The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 64: Consequences of Sin (2024)

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

Fr. Mike explains why God would give the Israelites such drastic consequences for their sin, and how it reveals his divine plan and infinite mercy. Today's readings are Numbers 15, Deuteronomy 13-14, and Psalm 96. 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 64, and we are reading today from Numbers chapter 15, Deuteronomy chapters 13 and 14, and we are also praying Psalm 96 today. As always, the Bible translation that I'm using is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. And as always, I'm using the Great Adventure Bible

from Ascension. You can find that Bible wherever Bibles are sold. To download your Bible in a Year reading plan, to get the whole reading plan that we have for the 365 days that we are doing this, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year, and you can download that for free, and you can check off every single day. You would be checking off day 64 today. And if you have not yet subscribed in your podcast app, go into your podcast app, which you are currently using, click subscribe and you will be subscribed and life will be great and we can move on. Speaking of moving on, we are reading today from Numbers chapter 15, Deuteronomy 13 and

14, as well as praying Psalm 96. The book of Numbers chapter 15, various offerings. The Book of Numbers, Chapter 15, Various Offerings of freewill offering or at your appointed feasts to make a pleasing odor to the Lord, then he who brings his offering shall offer to the Lord a cereal offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil and wine for the drink offering. A fourth of a hin you shall prepare with the burnt offering or for the sacrifice for each lamb. Or for a ram you shall prepare for a cereal offering two tenthtenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil. And for the drink offering, you shall offer a third of a hin of wine, a pleasing odor to the Lord. And when you prepare a bull for a burnt offering, or for a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or for a peace offering to the Lord, then you

shall offer with the bull a cereal offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a half a hin of oil. And you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine as an offering by fire, a pleasing order to the Lord. Thus it shall be done for each bull or ram or for each of the male lambs or the kids. According to the number that you prepare, so shall you do with everyone according to their number. All who are native shall do these things in this way, in offering and offering by fire a pleasing odor to the Lord. And if a stranger is sojourning with you, or anyone is among you throughout your generations, and he wishes to offer an offering by fire a pleasing odor to the Lord, he shall do as you do. For the assembly, there shall be one statute

for you, and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations. As you are, so shall the sojourner be before the Lord. One law and one ordinance shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you. The Lord said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, When you come into the land to which I bring you, and when you eat of the food of the land, you shall present an offering to the Lord. Of the first of your course meal you shall present a cake as an offering. As an offering from the threshing floor, so shall you present it. Of the first of your course meal you shall give to the Lord an offering throughout your generations. But if you err and do not observe all these commandments which the Lord has spoken to Moses, all that the Lord has commanded you by Moses from the day that the Lord gave commandment

and onward throughout your generations, then if it was done unwittingly without the knowledge of the congregation, all the congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, a pleasing odor to the Lord with one young bull for a burnt offering, a pleasing odor to the Lord with its cereal offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was an error. And they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their error. And all the congregation of the sons of Israel shall be forgiven,

and the stranger who sojourns among them, because the whole population was involved in the error. If one person sins unwittingly, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering, and the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who commits an error when he sins unwittingly to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. You shall have one law for him who does anything unwittingly, for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among the people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment,

that person shall be utterly cut off. His iniquity shall be upon him. Punishment for violating the Sabbath. While the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody because it had not been made plain what should be done to him.

And the Lord said to Moses, the man shall be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones as the Lord commanded Moses. Tassels on Garments. The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel, and bid them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put upon the tassel of each corner a cord

of blue. And it shall be to you a tassel to look upon and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to go after wantonly. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God. The Book of Deuteronomy, chapters 13 and 14. Chapter 13. Moses continued, If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, Chapter 13. Moses continued, or to that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your

God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and cling to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known, some of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to him or

listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him, but you shall kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of that house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear and fear, and never again do any such wickedness as this among you. If you hear in one of your cities which the Lord your God gives you to dwell there, that certain base fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of the city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known. Then you shall inquire, and make search, and ask diligently.

And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done among you, you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, destroying it utterly, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. You shall gather all the spoil into the midst of its open square, and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. None of the devoted things shall cling to your hand,

that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy mercy and have compassion upon you and multiply you as he swore to your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments, which I command you this day, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God. Chapter 14. Pagan Practices Forbidden. You are the sons of the Lord your God. forbidden. You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. You shall not eat any abominable thing. These are the animals you may

eat, the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. Every animal that parts the hoof and has a hoof cloven in two and chews the cud among the animals you may eat. Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven, you shall not eat these, the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud, but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. And the swine, because it parts the hoof, but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. Of all that are in the waters, you may eat these, whatever has fins and scales you may eat.

And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat. It is unclean for you. You may eat all clean birds, but these are the ones which you shall not eat. The eagle, the vulture, the osprey, the buzzard, the kite, after their kinds, every raven, after its kind, the ostrich, the night hawk, the seagull, the hawk, after their kinds, the little owl and the great owl, the water hen and the pelican, the carrion vulture and the cormorant, the stork, the heron, after their kinds, to the hoopoe and the bat. All the winged insects are unclean for you, they shall not be eaten. All cling-winged things you may eat. You shall not

eat anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is within your towns that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. Regulations concerning tithes. You shall tithe all the yield of your seed, which comes forth from the field year by year. And before the Lord your God, in the place which he will choose to make his name dwell there, And before the Lord your God in the place which he will choose to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstlings of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to bring the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire, oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves, and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. And you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you. At the end of every three years, you shall bring forth all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance

with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do. Psalm 96 Praise to God who comes in judgment. O sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord all the earth.

Sing to the Lord, bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols. But the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples.

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in holy attire. Tremble before him all the earth. Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved.

