests and their prophets,

the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction. They set up their abominations in the house which is called by my name to defile it. They built the high places of Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech. Though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin.

Now, therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, it is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine and by pestilence. Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation, I will bring them back to this place and I will make them dwell in safety and they shall be my people and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant that I will not turn away from doing good to them, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts that they may not turn from me.

I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness with all my heart and all my soul. For thus says the Lord, Just as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promised them. Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, it is a desolation without man or beast. It is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. Fields shall be bought for money and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negev. For I will restore their fortunes, says the Lord.

The Book of Judith, Chapter 1. Arphaxad fortifies Ekbatana. In the twelfth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh in the days of Arphaxad, who ruled over the Medes in Ekbatana, he is the king who built walls about Ekbatana with hewn stones three cubits thick and six cubits long. He made the walls seventy cubits high and fifty cubits wide. At the gates he built towers a hundred cubits high and sixty cubits wide. At the gates, he built towers a hundred cubits high and 60 cubits wide at the foundations. And he made its gates, which were 70 cubits high and 40 cubits wide, so that his armies could march out in force and his infantry form their ranks.

It was in those days that King Nebuchadnezzar made war against King Arphaxad in the great plain, which is on the borders of Rage. He was joined by all the people of the hill country and all those who lived along the Euphrates and the Tigris and the Hadespes in the plain where Ariok ruled the Elamans. Many nations joined the forces of the Chaldeans. Nebuchadnezzar's orders disregarded. Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, sent to all who lived in Persia and to all who lived in the west, those who lived in Cilicia and Damascus and Lebanon and anti-Lebanon and all who lived in Persia, and to all who lived in the west, those who lived in Cilicia, and Damascus, and Lebanon, and anti-Lebanon, and all who lived along the sea coast, and those among the nations of Carmel, and Gilead, and upper Galilee, and the great plain of Estralon, and all those who were in Samaria and its surrounding towns, and beyond the Jordan, as far as Jerusalem,

and Bethany, and Chilus, and Kadesh, and the river of Egypt, and Tephains, and Ramses, and the whole land of Goshen, even beyond Tannis and Memphis, and all who lived in Egypt as far as the borders of Ethiopia. But all who lived in the whole region disregarded the orders of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, and refused to join him in the war. For they were not afraid of him, but looked upon him as only one man, and they sent back his messengers empty-handed and shamefaced. Arphaxad is defeated. Then Nebuchadnezzar was very angry with this whole region and swore by his throne and kingdom that he would surely take revenge on the whole territory of Cilicia and Damascus and Syria, that he would kill by the

sword all the inhabitants of the land of Moab and the people of Ammon and all Jude, and Syria, that he would kill by the sword all the inhabitants of the land of Moab, and the people of Ammon, and all Judea, and everyone in Egypt as far as the coasts of the two seas. In the seventeenth year he led his forces against king Arphaxad, and defeated him in battle, and overthrew the whole army of Arphaxad, and all his cavalry, and all his chariots. Thus he took possession of his cities, and came to Ekbaktana, captured its towers, plundered its markets, and turned its beauty into shame. He captured Arphaxad in the mountains of Rege, and struck him down with hunting spears, and he utterly destroyed him to this day. Then he returned with them to Nineveh, he and all his combined forces, a vast body of troops, and there he and his forces rested and feasted for

120 days. Chapter 2. Revenge Against the West. In the 18th year, on the 22nd day of the first month, there was talk in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, about carrying out his revenge on the whole region, just as he said. He called together all his officers and all his nobles and set forth to them his secret plan and recounted fully with his own lips all the wickedness of the region. And it was decided that everyone who had not obeyed his command should be destroyed. When he had finished setting forth his plan, Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, called Holofernes, the chief general of his army, second only to himself and said to him, thus says the great king, the Lord of the whole earth. When you leave my presence,

take with you men confident in strength to the number of 120,000 foot soldiers and 12,000 cavalry. Go and attack the whole West country because they disobeyed my orders. Tell them to prepare earth and water for I am coming against them in my anger and will cover the whole face of the earth with the feet of my armies and will hand them over to be plundered by my troops till their wounded shall fill their valleys and every brook and river shall be filled with their dead

