The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 67: God's Justice and Refuge (2022)

Episode Date: March 8, 2022

Fr. Mike breaks down God's divine judgement, and the refuge he offers to those who are faithful to him. Today's readings are Numbers 18, Deuteronomy 19-20, and Psalm 99. 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. Today is day 67. We are reading from chapter 18 of Numbers, Numbers 18. We're also reading two chapters in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 19 and chapter 20. We're also praying Psalm 99 today. As always, I am reading from the

Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, as far as my Bible translation, as well as the fact that I'm reading from specifically the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you're interested, you can download your Bible in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast. I don't know, again, I keep saying this because it's in the 60s for crying out loud. If you have not yet subscribed, you can do that right now. Why not? Go ahead and do that. Nonetheless, it is day 67. We are reading from Numbers 18, Deuteronomy 19 and 20, praying Psalm 99.

The book of Numbers chapter 18, duties of priests and Levites. So the Lord said to Aaron, you and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear iniquity in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity in connection with your priesthood. And with you bring your brethren also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and minister to you while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the covenant. They shall attend you and attend to all the duties of the tent, but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar, lest they and you die. They shall join you and attend to the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent and no one else shall come near you. And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar, that

there be wrath no more upon the sons of Israel. And behold, I have taken your brethren, the Levites, from upon the sons of Israel. And behold, I have taken your brethren, the Levites, from among the sons of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting. And you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil, and you shall serve.

I give your priesthood as a gift, and anyone else who comes near shall be put to death. The Priest's Portion Then the Lord said to Aaron, And behold, I have given you whatever is kept of the offerings made to me, all the consecrated things of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion, and to your sons as a perpetual debt. This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire. Every offering of theirs, every serial offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs,

and every guilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons. In a most holy place shall you eat of it. Every male may eat of it. It is holy to you. This also is yours, the offering of their gift, all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual debt. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat of it. All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain,

the first fruits of what they give to the Lord, I give to you. The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat of it. Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts you shall redeem. And their redemption price, at a month old you shall

redeem them, you shall fix at five shekels in silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty geras. But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, you shall not redeem. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shall burn their fat as an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord. But their flesh shall be yours, as the breast that is waved, and as the right thigh are yours. All the holy offerings which the sons of Israel present to the Lord I give to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual debt. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.

And the Lord said to Aaron, You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, their service in the tent of meeting. And henceforth the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die.

But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they present as an offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, Moreover, you shall say to the Levites, When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe. And your offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as

the fullness of the winepress. So shall you also present an offering to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the sons of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord's offering to Aaron the priest. Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every offering due to the Lord from all the best of them, giving the hallowed part from them. Therefore you shall say to them, when you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor and as produce of the wine press. And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. And you shall bear no sin by reason of it when you have offered the best of it.

And you shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, lest you die. The book of Deuteronomy chapter 19 and chapter 20, chapter 19, cities of refuge. When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God gives you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, you shall set apart three cities for you in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess. You shall prepare the roads and divide into three parts the area of the land which the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having been at enmity with him in time past, as when a man goes into a forest with his neighbor to cut wood and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, he may flee to one of these cities and save his life, lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him

because the way is long and wound him mortally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he was not at enmity with his neighbor in time past. Therefore I command you, you shall set apart three cities. And if the Lord your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give to your fathers, provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you this day by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways, then you shall add three other cities to these three, lest innocent blood be shed in your land, which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance. And so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you. But if any man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him and wounds him mortally so that he dies and the man flees into one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall

send and fetch him from there and hand him over to the avenger of blood so that he may die. Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel so that it may be well with you. Concerning landmarks. In the inheritance which you will hold in the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess, you shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set. Concerning witnesses. A single witness shall not prevail against the man for any crime or for any wrong in connection with the offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be sustained. If a malicious witness rises against any man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the

judges who are in office in those days. the judges shall inquire diligently. And if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. And the rest shall hear and fear and never again shall commit any such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Chapter 20 Concerning Warfare When you go forth to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them. For the Lord your God is with you,

who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people, and shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, you draw near this day to battle against your enemies. Let not your heart faint. Do not fear or tremble or be in dread of them. For the Lord your God is he that goes with you to fight for you against your enemies,

to give you victory. Then the officers shall speak to the people saying, what man is there that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. And what man is there that has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it? And what man is there that has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the

battle and another man enjoy its fruit. And what man is there that has betrothed a wife and not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her. And the officers shall speak further to the people and say, What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go back to his house, lest the heart of his fellows melt as his heart. And when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people. When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. And if its answer to you is peace, and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and

shall serve you. But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword. But the women and the little ones, the cattle and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourselves. And you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you. Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall utterly destroy them,

the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices which they have done in the service of their gods, and so to sin against the Lord your God. When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them, for you may eat of them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field men that they should be besieged by you? Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut them down, that you may build siege works against the city that makes war with you until it falls. Psalm 99.

