The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 252: Queen of Heaven (2022)

Episode Date: September 9, 2022

Fr. Mike points out Israel's continual disbelief in the prophet Jeremiah, and also explains who the queen of heaven refers to. We also conclude the book of Judith with Judith's song of praise. Today��s readings are Jeremiah 43-44, Judith 15-16, and Proverbs 17:17-20. 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 252, day 252, and we're reading from Jeremiah chapter 43 and 44, the final two chapters of Judith, the great heroine of the Old Testament, 15 and 16, as well as Proverbs chapter 17, verses 17 through 20. As always, the Bible translation 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 and receive daily episodes. Now, that was a secret. I don't want people finding out about the ability to subscribe, but I want to trust you, you alone, with this insider information of the ability to subscribe, and then you get the podcast delivered to you, to your pocket, or to your computer, or wherever you listen to this podcast. As I said, it's day 252. We're reading Jeremiah chapter 43 and 44, Judith 15 and 16, final two chapters, as well as Proverbs chapter 17 verses 17 through 20. The book of Jeremiah chapter 43, Jeremiah warns of judgment. When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people, all these words of the Lord their God,

with which the Lord their God had sent him to them, Azariah the son of Hoshea, and Johanan the son of Korea, and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, You are telling a lie. The Lord our God did not send you to say, Do not go to Egypt to live there. But Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon. So Johanan, the son of Korea,

and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord to remain in the land of Judah. But Johanan, the son of Korea, and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they arrived at Tapanes. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tapanes. Take in your hands large stones, and hide them in the mortar in the pavement which is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tapanes, in the sight of the men of Judah, and say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will send and take

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and he will set his throne above these stones which I have hid, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. He shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt, as a shepherd cleans his cloak of a vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire. Chapter 44. Denunciation of Idolatry in Egypt.

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews that dwelt in the land of Egypt, at Migdal, at Tapanes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you have seen all the evil that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are at desolation, and no one dwells in them because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they nor you nor your fathers. Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants, the prophets saying, Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate. But they did

not listen or incline their ear to turn from their wickedness and burn no incense to other gods. Therefore, my wrath and my anger were poured forth and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation as at this day. And now, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt,

where you have come to live, that you may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah

and in the streets of Jerusalem? They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes, which I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, to cut off all Judah. I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall. By the sword and by famine they shall be consumed. From the least to the greatest they shall die by the sword

and by famine, and they shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with curse, and a taunt. I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah to which they desire to return to dwell there, for they shall not return except some fugitives. Then all the men who knew that their wives had offered incense to other gods and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who dwelt in Pathros in the land of Egypt answered Jeremiah, as for the word which you have spoken to us in the name

of the Lord, we will not listen to you, but we will do everything that we have vowed, burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her as we did both we and our fathers our kings and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem for then we had plenty of food and prospered and saw no evil but since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine and the the women said, When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out libations to her, was it without our husband's approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out libations to her? Then Jeremiah said to all

the people, men and women, all the people who had given him this answer, As for the incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember it? Did it not come into his mind? The Lord could no longer bear your evil doings and the abominations which you committed. Therefore, your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse without inhabitant as it is this day. It is because you burned incense and because you Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Verse 2. vows. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt. Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord, that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the Lord God lives. Behold,

I am watching over them for evil and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine until there is an end of them. And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number. And all the remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to live shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. This shall be the sign to you, says the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for evil. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand

of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life. The Book of Judith, Chapter 15. The Assyrian Army Flees. When the men in the tents heard it, they were amazed at what had happened. Fear and trembling came over them, so that they did not wait for one another, but with one impulse all rushed out and fled by every path across the plain and through the hill country. Those who had camped in the hills around Bethuliah also took to flight. Then the men of Israel, every one that was a soldier, rushed out upon them. And Uzziah sent men to Betumath Saim and Babai and Chobah and Kolah and to all the frontiers of Israel to tell what had taken place and to urge all to rush out upon their enemies to destroy them. And when the Israelites heard it, with one accord they fell upon the enemy and cut them down as far as Chobah. Those in Jerusalem and all the hill country also came, for they were told

what had happened in the camp of the enemy. And those in Gilead and in Galilee outflanked them with great slaughter, even beyond Damascus and its borders. The rest of the people of Bethuliah fell upon the Assyrian camp and plundered it, and were greatly enriched. And the Israelites, when they returned from the slaughter, took possession of what remained. And the villages and towns and the hill country and in the plain got a great amount of booty, for there was a vast quantity of it. The Israelites celebrate. You are the great glory of Israel. You are the great pride of our nation. You have done all this single-handed. You have done great good to Israel, and God is well pleased with it. May the Almighty Lord bless you forever.

