The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 257: Choose to Love (2023)

Episode Date: September 14, 2023

Fr. Mike finishes the book of Jeremiah and highlights the final moment of hope at the conclusion. We also read the book of Obadiah and Fr. Mike challenges us to see who the Lord is asking us to choose to love, noting that it might may be someone who is closer to us than we think. Today’s readings are Jeremiah 52, Obadiah 1, and Proverbs 18:13-16. 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 257. We're reading from two chapters today, the conclusion of the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 52. We're also reading the entire book of the prophet Obadiah. It's only one chapter. In fact, it's the only one chapter long book in the Old Testament,

and we're reading it today. So maybe kind of a shorter day. Who knows? We're also reading Proverbs chapter 18, verses 13 through 16. 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 in your podcast app and receive daily episodes and daily updates and all the daily, daily things. It is day 257. We're reading the conclusion of Jeremiah chapter 52, Obadiah and Proverbs 18 verses 13 through 16. The book of the prophet Jeremiah chapter 52, Zedekiah is captured.

Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. Surely because of the anger of the Lord, things came to such a pass in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came with all his army against

Jerusalem, and they laid siege to it and built siege works against it round about. So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls by the king's garden, while the Chaldeans were round about the city. And they went in the direction of the Ereba. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at

Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence upon him. The king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also slew all the princes of Judah at Riblah. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon and put him in prison till the day of his death. Jerusalem is plundered and burned. In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuchadrezzar, the captain of the bodyguard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, every great house he

burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls round about Jerusalem. And Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, carried away captive some of the poorest of the people and the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the artisans. But Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, left some with the rest of the artisans. But Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen. And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands, and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all the bronze to

Babylon. And they took away the pots and the shovels, and the snuffers and the basins,ins and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service. Also the small bowls and the firepans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the dishes for incense and the bowls for libation. took away as gold, and what was of silver as silver. As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bowls which were under the sea, and the stands which Solomon the king had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these things was beyond weight. As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. Upon it was a capital of bronze. The height of the one capital was five cubits. A network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were upon the capital round about. And the second pillar had the like with pomegranates. There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. All the pomegranates were a hundred upon the

network round about. And the captain of the guard took Saria the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold, and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and seven men of the king's council who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. And Nebuchadnezzar the captain of the guard took them, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. And Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried captive out of its land.

The Captives Taken to Babylon This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive. In the seventh year, 3,023 Jews. In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons. In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuchadrezzar, the captain of the guard, carried away captive of the Jews 745 persons. All the persons were 4,600. Jehoiakim favored in captivity. And in the 37th year of the captivity of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, in the 12th month, on the 25th day of the month, Evel Merodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, lifted up the head of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and brought him out of prison.

And he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiakim put off his prison garments, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table. As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king according to his daily need until the day of his death, as long as he lived. The Book of Obadiah Edom will be brought low, and Israel triumph. The Vision of Obadiah Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom, We have heard tidings from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations. Rise up, let us rise against her for battle. Behold, I will make you small among the

nations, you shall be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, whose dwelling is high, who say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground? Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. If thieves came to you, if plunderers by night, how you have been destroyed! Would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures sought out.

All your allies have deceived you. They have driven you to the border. Your confederates have prevailed against you. Your trusted friends have set up a trap under you. There is no understanding of it. Will I not on that day, says the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom and understanding out of Mount Esau? And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Timon, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter. For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you,

and you shall be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. But you should not have gloated over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune. You should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin. You should not have boasted in the day of distress. You should not have entered the gate of my people in the day of his calamity. You should not have gloated over his people in the day of his calamity. You should not have gloated over his disaster in the day of his calamity.

You should not have looted his goods in the day of his calamity. You should not have stood at the parting of the ways to cut off his fugitives. You should not have delivered up his survivors in the day of distress. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you. Your deeds shall return on your own head. For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, all the nations round about shall drink. They shall drink and stagger and shall be as though they had not been. But in Mount Zion, there shall be those that escape and it shall be holy. And the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. The house of Jacob shall be those that escape and it shall be holy and the house of Jacob shall possess

their own possessions the house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau stubble they shall burn them and consume them and there shall be no survivor to the house of Esau for the Lord has spoken those of the Negev shall possess Mount Esau, for the Lord has spoken. Those of the Negev shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah, the land of the Philistines. They shall possess the land of Ephraim, and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. The exiles in Hala, who are of the people of Israel, shall possess Phoenicia as far as Zarephath. And the exiles of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the Negev. Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.