Praise to God for his holiness. The Lord reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned upon the cherubim. Praise to God for his holiness. King, lover of justice. You have established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Extol the Lord our God. Worship at his footstool. Holy is he. Moses and Aaron were among his priests. Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the Lord and he answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. They kept his testimonies and the statutes that he gave them. O Lord our God, you answered them. You were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings. Extol the Lord our God in worship at his holy mountain. For the Lord our God is holy. Father in heaven, we give you praise. We thank you. We give you glory. You are the God of glory and the God of justice. Lord God, you care

for the people. You care for justice. You care for us. And so we ask you today, as we ask you every day, every day, gosh, Lord, make our hearts like yours, make our hearts, the kind of hearts that desire justice, that, that run away from vengeance, but pursue after what is true and what is good and what is beautiful. Fill our minds with what is true, fill our hearts with what is good and fill our lives with what is beautiful. We give you praise Lord God. And thank you be with us today 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. So quick couple of things, couple of things about Deuteronomy, but before that, a couple of things about the book of Numbers. So as we have already heard,

in the book of Numbers, chapter 18, it was the duties of the priests and Levites. One of the things that we had heard before is the fact that while all of the tribes of Israel are going to be given land, right? They're going to be given property. They're going to be given flocks and work for themselves to do. Those of the tribe of Levi are not given land. They're not given an inheritance. That's the word that keeps being used. And why? Because God says, I'll be your inheritance. Your job is to be serving me. Your job is to be leading worship of me. And the price is that that means

you have to, so I guess the price is you don't get land. You don't get to have another occupation in some ways. You don't get to have an inheritance among the people of Israel. But the goodness is, A, you get to worship. You get to be at the tabernacle or the tent of meeting, be in the temple ultimately. But you also receive the tithe. So with every sacrifice that's offered, not every sacrifice, but many of the sacrifices, that would be what would support the livelihood of the tribe of Levi. So you'd go in and offer a guilt offering or a sin offering, and part of it would be burnt up, but the rest of it would be not only offered to the Lord,

but then given to the tribe of Levi in order for them to have food for their families and have food for their lives. And they'd be able to basically have a living that way. So the supporting of the priests, the supporting of the tribe of Levi, would come through the people of Israel. And the great way in which this would have to cooperate is really remarkable for us. Because again, the tribe of Levi doesn't have an inheritance. They don't get to have their own property. They rely upon the fact that the other tribes of Israel are going to be worshiping the God of Israel and therefore supplying them with their needs. At the same time, it's very, very clear

that to the Levites, they have to give a tithe of their tithe, meaning that they give a tenth of everything that they've been given. So even though they're receiving, you know, the gift of the tithe of the people of God, the people of Israel, they also have to offer a tithe, which is so beautiful and so just fair and just. And that goes into, that leads us into the next book we're reading from Deuteronomy. And in Deuteronomy, it talks about justice. In fact, there are these things called cities of refuge. We just heard about them in chapter 19. The cities of refuge, three of them at first. And then God says, but when you come into the land, if you get the whole of the property of the land that I want to give you, you're going to have six of these cities of refuge.

And they are for what? Because of in God's justice, if someone murders another person by God's justice, they have to die. But if they murder accidentally, what happens is they get to, I mean, what's going to happen is someone's going to in their heat of their anger, like you killed my father, prepare to die. Even if accidentally, there's cities of refuge that you can run to. And the Avenger, the person who wants to kill you, cannot enter and kill you. Places of, again, as I said, places of refuge. At the same time, it specifically states that if you, though, are someone who has

killed someone on purpose and you're onto a city of refuge and the accuser comes, again, not just one accuser, but two or three, then the elders of that city of refuge will hand you over to trial. And that's the important piece here. It's trying to avoid the crimes of passion or revenge, but saying, no, we're going to only exact this justice when it's been expressly proven or demonstrated that this was murder, not simply manslaughter. And I think, again, here is the people of God who are being brought from a place of the Wild West to a place of, no, here is the people of God who are being brought from a place of just kind of, you know, the wild west to a place of, no, this is order. We're a people of law now.

