The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 270: God's Favor with Ezra (2023)

Episode Date: September 27, 2023

Fr. Mike explains how God’s favor was with Ezra because he set his heart to study God's laws, to obey his laws, and to teach his laws to others. We also learn about hypocritical fasting, and how our sacrifices should remind us that everything ultimately belongs to God at all times. Today's readings are Ezra 7-8, Zechariah 7-8, and Proverbs 20:12-15. 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 270. We're reading today from Ezra chapters 7 and 8, Zechariah chapter 7

and 8, as well as Proverbs chapter 20 verses 12 through 15. As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I am 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 and daily updates and all the things every day. It's day 270. We're reading Ezra 7 and 8. Also, did I ever mention this?

Ezra and Nehemiah, Nehemiah is the book we're going to start the day after tomorrow, is actually the same scroll. So it's the same story. It's kind of part one and part two. It was originally, as I said, written on the same scroll and somewhere in the Middle Ages. It was divided up into two different books. And so just FYI. So when we hit the end of Ezra and begin the beginning of Nehemiah, I don't want you to think that Nehemiah

is better than Ezra. It's the same book. So there we go. I got to say it and got to work it in better than Ezra. Okay. As I said, it's day 270. We're reading Ezra 7 and 8, Zechariah, the prophet 7 and 8, as well as Proverbs chapter 20 verses 12 through 15. 7 and 8, as well as Proverbs chapter 20, verses 12 through 15. The book of Ezra chapter 7. The arrival and work of Ezra. Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra, the son of Saraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shalom, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Marrioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Marioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzi, son of Buki, son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the chief priest, this Ezra, went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel had given

and the king granted him all that he asked for, for the hand of the Lord, his God was upon him. And there went up also to Jerusalem in the seventh seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the sons of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth montherxes to Ezra. This is a copy of the letter which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel. Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven. And now I make a decree that anyone of the sons of

Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom who freely offers to go to Jerusalem may go with you. For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your hand, and also to convey the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem. With all the silver and gold, which you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia,

and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem. With this money then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their cereal offerings and their drink offerings, and you shall offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. Whatever seems good to you and your brethren to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do according to the will of your God. The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which you have occasion to provide, you may provide it out of the king's

treasury. And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province beyond the river. Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requires of you, be it done with all diligence, up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cores of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons. We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll upon any one of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other

servants of this house of God. And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province beyond the river. All such as know the laws of your God and those who do not know them you shall teach. Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed upon him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment. Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, and who extended to me his merciful love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered leading men

from Israel to go up with me. Chapter 8. Heads of Families Who Returned with Ezra These are the heads of their fathers' houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia in the reign of Artaxerxes the king. Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush, of the sons of Shekiniah. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush, of the sons of Shekiniah. Of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, with whom were registered one hundred and fifty men. Of the sons of Hath-Moab, Eli-cho-anai, the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred men. Of the sons of Zatu, Shekiniah, the son of Jehaziel, and with him three hundred men. Of the sons of Adin, Ebed, the son of Jonathan,

and with him fifty men. Of the sons of Elam, Jeshiah, the son of Ataliah, and with him seventy men. Of the sons of Shephetiah, Zebediah, the son of Michael, and with him eighty men. Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah, the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen men. Of the sons of Bani, Shalemith the son of Josaphia, and with him a hundred and sixty men. Of the sons of Abai, Zechariah the son of Abai, and with him twenty-eight men. Of the sons of Asgad, Johanan the son of Hakatan, and with him a hundred and ten men. Of the sons of Adonikam who came later, their names being Eliphelet, Jewel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty men. Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai, and Zechor, and with them seventy men. Ministers for the Temple

I gathered them to the river that runs to Ahava, and there we encamped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there none of the sons of Levi. Then I sent for Eleazar, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Mushalam, leading men, and for Joyarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight, and sent them to Edo, the leading man, at the place of Cassaphia, telling them what to say to Edo and his brethren, the temple servants at the place of Cassaphia, telling them what to say to Edo and his brethren, the temple servants, at the place of Cassaphia, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God. And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of discretion of the sons

of Mali, the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely, Shirabiah, with his sons and kinsmen, eighteen, also Hashabiah, and with him Jeshiah of the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, twenty. Besides, two hundred and twenty of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all mentioned by name. Fasting and Prayer for Protection Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against

the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, the hand of our God is for good upon all that seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all that forsake him. So we fasted, and besought our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. Gifts for the Temple Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, Shurabiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels,

the offering for the house of our God, which the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered. I weighed out into their hand 650 talents of silver and silver vessels worth a hundred talents and a hundred talents of gold, 20 bowls of gold worth a thousand derricks and two vessels of fine, bright bronze, as precious as gold. And I said to them, you are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. Guard them, and keep them

until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of the Lord. So the priests and the Levites took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God. The Return to Jerusalem Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go up to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed into the hands of Merimoth

the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, Josabath the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Benui. The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded. At that time, those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering, twelve he-goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord.