And all the people said, So be it. So all the people plundered the camp for thirty days. They gave Judith the tent of Holofernes and all his silver dishes and his beds and his bowls and all his furniture. And she took them and loaded her mule and hitched up her carts and piled the things on them. Then all the women of Israel gathered to see her and blessed her. And some of them performed a dance for her. And she took branches in her hands and gave them to the women who were with her. And they crowned themselves with olive wreaths, she and those who were with her. And she went before all the people in the dance, leading all the women, while all the men of Israel followed, bearing their arms and wearing garlands and with

songs on their lips. Chapter 16. The Song of Praise of Judith. Then Judith began this thanksgiving before all Israel, and all the people loudly sang this song of praise. And Judith said, Begin a song to my God with tambourines. Sing to my Lord with symbols. Raise to him a new psalm. Exalt him and call upon his name. For God is the Lord who crushes wars. For he has delivered me out of the hands of my pursuers.

He brought me to his camp in the midst of the people. The Assyrian came down from the mountains of the north. He came with myriads of his warriors. Their multitude blocked up the valleys. Their cavalry covered the hills. He boasted that he would burn up my territory and kill my young men with the sword to dash my infants to the ground

and seize my children as prey and take my virgins as booty. But the Lord Almighty has foiled them by the hand of a woman for their mighty one did not fall by the hands of the young men nor by the hand of a woman. For their mighty one did not fall by the hands of the young men, nor did the sons of the titans strike him, nor did tall giants set upon him.

But Judith, the daughter of Merari, undid him with the beauty of her countenance. For she took off her widow's mourning to exalt the oppressed in Israel. She anointed her face with ointment and fastened her hair with a tiara and put on a linen gown to deceive him. Her sandal ravished his eyes. Her beauty captivated his mind and the sword severed his neck. The Persians trembled at her boldness. The Medes were daunted at her daring. Then my oppressed people shouted for joy. My weak people shouted and the enemy trembled. They lifted up their voices and the enemy were turned back. The sons of maidservants have pierced them through.

They were wounded like the children of fugitives. They perished before the army of my Lord. I will sing to my God a new song. O Lord, you are great and glorious, wonderful in strength, invincible. Let all your creatures serve you, for you spoke and they were made. You sent forth your Spirit, and it formed spoke and they were made you sent forth your spirit and it formed them there is none that can resist your voice for the mountains shall be shaken to their foundations with the waters at your presence the rocks shall melt like wax

but to those who fear you you will continue to show mercy for every sacrifice as a fragrant offering is a small thing and all fat for burnt offerings to you is a very little thing. But he who fears the Lord shall be great forever. Woe to the nations that rise up against my people. The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgment. Fire and worms he will give to their flesh. They shall weep in pain forever. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they worshipped

God. As soon as the people were purified, they offered their burnt offerings, their freewill offerings, and their gifts. Judith also dedicated to God all the vessels of Holofernes, which the people had given her, and the canopy, which she took for herself from his bedchamber, she gave as a votive offering to the Lord. So the people continued feasting in Jerusalem before the sanctuary for three months, and Judith remained with them. The Renown and Death of Judith After this, everyone returned home to his own inheritance, and Judith went to Bethuliah and remained on her estate and was honored in her time throughout the whole country. Many desired to marry her, but she remained a widow all the days of her life after

Manasseh, her husband, died and was gathered to his people. She became more and more famous and grew old in her husband's house until she was 105 years old. She set her maid free. She died in Bethuliah, and they buried her in the cave of her husband Manasseh, and the house of Israel mourned for her seven days. Before she died, she distributed her property to all those who were next of kin to her husband Manasseh, and to her own nearest kindred. And no one ever again spread terror among the people of Israel in the days of Judith, or for a long time after her death. The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 17, verses 17 through 20.