The book of Proverbs chapter 18 verses 13 through 16. If one gives answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. A man's spirit will endure sickness, but a broken spirit, who can bear? An intelligent mind acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men. Father in heaven, we give you praise. We thank you so much. Gosh, Lord God, thank you for bringing us to this day. We thank you for the gift of your love that is so easy to take for granted. Thank you for the gift of knowing your identity and knowing that you are our father

and that what breaks our hearts breaks your heart. And what you've made us for is more than we could ever possibly imagine, dream of, or hope for. So help us, Lord, help us to choose what you've made us for. Help us to be the kind of people that you created and redeemed us to be. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. So as I mentioned, gosh, Jeremiah chapter 52, we made it to the end again. Well done. Congratulations. You crushed it.

You did well. And this last piece of Jeremiah almost goes back to story, right? Where it goes back to narrative. We, we've heard a bunch of words of condemnation against Babylon and against the other nations against the Ammonites and the Philistines and whatnot. And here in chapter 52, we have the end story. Now, what you may have noticed is Nebuchadnezzar's name kind of changed. They used the name Nebuchadrezzar.

It's the same guy. It's the same king. But his name is Nebuchadnezzar in some places and Nebuchadrezzar in other places. I also was reminded that I probably should say before the end of the book of the prophet Jeremiah, some people have said, hey, father, what's going on? You have not yet once. You've been talking about the book of the prophet Jeremiah, and there has not been one reference to bullfrogs.

And I realized that. And that's the reference. There we are. Back to our actually word of God. We have Zedekiah capture, right? This is the conclusion of this, the whole siege of Jerusalem and the final people who are being carted off to Babylon. And two things to kind of note, well, there's a number of things to note, but I'm just going

to note two things, three things. One is Zedekiah running away, realized that here are the people of the city of Jerusalem who have been besieged for so long and there is no food. Every one of them has been suffering, including Zedekiah. Obviously the king is suffering as well, but they don't get a chance to run away. Zedekiah runs away. And in this, he reveals his character.

I mean, a lot of us probably would be, if we had the chance to run, we would run. But remember, Zedekiah had the opportunity to not make himself an enemy of Nebuchadnezzar. He had an opportunity to listen to Jeremiah and to essentially surrender. And what would have happened then? Well, what would have happened is probably to him what happened to Jehoiakim, where he was arrested.

He was put in prison, but his whole family wasn't destroyed. But since Zedekiah not only rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, but he also ran. You have that sense of, hmm, some kind of insight into his character that we realize there's a time to stand and fight. There's a time to surrender. And it seems like Zedekiah never knew when he was supposed to do what he was supposed to do. Of course, tragic end, him seeing his sons being killed in front of his own eyes and

then those same eyes being plucked out. We also have the story of Jerusalem being plundered. And now this is going to be incredibly important when we get after the messianic checkpoint work that's coming up tomorrow. We're going to have the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. We're going to be hearing about here's the exiles and their return to Jerusalem. Now it's really important for us to understand that here's Nebuchadnezzar who burns down the house of God. He burns down the temple of the Lord and also all of the other great houses. And then also he goes out and breaks down all the walls of Jerusalem. This is going to be really, really important because when the exiles come back in 70 years or so, what they're going to need to do is they're going to need to rebuild the walls. Then there's going to be some drama

about that. They're going to need to rebuild houses and they're also going to need to rebuild the walls. Then there's going to be some drama about that. They're going to need to rebuild houses and they're also going to need to rebuild the house of the Lord. And they're going to struggle with all of these rebuilding projects. It's going to be a real thing. And also remember, this was the temple of Solomon, massive bronze, massive silver, massive gold. A lot of it gets carted off and taken to Babylon. Now, some of it's going to make its way back, which is great. But this incredible, impressive temple is going to be reduced to rubble now. And when it gets rebuilt, it will be a shadow of its former self. Just keep that in mind as we march forward in the return and the Maccabean revolt. Last note, all the captives being taken to Babylon, there's one captive who is Jehoiakim, king of Judah. So remember the line of David

