Transcript for Day 121: Cycle of Violence (2023)

Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in the Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in the Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension, using the great adventure Bible timeline will read all the way from Genesis to Revelation. Discovering how this story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today, it is day, 121. And we're reading today from 2nd Samuel, chapter 2, from 1st Chronicles, chapter 2, more names. Thank you, Lord. And we're also praying Psalm 24. If you're interested, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is a revised standard version of second Catholic edition, I'm reading from 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 by clicking on subscribe and then you'll be subscribed. It'll be great. But as I said, if they won 21, so great, we're reading 2nd Samuel chapter 2, 1st Chronicles chapter 2 and praying Psalm 24. 2nd Samuel chapter 2, David anointed King of Judah. After this, David inquired of the Lord. Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said to him, go up. David said, to which shall I go up? And he said, to Hebron. So David went up there, and his two wives also, a hinoam of Jesrille, and Abigail, the widow of Nebel of Carmel. And David brought up his men who were with them every one with his household, and they dwelt in the towns of Hebron. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, it was the men of J. B. Gilliad who buried Saul, David sent messengers to the men of J. B. Gilliad and said to them, May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul, your Lord, and buried him. Now, may the Lord show mercy and faithfulness to you, and I will do good to you because you have done this thing. Now, therefore, let your hands be strong and be valiant, for Saul, your Lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me, king over them. Ishibasheth made King of Israel. Now, Abner, the son of Nure, commander of Saul's army, had taken a Shibasheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanim. And he made him king over Gilead, and the Asherites, and Jezreal, and Ephraim, and Benjamin, and all Israel. A Shibasheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. The Battle of Ghibyan. Abner, the son of Nirm, and the servants of the Shibasheth, the son of Saul, went out from Mahanim to Ghibyan. And Joab, the son of Zeroy, and the servants of David went out and met them at the pool of Ghibyan, and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool, and Abner said to Joab, that the young men arise and play before us. And Joab said, let them arise. Then they arose and passed over by number, twelve for Benjamin and a Shibashat, the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. And each caught his opponent by the head, and thrust his sword into his opponent's side, so they fell down together. Therefore, that place was called, Hel-Kath Hazarim, which is at Ghibyan. And the battle was very fierce that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David. And the three sons of Zerwai were there, Joab, Abashai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle, and Asahel pursued Abner, and as he went he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner, then Abner looked behind him and said, is it you Asahel? And he answered, it is I. Abner said to him, turn aside to your right hand or to your left and seize one of the young men and take his spoil. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. And Abner said to Asahel, turn aside from following me, why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab? but he refused to turn aside. Therefore, Abner struck him in the belly with the butt of his spear so that the spear came out at his back, and he fell there, and died where he was, and all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died stood still. But Joab and Abashite pursued Abner, and as the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Amah, which lies before Gia on the way to the wilderness of Gibbyan. And the Benjaminites gathered themselves together behind Abner, and became one band, and took their stand on the top of a hill. Then Abner called the Joab. Shelled the sword, devour forever. Do you not know that the end will be better? How long will it be before you bid your people turn from the pursuit of their brethren?" And Joab said. As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would have given up the pursuit of their brethren in the morning. So Joab blew the trumpet. And all the men stopped, and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore. And Abner, and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole forenoon they came to Mahanai. Jewab returned from the pursuit of Abner, And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing of David's servants, 19 men besides Asahel. But the servants of David had slain of Benjamin, 360 of Abner's men. And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron. the first book of Chronicles, chapter 2. Sons of Israel and the descendants of Judah. These are the sons of Israel, Rubin, Simian, Levi, Judah, Izacar, Zebulan, Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naftali, Gad, and Asher. The sons of Judah, Er, Onan, and Shila. These three, Bathshua, the Kamenitis, bore to him. Now, Er, Judas' firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord and He slew him. His daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him a Perez and Zera, Judah had five sons in all. The sons of Perez, Hezron, and Hamul. The sons of Zera, Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dera, five