The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 82: The Valley of Achor (2024)

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

Fr. Mike explains the meaning of circumcision for Israel's relationship with God. He also underscore the gravity of Achan's sin, and how the Valley of Achor symbolizes shame that is painful but not hopeless. Today we read Joshua 5-7 and Psalm 125. 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.

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second day of the time period of conquest and judges. We are reading today from Joshua chapter five through chapter seven, sticking, as I mentioned yesterday, with the book of Joshua pretty much for the next eight or so days until day 88, where we'll conclude Joshua and then day 89, move over to Judges. We're also praying today from Psalm 125. I am reading as always from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast that you are currently listening to on day 82 for crying out loud if you have not yet subscribed. We just

all wonder, we just wonder, like, what is it we need to do? What is it we need to do after 82 days to get you to subscribe? Chances are you've already subscribed, and we are really, really grateful for that. As I said today, we are reading from Joshua chapter 5 through chapter 7 in Prang Psalm 125. The book of Joshua chapter 5. The sons of Israel are circumcised. When all the kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan to the west and all the kings of the Canaanites that were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the sons of Israel until they had crossed over, their heart melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the sons of Israel. At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel again the

second time. So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath Haraloth. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war had died on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt. Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people that were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the sons of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness till all the nation, circumcised. For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the nation, the men of war that came forth out of Egypt, perished, because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord. To them the Lord swore that he would not let them see the land which the Lord had

sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So it was their children, whom he had raised up in their stead, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. When the circumcising of all the nation was done, they remained in their places in the camp till they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. The Passover at Gilgal While the sons of Israel were encamped in Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at the evening in the plains of Jericho.

And on the next day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. And the manna ceased on the next day, when they ate the produce of the land, and the sons of Israel had manna no more, but ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. Joshua's Vision When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries?

And he said, No, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped and said to him, What does my Lord bid his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Put off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. Chapter 6. Jericho Taken and Destroyed Now Jericho was shut up from within and from without because of the sons of Israel. None went out and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given into your hand Jericho, with its king and mighty

men of valor. You shall march around the city all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. And on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him. So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said to the

people, Go forward, march around the city, and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord. And as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. But Joshua commanded the people, You shall not shout, or let your voice be heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth,

until the day I bid you shout, then you shall shout. So he caused the ark of the Lord to compass the city, going about at once, and they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord, and the seven priests, bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord, passed on, blowing the trumpets continually. And the armed men went before them, and the rear guard came up after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days. On the seventh day they rose early at the dawn of the day, and marched around the city in the same manner

seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the harlot and all who were with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers that we sent. But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them, you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing of destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord. They shall go into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted,

and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. Then they utterly destroyed all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep and donkeys, with the edge of the sword. And Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, Go into the harlot's house and bring out from it the woman and all who belong to her as you swore to her. So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belong to her, and they brought all her kindred and set them outside the camp of Israel. And they burned the city with fire and all within it, only the silver and gold and the

vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. But Rahab, the harlot and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she dwelt in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Joshua laid an oath upon them at that time, saying, Cursed be for the Lord be the man that raises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land. Chapter 7. The Sin of Achan and its Punishment But the sons of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things. For Achan the son of Carmi,

the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel. Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Avon, east of Bethel, and said to them, Go up and spy out the land. And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are but few. So about three thousand went up there from the people, and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai killed about thirty-six men of them, and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim, and slew them at the descent.

And the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and they put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan. O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name? The Lord said to Joshua, Arise, why have you thus fallen upon your face? Israel has sinned. They have transgressed

my covenant, which I commanded them. They have taken some of has sinned. They have transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. They have taken some of the devoted things. They have stolen and lied and put them among their own stuff. Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies because they have become a thing for destruction. I will be with you no more unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Up, sanctify the people and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for thus says the Lord God of Israel, There are devoted things in the midst of you, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.

In the morning, therefore, you shall be brought near by your tribes, and the tribe which the Lord takes shall come near by families, And the family which the Lord takes shall come near by households, and the household which the Lord takes shall come near man by man. And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done a shameful thing in Israel. So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe and the tribe of Judah was taken.

