The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 53: The Twelve Tribes of Israel (2025)

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

Fr. Mike talks about the twelve tribes of Israel and explains why the book of Numbers introduces them based on the number of decedents they each had. Today we read Numbers 2, Deuteronomy 2, and Psalm 85. 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 53 and we are continuing along with our journey into Numbers and Deuteronomy. As I mentioned yesterday, one of the things that happens at the very beginning of Numbers is kind of a lot of numbers and a lot of details. We're gonna pick up the narrative in a couple days, but in the meantime,

Deuteronomy has Moses giving us the narrative. He's giving us that kind of big overview of the journey of the people of Israel through the wilderness and he's gonna do it in basically, I don't know, like one verse. Actually he will do it in a couple different chapters, but there is even one of the verses in chapter 2 of Deuteronomy where Moses just basically says, and we were there for 38 years, and it was kind of like, oh, and it was over just like that. So what we have is in Numbers, we're having the setup.

We have the scene, we have all the tribes of Israel, right? There's the 12 tribes of Israel. They're gathered around the tabernacle. That's what we're looking at for Numbers. And then in Deuteronomy, it is the story of Numbers, but just kind of retold because Deuteronomy is the end of the wilderness journeys and it begins with Moses. Well it is Moses basically summing up here was our journey and here is the law that the Lord is calling you to live. So that's what we're reading

today again Numbers chapter 1, Deuteronomy chapter 2 and then we're praying Psalm 85. As always the Bible translation that I'm using is the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to be able to follow along and see where we're going, you can download your Bible in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to the podcast app, once again, reading from Numbers chapter two, Deuteronomy chapter two, and Psalm 85. Numbers chapter two, order of encampment and marching. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

the sons of Israel shall encamp each by his own standard with the ensigns of their father's houses. They shall encamp facing the tent of meeting on every side. Those to encamp on the east side toward the, shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah by their companies. The leader of the people of Judah being Nashon, the son of Aminadab, his host as numbered, being 74,600. Those to encamp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar. The leader of the people of Issachar, being Nethanal, the son of Zuwar, his host being numbered 54,400. Then the tribe of Zebulun, the leader of the people of Zebulun, being Eliab, the son of Helon, his

host as numbered being 57,400. The whole number of the camp of Judah by their companies is a hundred and eighty six thousand four hundred They shall set out first on the march On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben by their companies the leader of the people of Reuben being Elazur the son of Shediur his host as numbered being forty six thousand five hundred and his host as numbered being 46,500. And those to encamp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, the leader of the people of Simeon being Shlumiel, the son of Zerushadai, his host as numbered being 59,300.

Then the tribe of Gad, the leader of the people of Gad being Elisaph, the son of Reul, his host as numbered being 45,650. The whole number of the camp of Reuben by their companies is 151,450. They shall set out second. Then the tent of meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps. As they encamp, so shall they set out, each in position, standard by standard. On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim by their companies, the leader of the people of Ephraim being Elishama, the son of Amihud, his host as numbered being 40,500.

And next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh, the leader of the people of Manasseh being Gamaliel, the son of Ptejour, his host as numbered being 32,200. tribe of Manasseh, the leader of the people of Manasseh being Gamaliel, the son of Ptejuur, his host as numbered being 32,200. Then the tribe of Benjamin, the leader of the people of Benjamin, being Abedan, the son of Gideonai, his host as numbered being 35,400. The whole number of the camp of Ephraim by their companies is 108,100. They shall set out third on the march. On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan by their companies, the leader of the people of Dan being Ahiazar, the son of Amishadai, his host as numbered being 62,700. And those to

encamp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, the leader of the people of Asher being Pagel, the son of Okran, his host as numbered being 41,500, then the tribe of Naphtali, the leader of the people of Naphtali being Ahira, the son of Enan, his host as numbered being 53,400. The whole number of the camp of Dan is 157,600. They shall set out last, standard by standard. These are the sons of Israel, as numbered by their fathers' houses, all in the camps who were numbered by their companies, were

603,550. But the Levites were not numbered among the sons of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses. Thus did the sons of Israel. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they encamped by their standards, and so they set out, every one in his family, according to his father's house. The Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter. The years in the wilderness. Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea as the Lord told me and for many days we went about Mount Sair. Then the Lord said to me, You have been going about this mountain country long enough, turn northward and

command the people. You are about to pass through the territory of your brother and the sons of Esau who lived in Seir and they will be afraid of you so take good heed and do not contend with them for I will not give you any of their land no not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession you shall purchase food from them for money that you made and you You shall purchase food from them for money that you may eat, and you shall also buy water of them for money that you may drink. For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows you're going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing."

So we went on, away from our brethren, the sons of Esau who lived in Seir, away from the Arabah road to Eleth and Ezion Geber. And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. And the Lord said to me, Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given R to the sons of Lot for a possession. The Amim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim, they are also known as Rifayim, but the Moabites called them Imim. The Horites also lived in Sair formerly, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and settled in their stead as Israel did to the land of their possession which the Lord gave to them. Now rise up and go over to the brook Zered.

