The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 69: The Bronze Serpent (2024)

Episode Date: March 9, 2024

Fr. Mike explains how the bronze serpent is a prefiguration of Jesus on the Cross. We also continue to learn how God's laws in Deuteronomy redefine the social and sexual norms for the Israelites to teach them about the dignity of every human person. Today's readings are Numbers 21, Deuteronomy 22, and Psalm 102. 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 69, and we are reading from Numbers chapter 21, Deuteronomy chapter 22, and we're praying Psalm 102. As always, I'm reading from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition,

and I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to get this Bible, you can go to ascensionpress.com or to any of the places where Bibles are sold. If you also would like to download your Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year, and you can download that for free, for now at least. And you can also subscribe to the podcast, this podcast, in your app to receive daily episodes. They are posted sometime overnight, and you get to listen to them. You probably figured that out already since it is almost day 70. It is day 69. Once again, we're reading from Numbers chapter 21, Deuteronomy chapter 22 and Psalm 102. The book of Numbers chapter 21, the bronze serpent. When the Canaanite, the king of Arad,

who dwelt in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, if you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called Hormah. From Mount Hor, they set out by the way to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?

For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food. Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people so that many sons of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he may take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it up as a sign, and everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it up as a sign. And if a serpent bit any man,

he would look at the bronze serpent and live. The Journey to Moab And the sons of Israel set out and encamped at Oboth. And they set out from Oboth and encamped at Ai Abarim, in the wilderness, which is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. From there they set out and encamped in the valley of Zered. From there they set out and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the boundary of the Amorites,

for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab between Moab and the Amorites. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord, Waheb and Sufah, in the valleys of the Arnon, and the slope of the valleys that extends to the seat of Ar, and leans to the border of Moab. And from there they continued to beer, that is, the well of which the Lord said to Moses, gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, spring up, O well, sing to it, the well which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people delved

with the scepter and with their staves. And from the wilderness, they went on to Matanah, and from Matanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah, which looks down upon the desert. Sihon, the king of the Amorites, defeated. Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of a well. We will go by the king's highway until we have passed through your territory. But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his

men together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and came to Jehaz and fought against Israel. And Israel slew him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for Jazzer was the boundary of the Ammonites. And Israel took all these cities and Israel settled in all these cities of the Amorites in Heshbon and in all its villages. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand as far as the Arnon. Therefore, the ballad singers say, come to Heshbon, let it be built. Let the city of Sihon be established. For fire

went forth from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon. Woe to you, O Moab. You are undone, O people of Shamash. He has made his sons fugitives and his daughters captives to an Amorite king, Sihon. So their posterity perished from Heshbon as far as Debon, and we laid waste until fire spread to Mediba. Og the king of Bashan defeated. Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites, and Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they took its villages and dispossessed the Amorites that

were there. Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og, the king of Bashan, came out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. But the Lord said to Moses, Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon. So they slew him and his sons and all his people until there was not one survivor left to him, and they possessed his land. The Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 22. Miscellaneous Laws. Moses continued, You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep go astray and withhold

your help from them. You shall take them back to your brother. And if he is not near you, or if you do not know him, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother seeks it, then you shall restore it to him. And so shall you do with his donkey, so you shall do with his garment, so you shall do with any lost thing of your brother's, which he loses and you find. You may not withhold your help. You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and withhold your help from them. You shall help him to lift them up again.

A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. If you chance to come upon a bird's nest, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young, you shall let the mother go, but the young you may take to yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long. When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house if anyone fall from it. You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited to the sanctuary, the crop which you

have sown, and the yield of the vineyard. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together. You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself. Concerning sexual relations, if any man takes a wife and goes into her and then spurns her and charges her with shameful conduct and brings an evil name upon her saying, I took this woman. And when I came near her, I did not find in her the tokens of virginity. Then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the tokens of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate.

And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man to wife, and he spurns her. And behold, he has made shameful charges against her, saying, I did not find in your daughter the tokens of virginity. And yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him. And they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the

young woman, because he has brought an evil name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not put her away all his days. But if the thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house. And the men of the city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has wrought folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father's house. So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman.