And he brought near the families of Judah and the family of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man and Zabdi was taken. And he brought near his household man by man and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi was taken. And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, was taken. Then Joshua said to Achan, My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and render praise to him, and tell me now what you

have done. Do not hide it from me. And Achan answered Joshua, Of a truth, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did. When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shiner, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And behold, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath. So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the sons of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord and Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zerah and the silver and the mantle

and the bar of gold and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why did you bring trouble upon us? The Lord brings trouble on you this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day, the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor. Psalm 125, the security of God's people, a song of asc Ascents Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.

As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people, from this time forth and forevermore. For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hands to do wrong. Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts. But those who turn aside upon their crooked ways, the Lord will lead away with evildoers. Peace be in Israel. Father in heaven, we give you praise and we thank you. We thank you for sharing this story with us. Thank you for being part of our stories as we, like Achan, as we can be unfaithful, knowing exactly what you've asked us to do. So often, Lord, we turn

away and do what we want to do. Lord, the heart of every sin is knowing what you want and yet doing what we want in violation of that. And so we come back to you knowing that in our guilt, you meet us with your mercy. In our shame, you meet us with your reconciliation. So please, Lord God, transform our valley of Akor into a door of hope, hope for our lives, hope for our children, for our families, hope for our culture, hope for our world, hope for your people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So, gosh, oh man, there's so much. In the narrative book here of Joshua, there are so many things to cover. One thing, just to kind of recap, you noticed that when they entered the promised land, right? So they crossed the Jordan River. That was yesterday. And today they're into the promised land.

And the Lord said to Joshua, who replaced Moses, that we need to circumcise all of the men. Now, this is remarkable because remember those, even the scripture even indicates that those who were set free from slavery in Egypt had been circumcised, but during the wilderness journey, during those 40 years, they didn't circumcise anyone. And there's almost this sense of, why is that? Why would that be? Well, part of it is there's being fully delivered here in the scripture today from this history of their slavery.

They're being released in this particular way that scripture indicates that says, no, you have a new life. There's this covenant that's being renewed. As often as the Jewish man is circumcised, he's brought into that covenant, that covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so that's what happens is like you're breaking free from this history of your slavery and being brought into a relationship of love right now. And so that's the first thing. And then another thing is the recognition of that the men here of fighting age who are circumcised would be very vulnerable. As we know that from back in Genesis where the families of Simeon and Levi had basically entered into covenant with the men of

the family who had raped Adina and then killed them all in their vulnerability after they had been circumcised. And so here they are. Why didn't they get circumcised in the plains of Moab on the other side of the Jordan? Well, there's a certain element of trust. And that's, I mean, the very reality of circumcision when it comes to Abraham is all about the sense of I am making myself vulnerable in a very particular way out of trust for God, which is just really, again, once again, really remarkable. Next is they celebrate the Feast of Passover. And the next day, the manna ceases.

And there's something about that. The Lord cared for them all throughout their wilderness wanderings, their desert journey. And that's over now. And now he will care for them in a different way. But they've been trained. Remember, they've been trained by being fed by the Lord. And so now that manna is ceasing. Now, the last two quick things I want to highlight.

At one point, this angel of the Lord appears to Joshua. And Joshua asks the question, are you for us or are you for our adversaries? Are you for us or are you for our enemies? And the answer of the angel of the Lord is so unique. He just says, no. I love this. This is so powerful. He just says, no.

And what he is indicating is one of the things he's indicating is he says, basically, the question we can say is, is God on our side? And the response is, well, not yes or no, but the response is, that's not the question. That's not the right question. The question really should be, are we on God's side? I think that might have been something Abraham Lincoln had once said, something along those lines. What's revealed in this is not only our need to be on God's side and not wanting to just make God agree with us and be on our side, but it also reveals that this battle really isn't

going to be simply against the Canaanites. This battle, these subsequent battles are not merely against the Philistines or against any of the other Amorites or Jebusites or any of these other people. The battle truly is a cosmic battle. One of the things that gets revealed to us about those, whether they be the Moabites or the Jebusites or the Canaanites or the Philistines, is not only that they were quote-unquote different, they're not just different. They were living a life, they were building a culture truly upon wickedness, upon the denigration of the human person. I mean, truly, where you would offer in these communities, we already experienced this, they would offer human sacrifice, sacrifice of their own children to the god Moloch.