So we went over to the brook Zered. And the time from our leaving Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them to destroy them from the camp until they had perished. So when all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people the Lord said to me, This day you are to pass over the boundary of Moab at Ar. And when you approach the frontier of the sons of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons

of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession. That also is known as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim formerly lived there, but the Ammonites called them Zamzumim, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them, and settled in their stead, as He did for the sons of Esau, who lived in Sair, when He destroyed the Horites before them, and they dispossessed them, and settled in their stead even to this day. As for the Avim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Kaftarim, who who came from Kaftor destroyed them and settled in their stead Rise up take your journey and go over the valley of Arnon Behold I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite king of Heshbon and his land

Begin to take possession and contend with him in battle This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples that are under the whole heavens, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you." The Defeat of Sion, the King of Heshbon. So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemath to Sion the King of Heshbon, with words of peace saying, Let me pass through your land, and I will go only by the road. I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left. You shall sell me food for money that I may eat, and give me water for money that I may drink.

Only let me pass through on foot, as the sons of Esau who lived in Seir and the Moabites who lived in Ar did for me, until I go over the Jordan into the land which the Lord our God gives us. But Sion the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand as at this day. And the Lord said to me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you.

Begin to take possession that you may occupy his land. Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. And the Lord our God gave him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and all his people, and we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed every city, men, women, and children. We left none remaining, only the cattle we took as spoil for ourselves with the booty of the cities which we captured. From Arwer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and from the city that is in the

valley as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. The Lord our God gave all into our hands. Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near that is to all the banks of the river Jebak and The cities of the hill country and wherever the Lord our God forbade us The book of Psalms Psalm 85 prayer for the restoration of God's favor to the choir master a psalm of the sons of Korah of God's favor to the Choir Master a Psalm of the sons of Korah Lord you were favorable to your land you brought back the captives of Jacob you forgave the iniquity of your people you pardoned all their sin You withdrew all your wrath you turned from your hot anger

Restore us again. Oh God of our salvation and put away your indignation toward us Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your merciful love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. Let me hear what the Lord God will speak, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints, to those who turn to Him in their hearts.

Surely His salvation is at hand for those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and faithfulness will meet. Righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from heaven. Yes, the Lord will give what is good and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps away. Father in heaven, we thank you. We thank you for your word. We thank you for trusting us and entrusting your word to us, we thank you for sharing who you are, we thank you for sharing that you are

faithful to your promises, that you are faithful to your people and we thank you for giving us the opportunity today to come into contact with you through the power of your word proclaimed. And we thank you in the midst of confusion, we thank you in the midst of not being inspired, or we thank you in the midst of clarity and in the midst of being illuminated and inspired and moved forward by your grace and your spirit, because Lord God, whenever your word is proclaimed, whenever it's read or heard, we know that you are present and we know that you are telling us

something, you're revealing something of your heart to us and you're revealing something of our hearts to ourselves. So Lord God, where there is confusion, give us clarity and where there is dullness, give us inspiration. Where there is a lack of zeal, give us a great joy and a love for you this day and every day, Lord God. We ask this of you in the mighty name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

So here we have, as I said yesterday, there's good news and there's bad news. We have the book of Numbers, which at first glance could seem like, okay, so you're just organizing how you camp. And that's true, and also how they march. So as we noted before, the center of the camp

is the Tabernacle, right? The presence of God. And right around them, right around that, where the presence of God are the Levites. And that then to the east, to the west, to the north, and to the south are the twelve tribes of Israel. And we got the numbering of them, but also it's important to know not just the numbering of them, but to know the order. You might have noticed this, and we talked about this back in the book of Genesis, that the first of the tribes was Judah. In

fact, you might have even recognized the name of the leader of the tribes was Judah. In fact, you might have even recognized the name of the leader of the tribe of Judah. He was Nashon, the son of Aminadab. And you're like, how would I recognize that name? Well, you'd recognize that name if you knew Matthew's gospel. The opening of Matthew's gospel, Matthew gives a genealogy, and the genealogy is from Abraham all the way down to Joseph, all the way down to Jesus essentially. And we go through a list of names of the tribe of Judah because here's Jesus who comes from the tribe of Judah.

