The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 76: War Against Midian (2022)

Episode Date: March 17, 2022

Fr. Mike breaks down the battle against Midian and explains why God would allow destruction and warfare that can seem brutal. He also highlights how we can learn from Israel's weakness by destroying the things in our lives that lead us away from God. Today's readings are Numbers 31, Deuteronomy 30, and Psalm 116. 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 76, and we are reading today from Numbers chapter 31, Deuteronomy chapter 30, and we are praying today from Psalm 116. As always, I'm reading from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. You can get your own Great

Adventure Bible from Ascension, which is what I'm using, to follow along and read. If you also want to follow along, you can get your own Bible in a Year reading plan by downloading that from ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. And if you haven't, it's day 76 for Crying Out Loud. If you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, I don't know. I don't know what I can do. What more can I do? You should be subscribing because then you get the alerts every single day. You don't have to go hunt for it every single day.

It'll just appear to you. We have realized, including today, we have five days left in the desert wanderings. We have five days left of numbers in Deuteronomy until we get to conquest and judges until the people of Israel enter into the promised land. And we have those incredible, incredible stories of the conquest and of the judges. But today we are still with Numbers 31, Deuteronomy chapter 30, in Psalm 116. Numbers chapter 31. War against Midian. The Lord said to Moses,

Avenge the sons of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward, you shall be gathered to your people. And Moses said to the people, Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian. You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war. So they were provided. Out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary, and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. They warred against Midian, as the Lord

commanded Moses, and slew every male. They slew the kings of Midian, with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rechem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, and they also slew Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. And the sons of Israel took captive the women of Midian. And they also slew Balaam, the son of Baor, with the sword. And the sons of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones. And they took as booty all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. All their cities and the places where they dwelt, and all their encampments they burned with fire. And they took all the spoil and all the booty, both of man and of beast. Then they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the sons of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. Return from the war. Moses and Eleazar

the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went forth to meet them outside the camp. And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands, and the commanders of hundreds who had come from service in the war. Moses said to them, Have you let all the women live? Behold, these caused the sons of Israel by the counsel of Balaam to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor. And so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goat's hair, and every article of wood. And Eleazar the priest said to the men of

war who had gone to battle, This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses, only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water of impurity, and whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean, and afterward you shall come into the camp. Division of the Booty The Lord said to Moses,

Take the count of the booty that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation, and divide the booty into two parts, between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. And levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. And levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, one out of five hundred, of the persons and of the oxen and of the donkeys and of the flocks. Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord. And from the sons of Israel's half you shall take

one drawn out of every fifty of the persons, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites who have charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses. Now the booty remaining of the spoil that the men of war took was 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 persons in all, women who had not known man by lying with him. And the half, the portion of those who had gone out to war, was in number 337,500 sheep, and the Lord's tribute of the sheep was 675. The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord's tribute was seventy-two. The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord's tribute was sixty-one. The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord's tribute was thirty-two persons. And Moses gave the tribute, which was the offering for the Lord to Eliezer the priest,

as the Lord commanded Moses. From the sons of Israel's half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had gone to war, now the congregation's half, was 337,500 sheep, 36,000 cattle, 30,500 donkeys, and 16,000 persons. From the sons of Israel's half Moses took one of every fifty, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites who had charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. Then the officers, who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses and said to Moses, Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. And we have brought the Lord's offering, what each man found, articles of gold,

armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them the gold, all wrought articles, and all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds was 16,750 shekels. The men of war had taken booty every man for himself. And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord. The book of Deuteronomy chapter 30, God's fidelity assured. Moses continued,

And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you this day with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion upon you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will fetch you. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, that you may possess it, and he will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your

offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. And the Lord your God will put all these curses upon your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments which I command you this day. The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the works of your hand, in the fruit of your body and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you

as he took delight in your fathers. If you obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Exhortation to Choose Life. For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven that you should say, Who will go up for us to heaven and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that you should say,

Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very near to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so that you can do it. See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply,

and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you this day that you shall perish. You shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and clinging to him. For that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, Psalm 116 because he has heard my voice and my supplications, because he has inclined his ear to me. Therefore, I will call on him as long as I live.

The snares of death encompassed me. The pangs of Sheol laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord. Oh Lord, I beg you, save my life. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple.

When I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I kept my faith even when I said I am greatly afflicted. I said in my consternation, men are all a vain hope.

What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the chalice of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your handmaid. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord. Lord God, we do give you thanks and praise today. We thank you for your word. We thank you for giving us the gift of faith, and even in the midst of complex and troubling and confrontational readings, Lord God, you give us your truth and you give us a sign of your heart that you do set before us life and good, death and destruction. And you want us to choose life.

This is your will for us that we choose life. And yet, Lord God, we are so fickle. We are so quick to turn away from you. We are so quick to forget that from you. We are so quick to forget that you love us with the love of a father. We turn to other things. We turn to other people and we ultimately end up betraying you, the one who's loved us like no one has ever loved us. So God, help us. Help us. Please help us this day, not only to be faithful, but when we have been unfaithful, help us to turn to you. Know that this day, not only to be faithful, but when we have been

unfaithful, help us to turn to you, know that we can trust you in your goodness, in your love, and your mercy. We make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So again, more troubling readings. In Numbers chapter 31, what does the Lord command through Moses? What does Moses command? Moses commands that the men of Israel, from all of the tribes, they pick 12,000 people, 1,000 men from each tribe to go to battle against the Midianites. Why would this happen? We might miss it because for the last couple of days, we have gone back to the gifts of

sacrifice and the feast of booths and keeping of vows and the feast of trumpets. We forgot that way back in chapter 25, the people of Israel had been false, right? They had worshiped the Baal of Peor. Remember what happened was it said that the Israel dwelt in Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. Now this is horrible because it goes on to say they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. And remember there was even that couple, Zimri, son of Selu, and the woman, the Midianite woman was named Cosby.