So you shall purge the evil from Israel. If there is a betrothed virgin and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death with stones. The young woman, because she did not cry for help, though she in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lie with her shall die. But to the young woman you shall do nothing. In the young woman there is no offense punishable by death, for this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor,

because he came upon her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help, there was no one to rescue her. If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not put her away all the days of his life. A man shall not take his father's wife, nor shall he uncover her who is his father's. Psalm 102. Prayer to the Eternal King for Help A prayer of one afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress.

Incline your ear to me. Answer me speedily in the day when I call. For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and withered. I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning, my bones cling to my flesh. I'm like a vulture of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. taken me up and thrown me away. My days are like an evening shadow. I wither away like grass. But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever. Your name endures to all generations. You will arise and have pity on Zion. It is the time to favor her. The appointed time has come. For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. The nations will fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth your glory. For the Lord will build up Zion.

He will appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and will not despise their supplication. Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord, that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who are doomed to die, that the men may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem his praise, when peoples gather together and kingdoms to worship the Lord. He has broken my strength in midcourse. He has shortened my days. Oh my God, I say, do not take me from here in the midst of my days, you whose years endure throughout all generations.

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you endure. They will all wear out like a garment. You change them like clothing, and they pass away. But you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure. Their posterity shall be established before you.

Father in heaven, we give you praise and we thank you. We thank you for your word. We thank you for loving us. We thank you for choosing us. We thank you for showing us your heart, the heart of a father who loves his children. In the midst of this day, Lord, we call out to your name. We call upon your name and we ask you father to send us your Holy spirit in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. As you receive our thanks and as you receive our praise in Jesus name, we ask you also to send your spirit upon us in Jesus name. Amen. In the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy spirit. Amen. So a couple of quick things. We just, what we want to do is on a focus on the fact that in the book of numbers, chapter 21, a couple of major things have happened. Some of those things we already heard about. Remember at the beginning of Deuteronomy, this is how many days ago,

maybe I think, I don't know, almost 20 days ago in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses was giving a recap of all the things that happened. And in that recap, he mentions that we heard yesterday, they were not allowed to go through the land of Edom, right? Remember the descendants of Esau, but they were led into battle against Sihon, the king of the Amorites and Og, the king of Bashan. And today in Numbers 21, we get to hear that story of how the people of Israel were led by the Lord into battle against the Amorites and against the king of Bashan, Og, the king

of Bashan. But even more important, well, I don't know, even more importantly, but it seems pretty important. At the beginning of Numbers chapter 21, once again, the people complain and they say that God has only led us here into the wilderness to kill us. And so the Lord God sent seraph serpents to bite people and they died. And then what happens? Moses intercedes once again, even though Moses, he's already heard, he heard yesterday, you will not enter the promised land. He continues to intercede. He continues to be a shepherd of the people. He continues to be a father for these people, even though he knows he will not be allowed to enter the promised land.

He continues to go before God on behalf of the people and to bring the Lord back to the people. So he intercedes on behalf of the people. And God says, you make a fiery serpent or a bronze serpent. And as often as people look upon it, they will be healed. Later on, Jesus will say, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the son of man be lifted up that all who look upon him will be saved, right? Their eyes, when they looked upon the bronze serpent, they were saved. And when we cast our eyes upon Jesus Christ crucified, our salvation is given to us in this unique and powerful way. One of the things I remember hearing said was,

why would God ask Moses to make a bronze serpent? Well, the serpent was the cause of their pain. The serpent was the cause of their dying. And so they looked upon an image of what caused them to die in order to have healing, in order to have a life. Jesus on the cross, remember we heard this yesterday, curses anyone who hangs on a tree from book of Deuteronomy. Jesus took the curse upon himself.

