The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 81: Israel Crosses the Jordan (2023)

Episode Date: March 22, 2023

As we begin our reading of the book Joshua, Fr. Mike draws our attention to God's power as he parts the waters of the Jordan river, allowing the Israelites to walk across on dry land. We learn that following God often requires great courage and trust. Today's readings are Joshua 1-4, and Psalm 123. 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. This is day 81. It is the first day in a new time period, the time period of the conquest and judges. And it's a little bit different

because we're going to be reading four chapters from Joshua for actually for the next, give or take, I don't know, seven days or so. We're going to be taking a chunk of chapters, meaning like, I don't know, anywhere from two to four chapters each day to get through the book of Joshua in the next, give or take, eight days. If people were better than me at math, well, no. Father, it's exactly eight days. From day 81 to day 88, we'll be reading through the book of Joshua. This is day 81, Joshua chapter one through chapter four. We're also going to be praying Psalm 123. As always, the Bible translation that I am reading is the Revised Standard Version, the Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.

And if you'd like to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year, and that will be yours forever, yours to keep our gift to you. If you haven't subscribed yet, the question is why? But you could subscribe in your podcast app to receive daily episodes. As noted before, if you got to the podcast episode that introduces this time period of conquest and judges, you know what we're about to do. You know what we're about to face. You know what the people of Israel are about to encounter. We are leaving Deuteronomy chapter 34.

We come to the end of Numbers chapter 36. And now we're taking the next step. Moses has just died and Joshua is now the new leader of the people of Israel as he leads them from the wilderness, across the plains of Moab, over the Jordan River, into the promised land. And today we're reading Joshua 1 through 4 and praying Psalm 123. The book of Joshua, chapter 1. God commissions Joshua. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister,

Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the great sea toward going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be

with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to the law all which Moses my servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Be not frightened, neither be dismayed,

for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Preparations for Taking Over the Land Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, Pass through the camp and command the people, prepare your provisions. For within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess. And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan.

But all the men of valor among you shall pass over, armed before your brethren, and shall help them, until the Lord gives rest to your brethren as well as to you, and they also take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them, then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise. And they answered Joshua, All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him shall be put to death. Only be strong and of

good courage. Chapter 2. Spies sent to Jericho. And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, Go, view the land, especially Jericho. And they went, and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, Behold, certain men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land. Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land. But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, True, men came to me, but I did not know where they came from. And when the gate was

to be closed at dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with stalks of flax, which she had laid out in order on the roof. So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan, as far as the fords. And as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. Before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two

kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any man because of you. For the Lord your God is he who is God in the heaven above and on earth beneath. Now then, swear to me by the Lord that as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house and give me a sure, and save alive my father and my mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death. And the men said to her, Our life for yours, if you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly

and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us the land. Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she dwelt in the wall. And she said to them, Go into the hills, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourself there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way. The men said to her, We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of ours, which you have made us swear. Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers and all your father's household. If anyone goes out of the doors of this house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand

is laid upon anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath which you have made us swear. And she said, According to your words, so be it. Then she sent them away, and they departed, and she bound a scarlet cord in the window. They departed, and went into the hills, and remained there three days until the pursuers returned, for the pursuers had made search all along the way and found nothing. Then the two men came down again from the hills, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had befallen them. And they said to Joshua, Truly the Lord has

given all the land into our hands, and moreover all the inhabitants of the land are faint-hearted because of us. Chapter 3. Israel Passes Over the Jordan. Early in the morning Joshua rose and set out from Shittim with all the sons of Israel, and they came to the Jordan and lodged there before they passed over. At the end of three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it, that you may know the way you shall go. For you have not passed this way before, yet there shall be a space between you and it, a distance of about 2,000 cubits.

Do not come near it. And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. And Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant

and went before the people. And the Lord said to Joshua, And Joshua said to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan. And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, Come here and hear the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will, without fail, drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. And when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan,

the waters of the Jordan shall be stopped from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap. So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water, the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. The waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethon. And those flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the salt sea, were wholly cut off, and the people passed over opposite Jericho. And while all Israel were

passing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. Chapter 4. Twelve Stones Set Up at Gilgal. When all the nations had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests' feet stood, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you lodged tonight. Then Joshua called the twelve men from the sons of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number

of the tribes of the sons of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, What do these stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the sons of Israel a memorial forever. And the men of Israel did as Joshua commanded and took up 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. And Joshua set up twelve stones in the

midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood, and they are there to this day. For the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people passed over in haste. And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the Lord and the priests passed over before the people. The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh

passed over armed before the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the sons of Israel as Moses had bidden them. About 40,000 ready, armed for war, passed over before the Lord for battle to the plains of Jericho. On that day, the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him, as they had stood in awe of Moses all the days of his life. And the Lord said to Joshua, Command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant to come up out of the Jordan. Joshua therefore commanded the priests, Come up out of the Jordan. And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord

came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before. The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took up out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. And he said to the sons of Israel, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, what do these

stones mean? Then you shall let your children know. Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over. So all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever. Psalm 123, supplication for mercy, a song of ascents. To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to