And they were killed by Phineas in the very threshold of the holiest place on the planet because they were engaged in, we'll call it fertility rituals in the presence of the Lord. So this is how deeply idolatry has infected the people of Israel. Now they're about to cross the Jordan River and go into the land of the Canaanites. And what's going to happen there? Because here they are in the place of Moab and they are giving their hearts over to the Midianites. This is one of the reasons why Moses is saying, okay, before you go into battle, before you

go across the Jordan River and go to that battle, you have to go to battle against the people who have already corrupted you. This has already corrupted you. You've already been corrupted. And so you have to put an end to this. That's one of the reasons why the warfare there is like kill everybody.

I mean, which is really hard for us. And it's not because God wanted everyone to die. That is not the case. In fact, that kind of warfare would not have existed. This is important for us to understand. That kind of warfare would not have existed if the people of Israel had been faithful. This is so critical for us to note that that is not the plan of God. The plan of God is not people's destruction. It's not their death. It's not to go to war and kill everybody. But the plan of God is that the people of Israel would be faithful

to him and that they would ultimately, right, through people of Israel, they would be a worldwide blessing. God would give his worldwide blessing through these people. And yet in their weakness, in their weakness, when they are surrounded by people who idolize other gods, who worship other gods, they are so weak that they worship other gods as well. It's because of the people's weakness that Moses has to command. And I say has to command because it's just like there's no other way around their weakness than the kind of total destruction of the Midianites here. We're going to see this warfare again and again. It can be troubling for us, and that again. It can be troubling for

us, and that's okay that it's troubling for us because it's not good, right? It's not good. It's not what God would ultimately want. We know that it's not what God ultimately wants because of what God reveals in Deuteronomy chapter 30, which is one of the most beautiful chapters in all of the book of Deuteronomy towards the end of this entire speech, the second law that Moses is giving the people. You have this incredible word of just, I set before you life and death. Choose life that you and your descendants may live because when you come back to me, I will love you and I will bless you and I will prosper you. So you have this. We can never read scripture isolated. We can never just take a moment out, a text out of context. We have to read scripture in its entirety.

And what God reveals is that, no, I'm the God of the living. I'm the God who loves everyone. And when we get to the book of wisdom, what we're going to hear the Lord God say is, I do not rejoice in the destruction of the living. He said, he will say this. I did not make death. And he does not rejoice in the destruction of the living, regardless of who they are, regardless of how unfaithful they are. It is only because of the weakness of the people of Israel that Moses commands that all of the people of Midian be destroyed. It's a hard word for us. It's not necessarily a good word, but it is the word that is needed. Why? Because the people of Israel, for the last time, they are weak. And that's us.

This is us. I mean, again, it's not like the Jewish people 3,000, 3,500 years ago were any weaker than you and I are. We are exactly the same. We have the same hearts in us as they have. And so what we need to know is recognize, we need to recognize, okay, what are those things in my life that I tolerate? No, it's not going to be people like this. We have to destroy people in our lives, but there are things in my life that steal my heart away from the Lord

and I tolerate their presence. I say, well, not right now. Right now, they're not going to take my heart away from the Lord, but ultimately if I pay attention to this, they will sap my love for Christ. They will sap my attention towards him and direct it other places. And I tolerate it. In this lesson, if there's a spiritual lesson of Numbers chapter 31 and in the ensuing battles, because when we get to Joshua and Judges, we're going to have a number of battles. In those ensuing battles is if I allow these things I know rob my heart from the Lord, then I have to be willing to end them, willing to get rid of them because our hearts are just like the hearts of the people of Israel.

So this is the lesson to take away. It's not that complete destruction of another people is good. That is not good, but it was commanded out of concern for the people of Israel's weakness. For us who share the same weakness, what do we need to do? What do I need to do to get rid of those things in my life that are taking me away from the true worship of God? Last little note here. Speaking of true worship of God, I do want to highlight Psalm 116. Just one quick moment. This is a Psalm 116 that every priest prays on a regular basis, at least once a week. And one of it says, for what, what shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the chalice of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. This is one of the things

that we recognize we do at every single mass is every single mass. We lift up the chalice of salvation, the blood of the new and eternal covenant of Jesus Christ our Lord. And not only it says that, it goes on to say, I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. You might not know this, maybe you do know this, but the Greek word for thanksgiving is the word Eucharistia. And so here's what we do. We offer up the sacrifice of Eucharistia. We offer up the Eucharist at every mass and call on the name of the Lord. So Psalm 116 is precious in the sacrifice of Eucharistia. We offer up the Eucharist at every mass and call on the name of the Lord. So Psalm 116 is precious in the heart of every priest. And since you are baptized, if you're baptized, you are a kingdom priest. I'm a ministerial priest. If you're baptized,

you are a kingdom priest. And so when you go to the mass, you also offer up the Eucharistic sacrifice, the Thanksgiving sacrifice, and we call on the name of the Lord together. We continue to call on the name of the Lord with each other and support each other and intercede on behalf of each other, especially when we hit difficult moments, not only in scripture, but difficult moments in life. My encouragement is don't let this stop you. Don't let this slow you down. We trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, knowing that even if we don't understand all of God's words in this moment, if we keep on moving, he reveals his heart more deeply and more deeply every day.

My name is Father Mike. I am praying for you and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.