and overflow. And I will lead them away captive to the ends of the whole earth. You shall go and seize all their territory for me in advance. They will yield themselves to you and you shall hold them for me till the day of their punishment. But if they refuse, your eye shall not spare

and you shall hand them over to slaughter and plunder throughout your whole region. For as I live and by the power of my kingdom, what I have spoken, my hand will execute. And you, take care not to transgress any of your sovereign's commands, but be sure to carry them out just as I have ordered you, and do not delay about it. Campaign of Holofernes So Holofernes left the presence of his master, and called together all the commanders,

generals, and officers of the Assyrian army, and mustered the picked troops by divisions as his lord had ordered him to do, one hundred and twenty them, together with 12,000 archers on horseback. And he organized them as a great army is marshaled for a campaign. He collected a vast number of camels and donkeys and mules for transport, and innumerable sheep and oxen and goats for provision. Also plenty of food for every man, and a huge amount of gold and silver from the royal palace. So he set out, with his whole army, to go ahead of King Nebuchadnezzar, and to cover the whole face of the earth to the west with their chariots and horsemen and picked troops of infantry. Along with them went a mixed crowd like a swarm of locusts, like the dust of the earth, a multitude that could not be counted. They marched for three days from Nineveh to the

plains of Bektileth, and camped outside Bektileth, near the mountain which is to the north of Upper Cilicia. From there, Holofernes took his whole army, his infantry, cavalry, and chariots, and went up into the hill country, and ravaged Put and Lud, and plundered all the people of Rassus and the Ishmaelites who lived along the desert, south of the country of the Calaeans. Then he followed the Euphrates, and passed through Mesopotamia, and destroyed all the hilltop cities along the desert south of the country of the Calans. Then he followed the Euphrates and passed through Mesopotamia and destroyed all the hilltop cities along the brook Abron, as far as the sea. He also seized the territory of Cilicia and killed everyone who resisted him and came to the southern borders of Japheth, fronting toward Arabia. He surrounded all the

Midianites and burned their tents and plundered their sheepfolds. Then he went down into the plains of Damascus during the wheat harvest and burned all their fields and destroyed their flocks and herds and sacked their cities and ravaged their lands and put to death all their young men with the edge of the sword. So fear and terror of him fell upon all the people who lived along the seacoast at Sidon and in Tyre, and those who lived in Sur, and Okina, and who lived in Jamnia. Those who lived in Azotus and Ascalon feared him exceedingly. The book of Proverbs chapter 16 verses 25 through 28. There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. A worker's appetite works for him, his mouth urges him on. A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

A perverse man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends. Father in heaven, we give you praise. We thank you you so much thank you for your word thank you for the middle of the book of the prophet Jeremiah thank you for the beginning of Judith and thank you for your wisdom you just call us to walk in every day your will that you call us to walk in every day help us to walk this day and spend this day to live this day in your hands in your heart and in your will saying and in your will, saying yes to you in everything we plan and everything we carry out. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. I just have to, you know, sometimes we hit

these Proverbs that just, they're classic, well, they're all classic Proverbs, obviously, but sometimes they're just so powerful. For example, chapter 16, verse 25, there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. So often that is what, that's what sin is. Honestly, that, that in so many ways, we can know that sin is evil. We can know that sin is sin, but at the same time, man seems like maybe that's what I need to choose right now. Like we sometimes can compromise with that and say, that seems right. You know, I know it goes against God's word. I know, I know it contradicts the wisdom of the church, but I'm going to do it anyways. And there's a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.

Another, gosh, just so good. The last proverb of today, verse 28, a perverse man spreads strife and a whisperer separates close friends. Gosh, you guys, oh my gosh. Gossip is one of the worst things in the world. A whisperer separates close friends. Man, isn't that true? Isn't that true how devastating gossip can be? We're like, no, I'm just sharing what I know.

I'm just saying. It's only words. And yet those words have the power to destroy, so much power to destroy. Golly. So we just pray, God, help us to follow you and to say yes to you and to not say what doesn't need to be said. But what might need to be said is Jeremiah chapter 32 and Judith one and two, so important.