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. A man without sense gives a pledge, and becomes surety in the presence of his neighbor. He who loves transgressions loves strife. He who makes his door high seeks destruction. A man of crooked mind does not prosper, and one with a perverse tongue falls into calamity. Father in heaven, we thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your will, your heart, everything. Lord God, we thank you for this journey on day 252. Gosh, Lord, thank you for your will, your heart, everything. Lord God, we thank you for this journey on day 252.

Gosh, Lord, thank you for giving us the perseverance to keep pressing play, the perseverance to keep listening to you. And also in the midst of all of these prophets, as we're coming to an end of all of this, thank you for that persistence. And thank you for revealing maybe the prophets to us for the first time ever. We thank you for someone like Jeremiah. We thank you for Jeremiah himself, who was unfailing in listening to your word and said it even when it was unpopular. Thank you for giving him to us as an older brother, as one of the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us as we race to you,

to your son, Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay. So let's sing a lot of Proverbs today. Why not? We've been on a roll for a while with this one. It is just, I love this. Proverbs 17, verse 17. A friend loves at all times times and a brother is born for adversity. A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity. That sense of like, you know, through thick and thin, through in the good times and the bad times, that's one of the things, one of the markers of someone that you know you can trust, one of the markers of true family, one of the markers of a true friend.

In fact, I remember listening to a man, he was speaking and he said that the mark of a true friend is one to whom you can tell good news and they will rejoice with you. They won't try to tear you down. They won't try to make it negative, but you can tell them good news and they rejoice with you. Also, a good friend is one you can tell bad news to and they will mourn with you. They'll grieve with you. And that sense of like, gosh, that's such a mark of that. And that's why I think Proverbs 17, 17 says that, that sense of that consistency. I remember one of my brother priests up here in the diocese. He once said that joy is multiplied when it's shared and grief is divided when it's shared or something like that, right? I mean, he's probably said it in a more eloquent way

that joy shared is multiplied and grief shared is divided. That sounds more eloquent. That's what he said, because he's an eloquent guy. And that's one of the things that when we can rely upon those friends of ours, those family members of ours, through the good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, you know, that for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse,

those people that we can trust. Because, I mean, gosh, we know that we're all not all very trustworthy all the time. And that's just the fact of being a human being. In Jeremiah chapter 44, see that segue? Jeremiah chapter 43 and 44, what do we have? We have Jeremiah who's warning the people of judgment. Why is he warning them of judgment? It's because they've decided we're going to go to Egypt because we don't want King Nebuchadnezzar to come back to Judah and kill us all. And I don't know if you caught this.

They force Jeremiah to go with them. They kidnap him, essentially. And they say that he's lying to them, that the Lord our God did not send you to say, do not go down to Egypt to live there. Now, so they do. And they take Jeremiah with them. And Jeremiah warns them. He says, this is what's going to happen.

What's going to happen in Egypt is Nebuchadnezzar, another king, some other powerful person, kingdom is going to come and then you're going to be destroyed there by sword, by famine, by pestilence. You will not get out of this. And why? Because here they go to Egypt and what do they do? They turn back to idolatry and it's just the most ridiculous thing ever. Oh gosh. And it just, you know, one of the things we're going to recognize is those Jews who were exiled to Babylon, those who had to learn how to live amongst foreign people and not to destroy them, not to conquer them, but to truly learn how to, how do we belong to the one God here in Babylon and then came back to Israel, that they're not going to have as much of an issue

with idolatry. Yes, the Greeks are going to to have as much of an issue with idolatry. Yes, the Greeks are going to come in and try to force them into idolatry and try to force them to become Greek or Hellenistic. That's kind of a part of this when we get to Maccabees and all that, but they're not really going to give into it, at least not as a people. I mean, there's individuals who will, but not as a people like they've done in the past. And yet here, even in Egypt, what happens is Jeremiah points out that you're offering libations, you're offering incense, you're offering sacrifice to this goddess called the Queen of Heaven. Now, who is this Queen of Heaven? This is kind of important for us for a

couple of reasons. One is we need to know who is it that the Jews in Egypt are worshiping? Well, it refers to the goddess Ishtar or Astarte or Ashtoreth. First Kings talks about Ashtoreth, basically a goddess of fertility. And that's important to know. Okay, so Ishtar is a connection with Astarte. It's the same kind of thing. Goddess of fertility, that's what they're doing. And now they're saying that, yeah, ever since we stopped doing this,

we've been in really bad shape. And Jeremiah is saying, no, no, no. You turned away from the living God. That's why you're really bad shape. And Jeremiah is saying, no, no, no, you turned away from the living God. That's why you're in bad shape. Not because you stopped worshiping the queen of heaven, not because you stopped worshiping Ishtar or Astarte, Astareth. And so this is just, it's backwards, right? They believe that, well, we need to have this superstition in order to be secure again. And Jeremiah basically makes it very, very clear that is not what's making you secure. Now, one of the reasons I need to want to highlight the term Queen of Heaven is because