He will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar and all that fills it. Let the field exult and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes. For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for your scripture today. We thank you also for the great wisdom that you give to us in helping us understand your word. Lord God, for all the times we are perplexed and troubled, not just perplexed, but deeply troubled, even troubled in our heart by you or by your teaching, what you reveal about yourself.

We ask that you give us not only take away a spirit of skepticism or a spirit of cynicism, but you give us a spirit of openness, a spirit of truth, and a spirit of honesty, a spirit of trust that when we don't understand, we ask. And when we still don't understand, we continue to ask. Lord God, give us a spirit of trust. Give us a spirit that is open to whatever it is you will for us this day and every day. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. So in today's readings from Numbers, Numbers chapter 15, it's kind of a reiteration, right? Remember that this is the people of Israel as they're beginning their journey.

They're now going to be beginning their journey into the wilderness. And so here is Moses who continues to remind them about the offerings. So we covered all of those offerings in greater detail in the book of Leviticus. And this is roughly the same time in the history of Israel, roughly the same time when those laws of Leviticus were being offered and how important it is for these laws. Remember the heart of these laws is that God has said, no, you are my people. And he has set his love upon them. And this is so important that these laws, the consequences of sin or the consequences of

rebelling against the Lord are so great that they shock us, right? That capital punishment as a violation of the Sabbath, the man is picking up sticks. It says here in Numbers chapter 15, beginning with verse 32. The man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And what do we do with this? And it says, well, take him outside the camp and stone him to death with stones. And we can look at that. We can hear that and think that is, I don't want to say crazy, but that is something we wouldn't expect.

That might be something we would expect, but not something we expect out of God's law. Not necessarily something we expect from the God who is mercy and the God who is love. So how do we understand this? There's a couple things we need to understand. First is the Lord God made provision both for people making sins or committing sins unwittingly and those who are committing sins flagrantly. So here's someone who unwittingly, I didn't realize this. I accidentally committed this sin. I accidentally had a violation against the Lord. And God says, yeah, I mean, you could come back to me and there's forgiveness. But this phrase that is used in Numbers 15, where it says, but if this person who sins with a high hand, what with a high hand, what that references is someone who's openly rebelling, someone who's saying, essentially, I am choosing to be set apart.

I'm choosing to make myself not part of God's people. Then the consequence would be, well, you're being treated like someone who's not part of God's people. And the punishment for that was death, the capital punishment. And it can seem so, again, extreme for us when it comes to our understanding of here's a person violating the Sabbath and the consequences of death. But keeping in mind, there's provision for when someone wasn't sitting with a high hand, when this was something that was done unwittingly, something that was not done in great rebellion.

The second piece of this is that the people of Israel, remember, their mission is going to be through them, God is going to bless the entire world. So they have to be different from the rest of the entire world. It's one of the reasons why when we get to Deuteronomy and we have these commands, and some of the commands are the tithe. The tithe isn't simply because God wants a worship, although that is so important for us that we have to have our hearts set on worship of God.

But the tithe is also to provide for the Levites. Part of your tithe goes to them. Why? Because they don't have an inheritance with the other tribes of Israel, meaning they don't get land, and so you have to supply for the priests. But the other thing, so that's compassion, right? That's taking care of each other. But the other piece of the tithe is, especially that third year tithe that we heard of in Deuteronomy chapter 14, is this is for those who are fatherless. This is for those who are widows. This is for those who are strangers among you who don't have employment. And so keep this in mind, the same God who commanded that the person who was picking up sticks on the Sabbath day be executed is the same God who says, but those fatherless, those who are orphans, those who are widows,

those who are among you who are strangers, care for them. Make sure that you make an extra effort to show them my mercy and show them my love. Now that on the surface for us can be like, that seems so, I don't wanna say schizophrenic, but it can seem like a dichotomy or a paradox that we cannot reconcile. But the reconciliation is this. You have to be other, right?

You have to be separate. And one of the ways you're separate that's so clear is how you worship and how you live, like how you eat, how you mourn the death of people among you. For example, it says you should not shave your head. Why? Because in that area, when people would mourn, they would shave their heads in a particular way to commemorate this offering of the person to another God. And this is, again, so utterly important because if God is going to use the people of Israel to

bless the world, they cannot be like the rest of the world, specifically, as I said, in how they worship and how they live, how they dress and how they eat. So these laws are of vital importance, not because the law itself has, I mean, it all is depth, obviously, but I'm trying to make the case for the fact that this is the same God who can both say, yes, the consequence of violating the Sabbath is the death penalty, as well as make sure that those who are most vulnerable among you are taken care of. It is the same God because there's a big picture going on in this moment. Now, I want to make one last point. It's in the end of Numbers chapter 15 where it comes to the tassels on the garment. It says, upon the tassels, each of them will have a cord of blue and it shall be a tassel

for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you're inclined to do, but you shall remember and do all my commandments when you look at this tassel. Now, the blue cord, what's up with blue? Well, remember that the garment spoken of, worn by the priests, had woven blue in it. Remember that there are a number of times where God says, okay, the color that is used in the temple, not only was it scarlet and other, but also blue. This being an important reminder that you would wear that would have the reminder of, oh, God's holiness, because we see that blue in the tabernacle. We see that blue in the tent of meeting. We see that blue in the temple. And so once again, the scripture on your doorpost,

mezuzah, the scripture on your forehead or arm is a tefillin. And the scripture that is not a scripture, but the thread that is on your shawl is called the tzitzit. Just in case any of you get on Jeopardy and have to answer that question. We keep praying for each other as we're moving right along. Today's day 64. We keep praying for each other as we're moving right along.

Today's day 64. And so we continue to lift up our eyes to the Lord and call upon his name for each other. We call upon his name for ourselves because we need grace. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you again tomorrow. God bless. you