Okay, Jeremiah 32, the context. Jeremiah is in prison as the city is being besieged. And so as I've heard people say, here's Jeremiah who's in prison. You know what a siege is, obviously. A siege is here are the Babylonians and they've surrounded Jerusalem. The idea behind the siege is this is a war of attrition in so many ways that at some point inside the city, they're going to run out of resources. And so we're going to wait out here.

And at some point, you're going to get so, you're going to become so devastated that you're going to have out of resources. And so we're going to wait out here. And at some point, you're going to just, you're going to get so, you're going to become so devastated that you're going to have to give up. And in the meantime, we're going to be building these, you know, siege walls or reaction not siege walls, but these ramps up to the walls. And at some point we're going to just be able to walk in and completely destroy you. So Babylonians have surrounded Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, here is Jeremiah, who's imprisoned by King Zedekiah. Because why? Because Jeremiah prophesied against Zedekiah, where he said, here's what's going to happen. King Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar is going to win. And he's going to bring you to Babylon. And you're going to see him face to face, eye to eye. He's going to conquer this land. He's going to conquer this city. And so here's Zedekiah, who doesn't

want to hear that. So he throws Jeremiah in prison. And there's what happens. This strange story where it's, you know, the subtitle of chapter 32 is Jeremiah buys a field at Anathoth. Remember, he's from Anathoth and he buys a field. Why is this happening? Well, realize the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, right? Same thing. They have taken over the land and Jeremiah knows that they're going to conquer the land. I mean, nothing is going to belong to the Jews. Nothing is going to belong to the people of Israel. It's all going to belong to the Babylonians. And the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah and says, your cousin is going to come. His name's Hanamel. He's going to come to you andians. And the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah and says, your cousin is going to come. His name's Hanamel. He's going to come to you and he's going to want to sell you

some property in your hometown. You're going to buy it. And so then what happens is Hanamel, the cousin, shows up and offers him the property and Jeremiah buys it. Why? Because this is a sign. And he even describes, you know, I signed the copy, we had witnesses, we put it in a jar, all this stuff. Why? Because here are the people, people of Israel. Jeremiah has been telling them again and again, Babylonians are going to win. Just, gosh, simply surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. But at the same time, the fact that he's going to pay 17 shekels of silver for this land indicates that Jeremiah also knows God's going to bring us back. Now, God is not going to

bring Jeremiah back. Jeremiah is going to be carted off to Egypt and he's going to die there. But this purchase of the property is a sign that God is going to bring you home. And this is the assurance of the people, God's assurance of the people's return. Again, this is bad news because the Babylonians are going to win. I mean, they've already conquered the land, but at the same time, God is going to conquer the Babylonians. And I love this because in verse 17, gosh, in verse 17, Jeremiah says, Lord, he's talking to the Lord. He says, oh Lord God, it is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you who show mercy to thousands, but repay the guilt of fathers, et cetera. Nothing is too hard for you. And in response later on in verse 27, 10 verses later, God validates what Jeremiah

has says. And God says in verse 27, he says, behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? Like I'm going, he says, therefore I'm giving the city into the hands of the Chaldeans and the hand of Nebuchadnezzar and he shall take it. But ultimately you'll come back because I am the Lord God and nothing is too hard for me, which is just what a great, what a phenomenal, great word for us to be able to say, God, whatever I'm facing, I realize nothing is too hard for you.

That you can, you can do all things, like literally, you can do all things, even things that seem absolutely impossible. Now, here's the last word of this before we go to Judith. Not only can God do this, but God delights in this. In fact, in verse 41, verse 41 is absolutely beautiful as it gets to the end of chapter 32. In verse 41, it says, I will rejoice. This is God speaking. I will rejoice in doing them good. I will rejoice in doing them good. And I will plant them in this land in faithfulness with Sometimes I think, you know, sometimes we can be tempted to think that God resentfully does good for us. He resentfully extends his mercy.

He resentfully lifts us up. He resentfully gets us through trouble. But God says, no, I will rejoice in doing them good. And I'll plant them in this land and faithfulness with all my heart and all my soul. Now think about this. For us who are Christians, we realize what is the greatest good that God has ever done for us? He has become one of us in the incarnation. He lived as a human being, fully God, fully man.