They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps and to the governors of the province beyond the river, and they aided the people and the house of God. The Book of Zechariah, Chapter 7. Hypocritical Fasting Condemned. In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev. Now the people of Bethel had sent Sherazar and Regimelech and their men to entreat the favor of the Lord and to ask the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, should I mourn and fast in the fifth month as I have done for so many years? Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, say to all the people of the land and the priests, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth month

and in the seventh for these 70 years, was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? When Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity with her cities round about her and the south and the lowland were inhabited, were not these the words which the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets?

Punishment for rejecting God's commands. And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy each to his brother. Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts like adamant, lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear, says the Lord of

hosts. And I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went back and forth, and the pleasant land was made desolate. Chapter 8. God's Promise to Zion. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. Thus says the Lord, I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city and the mountain of the Lord. I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Thus says the Lord of hosts, if it is marvelous in the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Thus says the Lord of hosts, If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in my sight, says the Lord of hosts. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country,

and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in faithfulness and in righteousness. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Let your hands be strong. You who in these days have been hearing these words from the mouth of the prophets since the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for beast, neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in. For I set every man against his fellow. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, says the Lord of hosts. For there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall yield its fruit, and the ground shall

give its increase, and the heavens shall give their due. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, And you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong. For thus says the Lord of hosts, as I planned to do evil to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts.

So again, I have planned in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear not. These are the things that you shall do. Speak the truth to one another. Render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace. Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. And love no false oath, for all these things I hate, says the Lord. Joyful fasting. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, the fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the 10th shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore

love truth and peace. Many peoples will be drawn to Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts I am going. Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts,

In those days, ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. The book of Proverbs chapter 20 verses 12 through 15. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both. Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread. It is bad, it is bad, says the buyer. But when he goes away, then he boasts.

There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. Father in heaven, we give you praise. Thank you so much, God. You are good and you love us. And gosh, how easy is it for us, God, to be numb to your love. You love us so well. You love us so consistently. You love us faithfully. And how easy is it for us to be numb to your love. You love us so well. You love us so consistently. You love us faithfully. And how easy is it for us to be indifferent to your love? Lord, help us to seek your love, to be aware of it, to be conscious of it, to notice it, to receive it this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, so Ezra, kind of important for us to note that there are roughly 60 years between chapters 6 and chapter

7 of the book of Ezra. So kind of, you know, roughly 57 years, 60 years, give or take. And now we are introduced to the prophet Ezra, or sorry, to the scribe Ezra. He's not, well, I guess he's kind of a prophet too. You know, all these technical terms. He is a scribe. He's a priest. In fact, we get his pedigree and he comes from Aaron, right? He's in the line of, he's a son of Aaron, the chief priest. You know, when I say son of, I mean, we heard he is the Ezra, son of Saria, son of Azariah, all the way down to Eleazar, son of Aaron, the chief priest. So this Aaron, he goes up and this is part of this next wave, right? The next wave of people.

Remember there were three waves of departure from the Holy land to Babylon. Now there are three, three waves of return. That first wave was marked by Zerubbabel. Remember we heard of all about him for the last couple of days. This second wave is marked by Ezra. The third wave is going to be marked by Nehemiah or kind of the marker, the person there is that, but there's something so remarkable is that Ezra has incredible favor with King Artaxerxes, the King of Pers that. But there's something so remarkable is that Ezra has incredible favor with King Artaxerxes, the king of Persia. It is remarkable. I mean, we already heard some incredible stories about the decree of Darius and the decree of Cyrus earlier on about how here are these foreign emperors, these foreign kings, essentially, who are saying, yes, I will give you all of these things so you can go back home to the temple and worship God. And it's remarkable. And what happens is Ezra notes, all this happens because

the hand of the Lord was upon me. It's not because I was so great. It's not because I was super skilled. It was because God's favor was there. And it's worth noting whenever we have these blessings in our lives to be able to say God was present. And it's not just a coincidence. This is something that happened because God is good. So in verse 10 of chapter 7, there's this line. It says, for Ezra, you know, it says, why was God's hand upon him? It says, for Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel.

law of the Lord and to do it and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel. There'd be three things that Ezra had dedicated his life towards, and he had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, which is what you're doing. And this is really great here for the last 270 days you've been listening to and studying in many ways, right? Letting God's word form your mind, form our vision and penetrate our hearts. So he had set his heart to study the law of the Lord. That's first, number one, to study. Second, and to do it. It wasn't just this kind of antiseptic kind of laboratory. I'm studying this because it's good to know. He studied it in order to do it, in order for that to actually change his own life, to change his own heart. And that's remarkable.

And thirdly, it says to go on and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel. So these three things, Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, to do it and to teach it. And that is just, there's something really, really remarkable about this where I think it's worth noting. That's what we're doing. We're striving to understand the word of God so that we can live it.

And then whoever we teach it to, that might be to our children, it might be to the people around us, might be at a religious ed class, or in my case, to the students here on campus, or to all of us who are journeying through this Bible in here, it's just a remarkable gift.

So here, Artaxerxes has this letter, all these gifts. But one of the things that is really interesting, I thought was that in chapter eight, it says, Ezra speaking in the first person says, I proclaim to fast there at the river Ahava. Ahava means love, FYI in Hebrew. I proclaim to fast there that we might humble ourselves before our God and to seek from him a straight way for ourselves, our children and all our goods. And he says, why? Because, or for, I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us.