And so what happens is the sign of our death, the sign of our sin becomes the symbol of his victory. So on the cross, Jesus is carrying our sin. That's the symbol. It's a symbol of my sin. When Jesus is on the cross, when we look upon Christ, and it's kind of metaphorically, but also truly, truly, we look upon Christ on the cross.

We see the sign of my shame, my shame, the sign of my sin, that's become the symbol of our hope. And that's what's happened in Numbers 21, what happens in Christianity is the sign of our shame becomes the symbol of our hope. The sign of our sin becomes the symbol of our hope. Remember Father Dave Pavanca once said that and stuck with me and I want to pass it on to you today. When we're reading from the book of Deuteronomy, as it says, miscellaneous laws. One thing is known about these miscellaneous laws is they have to do, remember we talked about this yesterday, so important for us to understand. These people are living in a violent and brutal world and God is giving us his word so it's a

little less violent, a little less brutal. And so the command is you have your brother and any citizen of Israel. And if his ox or sheep goes astray, if he needs help, basically you're gonna help him. That's it, that's it. If your brother needs help, you're gonna help him. And then other things like you should not wear anything that belongs to men.

Men wear men's clothes, women wear women's clothes. That's a key thing here. But also this command to show kindness to animals, which is so interesting, right? Because back in the day, once again, a violent and vicious and brutal world would say, no, these animals are just animals. You come across, think of how the kindness of God here,

a bird's nest, whether it has eggs or it has fledglings or whatever you call like newly hatched birds, if the mother is there, you cannot kill both the mother and her young. Why? Because they'll be cruel. You can take the eggs or you can take the young, but let the mother go.

There's something about that that's just like, wow, here's God who just has even these small acts of kindness. Or listen, what strikes me as being so interesting, when you build a new house, make a parapet for your roof, basically make a guardrail that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your house if anyone falls from your house. It's just so remarkable. But the last one is going to be really interesting. And the last one has to do with the laws of sexual morality.

Keeping in this in mind, that up until this moment, up until Israel, up until the Jewish people, up until God reveals himself, women were considered second class. Women were considered being lesser than, just like children were considered to be less than. But ever since the very, very first chapter of God's book, right, of Genesis, it says God made them male and female in his own image and likeness, both of them male and female in God's image and likeness, which has an equality in dignity, even if there's an inequality when it comes to circumstances. Even in this situation, right?

This is God leading a brutal and vicious people in a world where no, men and women are not considered to be equal to say, let's take those steps. Just like we heard the other day, that if in the context of a conquest of another kingdom or another city, the soldiers find a beautiful woman in the city and they take her, quote unquote, take her, they won't take her as a slave or don't take her as a prostitute. They take her as a wife because you might be tempted to take her and use her, but you may not take her and use her.

You can take her and care for her and let her, but you may not take her and use her. You can take her and care for her and let her be your wife. Similarly here, again, we might be bothered by that, but this is God moving a brutal and vicious people to be less brutal and less vicious from great inequality to a place of greater equality, which is one of the reasons why this man here in Deuteronomy might accuse this woman that he has just married of not being a virgin and he has to prove it or else he's falsely bringing shame upon this woman. And that may not be allowed. And again, remember from Genesis chapter three, it says that men and women from now on are going to be broken. They're going to try to dominate the other. They're trying to manipulate the other. And here is the Lord God through Moses in Deuteronomy saying, that is the case.

You're going to want, he's like, listen, he's lived with these people for the last 40 years in the wilderness. He knows their hearts and he knows that, yeah, I've seen this happen where a man marries a woman and then he detests her. He marries a woman and then he wants to put her away. You may not do that without really good cause because there could be a cause, right? The woman might do something wrong.