We're a people of justice now, not just vengeance, which goes on to the last chapter we read today, which is Deuteronomy chapter 20, having to do with war. Always giving a people that they attack the option to surrender. Always giving the people the option to have peace, unless it was the people of the tribes where they are going to enter in the land of Canaan. And those people, they would not give an opportunity to surrender. Why? And this is really difficult for us. Why is this the case? This is a very unusual kind of warfare. This is unusual kind of situation because you see, it strikes us as being so, so backwards and so not just backwards, but so violent and over not justice anymore, right? It seems, it seems unfair. It seems cruel.

These are what you might call wars of judgment. These are not simple, simple battles, but in this context, and we have to understand this, these are wars of judgment. The people of Canaan were living violent, destructive, and wicked lives. In fact, a number of times we've already heard that the Lord God has expressly noted that in the place you're about to enter, in the land of Canaan, in the promised land, one of the practices that they have is they will sacrifice their own children, their sons and their daughters, to this false God, Molech, and they will literally kill their own children. And God's judgment comes at some point. And this is the reality for all of us.

It's really hard for us to understand this because we think like we have questions about this, but when we understand this in the context that here is God, who's saying, you know, judgment is coming for every one of us. And the people of Canaan were under God's judgment. And God was using the people of Israel to exact or deliver his judgment upon the people of Canaan. Now, of course, for us, if we took that position and we said, that's what I'm going to do then.

I think we should do that as whatever your country is. We should take justice or judgment of God on whoever. We would be taking the law into our own hands. That is not what God has commanded us to do, but this is what God had commanded the people of Israel to do. I know that this is as a last note, I'm going to have to say this many, many times in the future, but I say it right now, maybe for the first time. If we approach this and we are cynical, if we approach this and we are skeptical, if we approach this and we have this like, I still don't like it and I actually don't, I want to stop reading. I don't like this and I want to start distrusting the word of God. Then I just look at the distrust part because we can have questions. Of course,

we have questions. We wrestle with stuff. Jacob wrestled with the angel. That's not a bad thing to wrestle with the Lord and to say, God, what is your word trying to teach me? But one of the things we have to increase in our own hearts is our trust and our confidence in him. Then when he led his people, the people of Israel that he made a covenant with into the promised land, into the land of Canaan, and there was this devastating kind of warfare, it wasn't because God was being unjust. In fact, it was, as we said, these wars of judgment on those people, but also, also there were wars because of the fact that God knew. God knows everything, right? He knew that here's a people that if they live in the midst of these

broken people of Canaan, they're going to change their hearts. They're going to give their hearts to these false gods. And these aren't just kind of like false gods like we would have in our modern pluralistic society. Right now we have a pluralistic society that we coexist with other religions, which is good. But God knew the people of Israel had an incredible role, and that was you need to be faithful because it's through you that I'm going to bless the world. And so I know if you commingle with these other groups, you will not be faithful. What we're going to see is that they will not do what God asked, and surprise, they will not

be faithful. This is going to be Moses' last words in the book of Deuteronomy where he tells them, after all giving you all these commandments, I know you're not going to do it. So I know that it upsets a lot of us, but keep this in mind. This is not out of context. The context is these are wars of judgment on a people that had hardened their hearts to the true God, had sacrificed their own children to their false gods, and God needed to preserve the people of Israel and their faith so that you and I right now, this day, could be blessed. You know, last little note, I'll say this again in the future. At the same time, God knew that they wouldn't be faithful. He knew that they wouldn't do this.

And so this commandment in some ways we could just see as a warning, maybe, maybe rather than an instruction. If that gives you some peace, I just invite you to like take that little bite. Maybe this is God giving a commandment, knowing they wouldn't do it because he's revealing something to their hearts by the commandment, giving them a prediction rather than instruction. Now, at the same time, it's clearly instruction, but if that would give your heart some peace today, then a little peace is better than nothing. But it can't be a false peace.

It has to be true peace. I don't know if that makes any sense. Anyways, you know, we're going to continue walking through this. And whenever it gives us pause, whenever it gives us trouble, it's okay. It is okay because the Lord is faithful. He is just. He never, ever commands us to do anything unjust because he cares for every person. He makes the sun shine on the good and the

bad. He makes the rain shine on the evil and the good. And he loves you. And he, even in our brokenness, he still chooses us. So we come before him knowing that his judgment is just and that he can, he obviously has the right to judge us. And so we ask for his mercy today. I'm praying to God today for his mercy upon you. I ask that you please pray to God for his mercy upon me as we continue to pray for each other. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. you