He suffered in his body. He died and he carried a cross. He died for us. He descended to the realm of the dead. He ascended to heaven. After the resurrection, he ascended to heaven. He gave for us. He descended to the realm of the dead. He ascended to heaven. After the resurrection, he ascended to heaven. He gave up everything. This is, what does God do ultimately to do us good?

He gives his whole self. He offers himself to the father for us. So the father's glorified in this world is saved. And he says, I will rejoice in doing them good, which means apply it to the life of Jesus. And here is God saying, no, actually, I rejoice even in my suffering. I rejoice even in my cross. I rejoice in my death. Why? Because it will save your life. I rejoice in doing them good, which I just think is just so phenomenal, so incredible. And I think it's a word that we all

need to hear because God doesn't resent you for needing your and my needing forgiveness. We need forgiveness so much every single day. God doesn't resent you for needing his forgiveness. He desires to give you his forgiveness and he delights in it, in fact. Okay, so that's Jeremiah for today, Jeremiah 32. We also have Judith 1 and 2. Now, it's called the Book of Judith, but we don't really get introduced to Judith until I think chapter 8. I think it's chapter 8, 7 or 8. I think it's 8.

In the meantime, we get set up the context, and the context is the Book of Judith is unique. It's part of the Deuterocanonical books, right? So part of the second canon. So part of sacred scripture, inspired word of God. But the beginning of Judith, we say, okay, inspired word of God. But the beginning of Judith, we say, okay, in the 12th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh, like, wait a second, wait a second. We're hearing about Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar wasn't the king of the Assyrians and he didn't live in Nineveh.

Nebuchadnezzar was the king of the Babylonians and he lived in Babylon. So wait a second, what is going on here? Because we're going to talk about how King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Assyria, dominated everything. And here's Arphaxad who was defeated and here's Holofernes and all these people. Ultimately, we're going to get to Judith. But we think like, what kind of book is this? Ultimately, it's a book of truth, right? So remember our very first book, we had Genesis and we had Job. Job is part of God's word. And some people say, yeah, Job was a real historical character. And the events of Job's life are really historical events. But also there are people who say, no, Job wasn't really a real historical character. Job's story tells us truths that are deeper than Job's story, right?

And so that doesn't disqualify Job from being God's word. Also, that means the song of songs, you know, the song of Solomon, that whether that's written by Solomon himself or simply here is God's word communicated from someone who took the pen name of Solomon, that doesn't alter the fact that this is still God's word. And so the book of Judith might be something similar to the song of Solomon, which is not necessarily historical or the book of Job, which might or might not be historical, but it does convey a truth to us. Now, one of the reasons why we can say that pretty confidently is because every single Jew who would have read the book of Judith, they knew that Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon, not the king of Assyria. And in the very first verse, it makes it very clear that

they're saying Nebuchadnezzar ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh. And so they're setting the stage for saying, okay, this is not necessarily a historical book. We're going to teach you the truth. So teach you the truth through this story, the truth of God, the truth of who we are, the truth of how God fights for us, and the truth of just some really incredible things. Basically, you can subscribe to the idea that while the book of Judith is true, 100% true, it might not be historically literally true, but it's telling us the truth just like Job told us the truth, just like the Song of Songs tells us the truth. What do we have in this? We have

chapters one and two going on about how Nebuchadnezzar was just a bad dude. That even if he didn't really live in Assyria, but was in Babylon, this Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Judith is not great. In fact, he wants to, in his vengeance, in his revenge for people disobeying him, he's going to absolutely destroy everyone. And not only that, we also have Holofernes. And however you want to say Holofernes, I'm going to say it like that because I've heard Holofernes, but how it goes off my tongue is Holofernes and we're going to stick with it for the rest of the book. The Holofernes is, he is willing to do exactly what Nebuchadnezzar has asked him to do. I heard in other descriptions that Holofernes is quite the sycophant, right? So the person who is just kind of a, another way to say it is brown noser. We'll leave it at that.

And he's doing exactly what Nebuchadnezzar has asked him to do, which is just destroy his enemies. And we're going to see how he does that. We're also going to see why Judith is so incredibly important as we get through this book of Judith. So gosh, you guys, let's keep praying. Keep letting God's word transform our hearts. I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.