Catholics will refer to Mary as the Queen of Heaven. We refer to her as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. In fact, the fifth glorious mystery of the Rosary is the coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth. And so people are saying, some people will say that, why would you use this term? And they would even actually not just question. The questioning of that is great. We love questions. But accusing and saying that's one of the reasons why we would say the Roman Catholic Church is a cult that's not even biblical.

Because look at, we have Jeremiah chapter 44, where it describes the queen of heaven as this goddess that's clearly against the Lord God. Why would you claim that Mary is the queen of heaven that proves that the Catholic church is, you know, a false cult kind of a situation? Well, just because we use some similar words as are used at other times in the Bible or in the history of Judaism or in history of Christianity doesn't mean we're using them in the same way. Obviously, we do not consider Mary to be a goddess. Mary is simply human. At the same time, Revelation chapter 12, there's two things, right? We talked about this before

when we were reading through Kings and how in the kingdom of Israel, the king had many wives. So who was the queen? Which of the wives was going to be the queen of the kingdom? And we realized, we recognized that none of them were because the king had many wives. He only had one mom. And so the mom of the king was the queen. She was the Gebirah. She was the queen mother. So here is Jesus, who is the king of heaven and earth. Here's Jesus, whose kingdom is not of this world, but is true. So his mom would be the queen. So if Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth and Mary's the queen mother, then there'd be this connection, right? Queen of heaven and earth. Now, not only is that logical, not only does that flow from the New Testament revelation we have about Jesus and

him fulfilling the kingdom promised to Abraham all the way back in the beginning of this whole story, but also in Revelation chapter 12, we have this woman that John looks into heaven and he sees a heavenly woman crowned with stars. And that sense of like, here's a woman wearing a crown. What did she do? She wailed aloud as she gave birth and she gave birth to essentially to the Holy One who would destroy the kingdom of Satan on the earth. And so that is Jesus. And the one giving birth to him is his mom crowned with stars. So when we say that Mary's queen of heaven, again, we're not saying in any way, shape or form, there's any connection whatsoever to Jeremiah chapter 44 with this false goddess, because Mary's not a goddess.

She is simply human that God did something incredible with just like Judith in the story today, which is remarkable. And our conclusion of our story where, what does she do? She gets praised so much and she's exalted. She's lifted up and she has this prayer where she says, you know what? I will sing to my God, a new song. Lord, you are great and glorious. You're wonderful in strength. You are invincible. Let all your creatures serve you for you spoke and they were made. And this is one of my favorite lines. You sent forth your spirit and it formed them. There is none that can resist your voice. For the mountains shall be shaken to their foundations with the waters at your presence. The rocks shall melt like wax.

But to those who fear you, you will continue to show mercy. Oh, gosh, so good. And so here is, you know, Judith being praised, Judith being exalted, and she directs all that praise and all that honor to the Lord. And so that's what all of us who are following the Lord, including Mary, Judith being exalted, and she directs all that praise and all that honor to the Lord. And so that's what all of us who are following the Lord, including Mary, the mother of God, Mary, the queen of heaven and earth, all of the glory and honor we give to any of God's children, including Judith, including ourselves, including Mary, it all goes, all goes to the father.

It all goes to the son. It all goes to the Holy Spirit. Whenever we praise God's children, what we're doing is we're praising what he has done in them and through them. So Judith gets praised and she directs it to God. Mary gets praised and she directs it to God. When you and I get praised, we direct it to God because he is the Holy One. Gosh, and what a gift that we get to be his sons and daughters. And so I'm praying for you. Please pray for me that we can always, always, when we receive praise, that we can direct it to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

When we receive blame or when we receive criticism, that we can find consolation in the heart of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.