The man might do something wrong, but he's making it very clear that it's not, she's not disposable. That's what the upshot of this whole thing is. In a world in which women could be considered disposable, God's law here in Deuteronomy is saying, she is not, women are not. Remember this, Genesis chapter 1,

Genesis chapter 2, male and female, God created them. In his image, he created them, both equal in dignity, both equal in goodness, both equal in being made in God's image and likeness. And so again, in this brutal and vicious world, here is God's law that says we're going to make this a bit less brutal, a bit less vicious, a lot more just. She is not disposable and you are not disposable either. Some of these laws are challenging to us, but one of the things they're trying to affirm is this fact that you matter. You who may be a single man or single woman you may be a married man a married woman you might be a widow or a widower might be a child you matter and you think later on Jesus is gonna say consider the sparrows that you are worth more than many sparrows not one of them falls to the ground without your father knowing it and caring about it I'm adding the caring about it, but that's the reality. And you're worth more than that. All of these laws are

being given to a people in a very difficult situation to make it just that more just, to remind them that they matter and therefore how they treat each other matters because they belong to God, male and female, young and old, adult and child, stranger and citizen. And so we're reminded of that too. And so we try to move forward knowing that if my life matters, I need to live it like it matters. And if other people around me, if their lives matter, then I need to treat them like they matter. And so that's what we do today. Okay. One last thought when it comes to Deuteronomy chapter 22, there, gosh, there are so many sensitive topics that the Bible deals with, and it doesn't necessarily always give us a warning that, Hey, by the way, here comes a sensitive topic in Deuteronomy chapter 22, beginning with verse 23. It talks

about here's a woman and a betrothed virgin and a man meets her in the city and lies with her. Both of them are stoned, right? So they're committing this infidelity with each other, committing fornication essentially with each other that they are both guilty of. But it makes this amendment says, because if she's being attacked in the city, she should cry out for help. Now, this is why this is so sensitive because we know the reality of rape and we know that the reality of rape is not always this clear, not always as cut and dry. There's not always someone to cry out and call to for help. Remember the context that Deuteronomy is written in. These are people who have been living in tents. They've been living amongst each other. There is no privacy virtually unless

someone wants privacy. Now at the same time, right, is this perfect? Absolutely not, it's not perfect. But what it is is trying to say that if this was not agreed upon by her in the sense of he forced himself upon her, then, I hate to say it like this, she should have cried out for help, right? And again, so many people listening to this, you'd say, my experience was I didn't cry out for help

or I tried crying out for help and nothing, no help came or I didn't even know, I was so was I didn't cry out for help, or I tried crying out for help, and nothing, no help came. Or I didn't even know, I was so scared I didn't cry out for help. Maybe I know so many people have been in this situation. I know so many of my students have been in this situation where it was like, I was so afraid and I couldn't even cry out for help. What the Bible is trying to do here is make a distinction between this being fornication, agreed upon, right? Versus someone who's being sexually assaulted. That's one of the reasons why it goes on to say, but if they're out of the city, he says in verse 25, but if in the open country, a man meets a young woman who's betrothed, the man seizes her and lies with her. Only the man shall be killed. He only, he shall die,

but the young woman shall not. Why? Because she most likely would have cried out for help and someone would have come to her aid. So it's trying to make a distinction between promiscuity, fornication, and sexual assault. Is it perfect? No, but is it an attempt to have justice? Yes. Is it an attempt to defend women who are being wrongfully attacked, assaulted? Yes, that is what is at the heart of this law in Deuteronomy today,

is the good of the woman and the justice, of course, of when people agree and fall into sin, not when they're attacked. I hope that makes sense today, but I know, gosh, it is such a sensitive topic. And I'll say this, if that's you and that's been your experience, please know that you are worth so much. You're worth the death of the Lord. You are worthy in his eyes. He loves you so much. You are not disqualified from his love. You are not used up.

You are worthy. You are beautiful and the Lord takes our ashes and he replaces our ashes with jewels. The Lord Jesus can restore everything. And if you've been assaulted or if something horrible has happened, or even when we fall into sin on our own, hand it over to the Lord. He can make us new. Know that he loves you. Know that he believes and declares that you are worthy of love, real love, and that what happened to you

should never have happened to you or to anyone. That's part of the message of the readings today. Pray for each other and I ask you to pray for me. I am praying for you that as we continue on this journey, we lift each other up. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.