in all. The sons of Karmee, Akhar, the traveler of Israel, who transgressed in the matter of the devoted thing, and Ethan's son was Azoraya. The sons of Ezraan, that were born to him, Jermil, Ram, and Chudobai. Ram was the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab was the father of Nashon, Prince of the sons of Judah. Nashon was the father of Salma, Salma of Boaz, Boaz of Obed, Obed of Jesse, Jesse was the father of Elieb, his firstborn, a binadeb, the second, Shimea, the third. Nathaniel, the fourth, or Dye, the fifth. Ozen, the sixth. David, the seventh. And their sisters were Xeroy and Abigail. The sons of Xeroy, Abashai, Joab, and Asahal. Three. Abigail bore Amasa. And the father of Amasa was Jethar, the Ishmaelite. Caleb, the son of Hezran, had children by his wife Azuba and by Jeroth. And these were her sons, Cheshire, Shabbab, and Ardan. When Azuba died, Caleb married Efreth, who bore him her. Her was the father of Uri, Uri was the father of Bezallel. Afterwards, Hezran went in to the daughter of Makir, the father of Gilead, whom he married when he was 60 years old, and she bore him Segub. And Segub was the father of Gileir, who had 23 cities in the land of Gilead. But Gessir and Aram took from them howoth Gileir canoth in its villages 60 towns. All these were descendants of Makir, the father of Gilead. After the death of Hezran, Caleb went into Ephraim, the wife of Hezran, his father, and she bore him ashore, the father of Tecoa. The sons of Jermiel, the firstborn of Hezran, ram his firstborn, Buna, Oren, Ozen, and Aha. Jermiel also had another wife whose name was Atara, She was the mother of ONAM. The sons of RAM, the firstborn of Jeremiah, Maaz, Jamine, and Echer. The sons of ONAM, Shamai, and Jeda. The sons of Shamai, Nadeb, and Abashure. The name of Abashure's wife was Abihail, and she bore him Aban and Molyde. The sons of Nedava, Celed and Apaim, and Celed died childless. The sons of Apaim, Ishi. The sons of Ishi, Shashan. The sons of Shashan, Alai. The sons of Jeda, Shamai's brother. Chether and Jonathan, and Chether died childless, the sons of Jonathan, Pileph and Zazah. These were the descendants of Jeremiah. Now Shashan had no sons only daughters, but Shashan had an Egyptian slave whose name was Jarha. So Shashan gave his daughter in marriage to Jarha, his slave, and she bore him a tie. A tie was the father of Nathan and Nathan of Zabad. Zeybad was the father of Eflav, and Eflav of Obed, Obed was the father of Jehu, and Jehu of Azariah. Azariah was the father of Helles, and Helles of El-Asa. El-Asa was the father of Sismai, and Sismai of Shalum. Shalum was the father of Jacobaya, and Jacobaya of Alishima. The sons of Caleb, the brother of Jeremiah, Marasha, his first born, who was the father of Zif. The sons of Marasha, Hebron, the sons of Hebron, Korah, Tapua, Rakem, and Shima. Shima was the father of Rayham, the father of Jerka Am, and Rakem was the father of Shimae. The son of Shimae, my own, and my own was the father of Beth Zure. F.A. also kills Conquivine, or Haran, Moza, and Gazez, and Haran was the father of Gazez. The sons of Jadai, Regam, Jotham, Gashan, Palette, F.A. and Cha'af. Maaka, Caleb's concubine, Boor Shibur and Tirhana. She also bore Sha'af the father of Makmanah, Sha'af the father of Makmanah, and the father of Ghibya. And the daughter of Caleb was Aksa. These were the descendants of Caleb. The sons of her, the firstborn of Ephrtha, Shabal, the father of Karyath Jareem, Salma, the father of Bethlehem, and Herath, the father of Beth Gider, Shabal, the father of Karyath Jareem, had other sons. Herua, half of the Minuhoth, and the families of Karyath Jareem, the Ithralites, the Puthites, the Schumathites, and the Mishrites. From these came the Zorathites and the Eshto Lights. The sons of Selma, Bethlehem, the Natofa Thaits, a troth Beth Joab, and half of them Monathaits, the Zorites. The families also of the scribes that dwelt at J.B.s, the Tirithaits, and the Shimia Thaits, and the Suka Thaits. These are the Keynaits, who came from Hamath, the father of the house Rekhab. Psalm 24. Entrance into the temple, a Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. The world and those who dwell therein. For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from the God of His salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in, who is the King of Glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory today. Oh, we thank you so much for the unfolding of time. We thank you for the unfolding of the story, the story of salvation and the story of how Lord God, you're willing to take time. You're willing to be patient not only with us in our weakness, our littleness, and our falseness, You're also willing to be patient with just the passage of time with other people's decisions and the fact that we have to grow and that takes time to grow. And so we thank you. We thank you for being patient with us. We thank you for giving us time. And we thank you for allowing this time to be used. So we ask you, actually, not just thank you, Lord, but we ask you, help us to use this time to grow. Help us to use this time, not as wasted time, not as stalling out time, but as time where we can always find you, and you will always, always find us where we are in this moment. We give you praise, and we thank you, and make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. And the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. So as I said yesterday, we have a lot of names and first Chronicles. And that's gonna be how it is for the next few days. And I'm just so sorry about that. I'm not just sorry for you. I'm sorry for myself that we have to do this. But