is still alive. So a lot of the princes of Judah are slain, of course, but Jehoiakim, the king of Judah was alive. Now what happens is one of the successors of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar really as well, Evel Merodach, he, after 30, this is incredible, after 37 years of being in prison, he hears about Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and he sets him free. He takes him out of prison and gives him a place at his own table. Basically, you can eat in the king's cafeteria, this kind of a situation. And he's blessed until the day he dies. He's given an allowance for his daily need. He's given a certain degree of freedom, even though he's in exile, but he's given a certain degree of freedom. And there's something in this, this last note of hope in the book of the prophet Jeremiah,

where even in exile, after 37 years of captivity, think about this. This is someone's lifetime. If you live to be 40 years old, that's how long Jehoiakim was imprisoned. That's how long he was there suffering for his own crimes, suffering for the crimes of the people. And then he was lifted out of that place of prison, that place of captivity. And we see in this a certain justice. We see a certain justice when it comes to Joachim, who's not a good person. You know, he did not, in some ways he had to pay for his crimes, right? And we recognize that when that payment is over, he's restored. Now, for all of us as Christians, we recognize that we don't pay for the eternal

price of our crimes or our sins, that Jesus is the only one who could ever possibly do that. And he has done that. And yet there are consequences in all of our lives to our decisions. And so we just come before the Lord and realize, okay, God, I can be in prison and you still love me. I can not be at the king's table and you still love me. I can be in this place where I am experiencing the consequences of my actions, the consequences of my choices. And that doesn't mean that you've abandoned me because here is Joachim after 37 years, the Lord God through the ministry, the kingdom, essentially of evil Merodach, he's lifted out of prison and he's given a place at the king's table.

Just something about that that just kind of resonates. I just, I want to take that to prayer more and see, ask the Lord, what is that, God? What is it that you're telling us about us in the story of Jehoiakim? Now, last thing, Obadiah. As I mentioned before, Obadiah is the one chapter of the Old Testament that's only one chapter long.

Now, who is Obadiah talking to when he's talking to the Edomites? Well, it goes all the way back to Genesis. And this is just remarkable because you know this story. You know the story of the sons of Isaac. The sons of Isaac were twin boys, right? They were Jacob and Esau. And we know the story of how Jacob tricked his... Well, actually, first he convinced Esau

to trade his birthright for a bit of porridge, right? That's some red stuff. And then later on, he tricked their father Isaac out of the blessing. And so even though Jacob and Esau reconciled, and Jacob later on, his name was changed to Israel, even though Jacob slash Israel and Esau reconciled personally the people of Israel. And the people of Esau, known as the Edomites, they had some sibling rivalry, we'll say, where, yeah, God still wanted to bless the Edomites. And yet, just like the Israelites, just like all of us, just like the Israelites, the Edomites turned away from faithfulness to the Lord.

And even though, again, they're grandchildren of Abraham, just like the Israelites are grandchildren of Abraham. And yet one of the things that happens in the book of the prophet Obadiah is he points out the fact that when the Israelites, when their cousins essentially, right, were under attack, the Edomites did nothing. That when the Babylonians destroyed Judah

and destroyed, and the Assyrians destroyed Israel, the Edomites rejoiced. They were not in distress. They did not mourn or even come to the aid of their brothers in Judah. And so because of this, God says through Obadiah, because you have not come to the aid of your brothers, the people, my own people, your brothers and sisters, because you have not come to the aid of your brothers, the people, my own people, your brothers and sisters, then because of that, you're going to be destroyed yourselves. The thing that really strikes me about this is not just the historical reality of the people of Edom who were destroyed by the Babylonians, but really is the way in which how easy it is for families to just drift apart. That yeah, maybe Jacob and Esau reconciled personally,

and that's beautiful, that's powerful, that's incredible. But almost always it takes what? It takes a deeper kind of healing and takes a deeper intentionality for family to stay family. It's just easier to drift apart. And maybe that's fine in some cases. Maybe that's just what happens in some cases. But also maybe that's fine in some cases. Maybe that's just what happens in some cases. But also, maybe that's not what should happen. Maybe what should happen is we say,

no, we're family, so we're going to choose to love each other. Well, Edom and Israel did not. And it came with a price. And so I don't know. I know this. I know it's so easy to say that. So easy to say that we got to choose to love each other as family. And it's so difficult to actually do that. And so we get to, I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just noting that these are some things that I have to do. I'm challenged to choose to love. And I think maybe all of us are challenged to choose to love.

Who is it in your life today that you are being challenged by the Lord God to choose to love? Most likely, they're closer than we think. So we need God's grace. In order to love, we have to receive his love first. And so I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. Messianic Checkpoint. God bless.