And so that first tribe, remember Judah was the fourth of Israel's sons, he wasn't the first son. And yet he was selected as the one who would receive, essentially, yeah, that birthright blessing, that the blessing to the whole world would come through the tribe of Judah. But it's interesting to note, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but you note that Judah was first on the east next to the Tabernacle, but also Judah would be the first to march. They'd be the first to march whenever they would go up into battle, they'd be the first to march as they go out

into the wilderness. And there is that phrase, I remember Jeff Cavins teaching me this years ago, the phrase let Judah go up first. And so Judah goes up first. Well, Judah, the name Judah means praise. And that is so fitting for us. Here's God, God again in Numbers chapter 2 which we could just think okay bunch of names, bunch of numbers, bunch of

directions, north, south, east, west, doesn't really tell me a lot. Actually it tells us a ton. Not only does it tell us that God is a God of order, right, that that these are people that he's bringing together. Remember, remember they were formerly slaves and they don't have any order so So we have like the Levitical laws, when we have the laws of Deuteronomy, once again, being proclaimed by Moses as we go forward in these next couple of days, remember that God is making them into a people,

a people who have the strength to be free. It could be, because I mean, think about how difficult it would be to live your entire life for generations, generations of slaves. And then all of a sudden you have your freedom. And then all of a sudden you're in the wilderness. And then all of a sudden you're being reminded

of who you are as a people. So it's so important here that the tribes of Israel are being divided up into their families, right? Into the families of Israel. And what that does is it reminds them oh this is my identity not only am I one of the tribes of Israel I'm this tribe of Israel and not only is it this kind of generic tribe or generic family but it's not it's this specific family under this specific head of the family

and there's something so powerful about knowing your identity here and so God is giving them order, he's giving them right their identity and again they're ordered all around the tabernacle. The presence of God is at the center of everything they are and everything that they do. Why? Because they were formerly slaves and God is training them to be the kind of people who can live freely, people who can live live well, right? They can actually not abuse freedom, but will actually live in freedom. Now, obviously the story is a lot bumpier than that. They do not necessarily do this, but he is shaping them and forming them into the kind of people that can be free. So that's the order of the camp.

And Judah goes up first, right? Praise goes up first. And that's a lesson for all of us when it comes to how we begin our day. It's so important for us to at least take a moment to praise God and to let praise go up first. And even to praise his faithfulness. So in the book of Deuteronomy today, in Deuteronomy chapter two, we have a number of times where here is Moses, again,

he's recapping their journey and they go through the land of the Edomites, right? And they say, he says, don't attack them. Why? Because Edomites are the descendants of Esau. Remember Esau is the brother of, twin brother of Jacob, aka Israel. And so no, they're your family. So you're not going to attack them and you're going to do well peacefully with them and they're going to sell you food and water and you're going to buy it. And you're going to, and you're going to like it. Um, and then we're going to go into the land of Ammon and that is the land of lot, right?

Lot, the nephew of Abraham is you're not going to attack them either because, because they're your family, they're distant family, but but still not only are they your family But I gave them this land I gave Esau in his descendants the Edomites this land I gave Lot and his descendants the Ammonites this land and so I am faithful and I'm gonna give you your land too But it's not this land and that's's again, so, so vitally important for all of us to understand this depth of we can praise God for his faithfulness. And then Moses recounts the battle

that is there in Numbers chapter 21, we'll get to that in roughly 18 or 19 days from now, but against Sihon, the king of the Amorites. And again, one of the things that can bother us, we could say, this is so great. Here is the people of Israel being led past the Edomites. Nope, no wars. That's awesome, that's so good.

And there's peace in led past the Ammonites and the descendants of Lot, and that's good. And there's peace. But then we're going to encounter battles. We're going to encounter violence. And that can really disturb us because we're not necessarily accustomed to associating violence with

God. I mean, that's one of the things that we are typically not accustomed with and at the same time we have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and there are ways to understand this. But the first thing I have to do is say, okay, I'm going to be comfortable with being uncomfortable if I am not really comfortable with the notion, with the idea, with the reality that as the people of Israel came into possession of the promised land, they had to fight for it. And if I'm not comfortable with that, I just, I invite you to hang on still,

hang on still, because there is an explanation. It's not to explain it away, but it is to understand more deeply. What is it that God is doing in the midst of a violent world? God does not desire violence for its own sake at all. It doesn't desire death. In fact, in the book of wisdom, he says God does not desire violence for its own sake at all. He doesn't desire death. In fact, in the book of Wisdom, he says God does not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. So we know that the heart of God is not one that rejoices in violence at all, at all, and doesn't rejoice in death at all, at all. But we live in a broken world and in a violent world. We live in a world where that is what we do to each other.

There is depth of explanation about this. And my invitation for all of us is to hold on, hold on because there is an explanation coming. But also there is a lot of violence coming too. And that's part of our story. It's kind of like when we have a family and we'd say, you know, we have great times. We also have some big fights.

We have some really great, you know, heroes in our family. We also have some kind of some scoundrels in our family. We have some great moments of glory in our families and we have some great moments of shame in our families. And this is the family of God. the family of God is very very similar so as I said please hang on because it all is gonna make sense I promise it is all gonna make sense in the meantime let Judah go up first in the meantime let praise go up first in the meantime we situate our lives like the Israelites

situated their tents and their families and their tribes around the tabernacle. We center God in the midst of our lives and when he's in the midst of our lives and praise goes up first then there's nothing that can stop us because he's at the center and we're on his side. Keep praying for each other. You guys, it's day 53 and we're moving along, but it sometimes can get easy to get bogged down, easy to get distracted, easy to get off track. So let's stay on track and let's give God

the praise that is due today. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.