And so there's this cosmic battle happening. Again, it's not against the people. It's not against those other people. It's against a cosmic thing. And St. Paul will later on go on to say, our battle is not with flesh and blood, but is with principalities and powers. And that's one of the things that's revealed here with Joshua's vision, is that this isn't merely armies coming together.

This isn't merely, let's drive out this people. What it really is, is a cosmic battle. And again, with eyes of faith, we can see that. With eyes that don't have faith, we question that. And that's one of the things we're going to continue to run into again and again, where there's things that are happening in scripture that if we read them and listen to them through the eyes or ears of faith, from the perspective of faith, we say, okay, Lord, I trust you. But if we read them or listen to them, take them in through the perspective of distrust, the perspective of cynicism or skepticism, then I don't know if there's too much that we can really allow to penetrate our hearts. Even this last story of Achan, where Achan takes some of the plunder, essentially, from the destruction

of the city of Jericho. And it even says that, so he and his whole family and everything he owns is going to be destroyed. Now, we could look at that and say, gosh, that's so brutal. That's so violent. It's so unfair. And yet, it wasn't as if that was lost on the people. Like the tragedy of that wasn't lost on the people of Israel. But what happened was here's this one man's sin that does what? That comes at the price of 36 people's lives. If you remember that it was because of Achan's sin that they lost the battle of Ai. And at the battle of Ai, 36 Israelites died.

And so you think this is towards the level of justice, but it's not like a triumphant kind of justice. It's not like, yeah, let's get this guy. Let's destroy Achan and destroy his whole family and everything he has. It's not a moment. It's not a happy moment. In fact, they named the place where he dies. They named the place where this justice is extended or doled out. They name it the Valley of Achor, A-C-H-O-R. The Valley of Achor means trouble. Trouble is what Achor means, or sadness or despair. It's our shame. It's a moment of our shame because it's not a great moment. It's not a moment where the people of Israel are saying, yeah, get Achan. This is terrible. We're so mad at him. What it is, is here's the valley of a horror, which is the valley of our shame,

the valley of our trouble. And so just keep, as we read this, like, let's look at it from the perspective of the people of Israel. Here is the justice that we have to dole out, but it is not a happy moment. No one considered it to be a happy moment. And so again, when we read through the eyes of faith, we see that. If I read through the eyes of cynicism or skepticism, I can't see that. But later on, what's going to happen is we're going to read the book of the prophet Hosea. And one of the things that the Lord says through the prophet Hosea about this valley of a whore is he's going to say this because he references it in Hosea chapter two.

He says, I will take your valley of horror, your valley of trouble, your valley of shame, and make it into a door of hope. That here's what the Lord can do. He can transform even this low point in the people's lives, in our lives, in the lives of our families, this low point that no one wanted, but we had to do, and transform it into a door of hope. And so just as a kind of a quick teaser before we get to the book of Hosea, which is going to come up, you know, a couple of weeks or months to recognize that every one of us has a valley of a horror. Maybe it's something someone has done to us. Maybe it's something that we've chosen. We brought upon ourselves trouble. We

brought upon ourselves shame. We brought upon ourselves something that we just absolutely hate about our reality, about our lives. Well, Hosea promises that even that, even this low point, even this thing you say, I can never ever get away from this. This will haunt me for the rest of my life. It'll come with me for the rest of my life. That the Lord God says, actually, that's not true. I can take this valley of horror, this valley of trouble, this valley of shame, and I can transform it into a door of hope. So that's my prayer for every one of us today, is we all have a valley of trouble and we all have a valley of shame. We all have things in our past that have wounded us and continue to linger and hold on to us. To surrender that today and say, okay, God, I gave you permission.

Transform my valley of a whore, my valley of trouble, my valley of shame into a door of hope. If I surrender it to you, you can change it. And so that's what I'm praying. I'm praying that that's what happens, that every one of us can do that today. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me that I can do that because I have my valleys as well. And we'll just keep praying for each other. My name is Father Mike, and I cannot wait to see you again tomorrow. God bless.