it's gonna be good. In fact, one of the great things, incredible connection. I love it. The name's all means something, right? Because every name signifies not just one individual. It's signifies their entire family. And so this is remarkable that we're getting a bit of the family tree. In fact, not just any family tree, we're getting the sons of Israel and the descendants of Judah specifically. And so what we have, we heard today, sons of Hezran is his chapter 2 verse 9, sons of Hezran that were born to him, Jermil Ram, and Shilabai. Then we go into the Hezran, father of Ram, father of Minnedab, and innedab, father of Nashon, Nashon, the father of Salma of Boaz of Obed, I don't know if those names and of Jesse and Jesse was the father of David the King. I don't know if you know this. If you hear this, if you recognize this, but this is the exact order that we get in Matthew's gospel. Matthew, when he gives us the genealogy of Jesus, if you're ever at the Christmas Eve Mass, you know we always read that genealogy of Jesus. We also read it a bunch of times when it comes to the Bible and it comes to church and Mass and stuff. But this is the lineup. This is the genealogy. This is the story of leading not just from Abraham all the way to David. But then beyond that, from David to Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the one who was promised from the very beginning. And it's just so good. And that's one of the reasons why. When we read all of these names, yes, at times, it can be who what? But we recognize they mean something. They mean a ton. And not only that, we have worn those happy coincidences today, where we have the connection between 2nd Simon chapter 2 and 1st Chronicles chapter 2, where, okay, remember, here is David and David, he's the king of Judah, and he's going to battle against Shibasheth, the king of some of the other tribes of Israel. And David goes into battle with a couple people. Three of these people, in fact, are the sons of his sister, Zerwai. And the three sons are Abashai, Joab, and Asahel. Asahel is described in second Samuel as being swift of foot like faster than a deer is awesome Asahel. But Asahel is doing something he's chasing after Abner. I remember Abner is this massively accomplished military folk person under King Saul. and Abner looks back and says, okay, Assel, stop chasing me because if I have to stand and fight you, I'm gonna kill you because, well, he's gonna, and he says your brother, Joe Ab, is gonna hold this against me. Basically, let's not have these officers in the militaries of these group of ishbisheths and David's go at each other because not only are they in battle right now because of their, the people reigning over them, David, and the shibbisheths. But also, don't let's not add revenge to the list of things. And Asahel won't give up chasing after Abner, so Abner. In self defense, he kills Asahel. And you know what happens next is Abashai and Joab, though remember those two brothers of Asahel who just killed the two nephews, essentially, of David. They chase after Abner, trying to kill him, and Abner basically crawls out and says, let's end the cycle of violence right now. Now, the cycle of violence is going to continue because that seems like that's how it goes, right? And yet, there was a wise moment there where Abner did call back to say to Asahel, stop fighting, stop chasing after me or I'll have to strike you down. He does, it's one of those really unfortunate things because this is ultimately going to be It's not going to end here. It doesn't end with chapter two. It continues as it always does. The imbalance be getting violence. And so what we do is we recognize in this story what it's going to unfold in this family is something that is well, it's it's devastating. It's what violence does in a virtually all of our lives that violence rarely ends on its own, but it has to be ended and How is it ended? Well, in any number of ways, but at some point, with Jesus reveals, is He takes violence upon Himself, rather than afflicting violence. Jesus takes violence upon Himself, suffers for the sake of the unrighteous, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, and puts an end in so many ways to that cycle. And Jesus gives us an opportunity to also be part of that cycle of violence, with the cycle of mercy, and the cycle of allowing oneself to suffer for the other. That's why our call to forgive is so clear in Jesus' proclamation and so clear in Jesus' teaching. Yet forgiveness is one of the hardest teachings of Christianity. So that's all that to say. We have a lot of stuff going on in the second Samuel and in the first Chronicles. And one of the things for today is we recognize not only the importance of the family tree, the importance of the genealogy, which represents the promises of God, but we also recognize how deadly violence is because it rarely ends on its own. It has to be ended. And so in my heart today, I just said, okay Lord, where the places of anger, where the places where desire revenge, or desire to be vindicated myself, because what someone else did or what someone else has said, And how do I imitate Jesus and say, okay, in this moment? I'll let them go in this moment. I said them free in this moment. I am not going to make them pay me back. I'm not going to hold it against them. In this moment, I am going to end this anger. I'm going to end this violence. That's a thing that's hard for us to do. That's why we're praying for each other. I am praying for you. Please, as I said, pray for each other and pray for me. My name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to deceive you tomorrow. God bless.