the Lord our God till he have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us. For we have had more than enough of contempt. Too long our soul has been sated with the scorn of those who are at ease, the contempt of the proud. Father in heaven, we thank you and give you praise. We glorify your name. And we just are reminded, Lord God, of your goodness. We're reminded of your faithfulness. And we're reminded of the need to be reminded. We're reminded of your faithfulness and we're reminded of the need

to be reminded. We're reminded of the need to remember Lord God this day. As we hear these words, as we pray and let your word shape us, Lord God, let our lives be a memorial. Let our lives be one that our hearts be one, our minds be one that remembers who you are and what you have done in this world and in our lives. Help us never, ever to forget your goodness and to never, ever forget your presence. 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 the book of Joshua gets off to a pretty fast start, you know, establishing Joshua as the new Moses. And one of the things that establishes Joshua as the new Moses is not only

Moses. I mean, we heard in numbers, we heard in Deuteronomy how Moses had said, you're going to be following Joshua basically. And then we have God himself saying, yeah, you're going to be following Joshua. So he's being installed essentially as the new leader of the people of Israel. He's been installed as the new leader of the people of Israel. He's been installed as the new leader of the people of Israel over the Jordan and into the promised land. And this is part of it, right? How the waters get stopped and how the Jordan river is halted because of the presence of the Lord in the Ark of the Covenant. One of the things that is so important for us, I want to highlight two things because we're deep in the story right now and we're going to be following this narrative and it's going to be, ah, it's

just so good already. But the two things are some of the first words that the Lord is reiterating to Joshua. And those first words that the Lord is reiterating to Joshua are the words that not only does Joshua need to hear, but the people of Israel will need to hear these words as well. And those words are be strong and of good courage. Be strong and of good courage, repeated often throughout these first couple chapters, going to be repeated again throughout scripture. But in chapter one, especially there's this line where God says, have I not commanded you? Like, listen, you're going to do what I've, listen, you're gonna do what I've asked. You're gonna do what I've commanded. So be strong and of good courage.

Be not frightened, neither be dismayed. Why? For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And there is something about this that we recognize that when God is with us, there is a change. There is something completely different that even in the midst of struggles or trials, in the midst of battles, even in the midst of failure, when God is with us, we can still be strong and of good courage. We can be strong and of very good courage because the Lord is the God

of our hearts. And to have courage, the word courage comes from the Latin word cor, which is C-O-R, which means heart. And so to be discouraged is to lose heart, but to be encouraged is to be given strength at heart. So to be of good courage is to let our hearts not be afraid, let our hearts not be weary, let our hearts not be discouraged, but to know that God is with us, again, in the midst of trials, in the midst of struggles, in the midst of battle, and even in the midst of failure, we can be those people like Joshua, like the people of Israel who are called to be very strong and of good courage. The other thing is, why can we be strong and of good courage? Because it says that,

Lord, your God is with you. And I love the fact that here, as the people of Israel are passing through the Jordan River on dry ground, remember that these are the children of the people who passed through the Red Sea on dry ground. So these people had never seen this miracle. They've heard of the miracle their parents had lived through, but they themselves did not pass on dry ground through the Red Sea. And so what is God doing? He's giving them an experience of his power. He's giving them an experience of his might and giving them an experience that they can now, as they go into the promised land, that they can look back on and say, no, God has brought us to this place. This is the way he wants us to walk. And this is where he wants us to be. And he is willing to act for us. He's willing to fight for us. And we know this because we saw it with our own eyes. But

here's the thing. Even when we've seen things with our own eyes, even when we know what God has done for us personally, we can so quickly forget. We can, yeah, be strong of courage. I'm with you, but we can even forget those. We can even forget miracles in our lives. If you've ever had something like a miracle or a true miracle happen in your life, you know that this is the case. We are often tempted to forget in the dark what we knew was true in the light. We're often tempted to forget in the new trial what we learned in the old trial. We're often tempted to forget that God is fighting for us when we're in the midst of the battle. And so what is the command? The command is take these stones from the center of the Jordan

and stack them up, pile up into an altar, reminding the people as long as they live, where did these stones come from? They came from the middle of the river. That's how deep down the Lord went for us. And as often as you see this pile of stones, this altar of stones, what you can see is that's what he did for me. And I'll never forget it. It's one of the reasons why when we're going through this Bible in a year, one incredible thing you can do for yourself is to write down the insights that you receive when you listen to the Bible, when you read the Bible.

Write them down. Capture them down somewhere that you can always come back to them because it's so easy to forget. So if you stack up those stones, basically another way to say it is here you are writing down those insights. You're stacking up those stones that came from an impossible place. They came from a place where God was and where he was fighting for you, where God was and he was revealing his heart to you, where God was and you knew that he was present to you.

To write down those lines, write down those actions of God, write down those reminders, they will be kind of like your 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan that are stored up in your journal, that are stored up in the margins of your Bible, that are stored up in a safe place that you can always go back to and be reminded of the reason why we can be strong and of good courage, because he is with us. We are praying for you. I am praying for you. I know so many people are telling me, gosh, Father, whenever you say you're praying for us and please pray for you, I do. And I am so grateful because I am praying for you as well. We're praying for each other. My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.