Since we had told the king, the hand of our God is for good upon all who seek him. And the power of his wrath is against all that forsake him. And so, and so basically he's like, we really talked up the fact that God has got our back. We don't need any extra help. And oh, we better ask God then. And I think there's something really good about this because we're going to contrast this a little bit with Nehemiah. In Nehemiah chapter two, Nehemiah sees that the king actually does give them an armed

escort from Babylon all the way back to Jerusalem, to Israel. And he sees that as, yeah, it's God's favor. Yeah, God is providing an armed escort through Nehemiah, or sorry, through the king for Nehemiah. And here is Ezra who's, you know, ah, I was ashamed to ask the king for an armed escort because I'd already talked up and bragged up our God who would protect us because we're seeking his face.

And there's something good about both of those things because it wasn't like Ezra said, I was too ashamed to ask the king for help, and therefore I just relied on myself. He's like, no, I was ashamed to ask the king for help, so I relied upon God. And that's not bad. That's not a bad thing. Nehemiah, for his part, saying, no, I rely upon God to give me what I asked the king for. And so both of those are completely legitimate ways to walk in the Lord. The one way to not walk in the Lord is to be ashamed to ask the king for help and also to not ask God for help. So in this case, both men, Ezra and later on Nehemiah, will have asked God for help. God

provided that safety for Ezra and God provided safety for Nehemiah and the persons of the guards and the armed escort the guards and the armed escort that he had given to him. So just kind of a unique thing. And they returned to Jerusalem and we got Ezra all the way and the other, the priest that he had to recruit to go back to the temple. And we're going to get the last couple of chapters of Ezra tomorrow. And Ezra is going to do something interesting tomorrow, but we'll get there then. Zechariah, the prophet Zechariah today, I want to just highlight a couple things. At the beginning of chapter seven, there's this thing

called hypocritical fasting. So the people, they're back in Israel, right? They're in the Holy Land. And they're basically saying to Zechariah, okay, so we've been fasting this whole time here in Judah, in the land of Jerusalem. We've been fasting on the fifth month and the seventh month. Can we keep that up? Is that done now that you're all coming back? All the exiles are returning. Are we done with fasting in the fifth month and seventh month? Now, it's interesting to note that God had only really declared one day of fasting,

the day of atonement in Jewish life. Now, there were four more days that were introduced because of the fall of Babylon and all the tragic things that had happened. But then these people, they picked up these two months, the fifth month, the seventh month of fasting, which is not a bad thing. I mean, obviously you think that, yeah, I'm going to commemorate these difficult times. I'm going to commemorate these difficult moments. That's a good thing to do. In fact, as Catholic Christians, we fast every single Friday. There's a degree of penance that we do every single Friday to commemorate and remember the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We also celebrate every single Sunday to commemorate his resurrection. And so there's something good about this. But what Zechariah points out is he says, okay, yeah, you fast and everything. That's fine. I mean, there's nothing wrong with this. But what happens is the rest of the time you eat and drink like your lives are your own. Yeah, you give kind of God a little, you know, little pittance, right? Little small, little, oh God, we'll do this for you here. But the rest of your lives, you treat like he's not part of them. You treat like your food is yours. Your drink is yours. Your lives are yours. Instead of saying, no, my food, my drink, everything I eat, everything I drink, everything I do is for him. And this is one of the things

that I want to highlight this because Zechariah is dialing in on something that is common to almost all of us. How many of us have made it a regular habit to say, yeah, I go to church on Sundays, but the rest of the week is mine. Or maybe I give that tithe, I give that 10th of my income or my salary, whatever to the Lord, but the rest of that is mine.

As opposed to saying, God, the entire week is yours. God, my entire paycheck is yours. God, all my life is yours. It's a way of what fasting is meant to do, what that prayer is meant to do. It's meant to get us to the core of us, I mean to say, where we realize that my entire life is God's. And so this little fasting I'm doing today, or this prayer I'm doing today, this offering I'm lifting up to the Lord right now is a sign of the fact that my entire life belongs to him.

And Zechariah points out to the Jews of the day, and he points out to us right now, that if we give God that fast, it's fine, it's good. But if we give him that fast, but then keep the rest of our lives as ours, then we're missing something. And God doesn't want us to miss that something. He wants us to become totally his. At the end of the book of Zechariah, or at least at the end of chapter 8 of Zechariah, there's this prophecy that I think is just beautiful. And that prophecy is what's going to happen in those days. Ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew and say, let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

And that sense of like, that's us. of the robe of a Jew and say, let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. And that sense of, that's us. This is us who are not born Jewish, who were born Gentiles, who were brought into the covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's us saying, let us go with you to the house of the Lord. As St. Paul will say, we've been grafted onto the tree. And I'm so grateful that God allows someone like us, who are not the Jewish people, not the people of God, to become his people through adoption by baptism. I'm so grateful. What a gift. You guys, I am praying for you.

Please, please pray for me. What a day. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. you