Day 177: Return, O Israel (2024)

This episode explores biblical narratives and prophecies, focusing on themes of divine justice, mercy, and repentance, particularly through the stories of the anointing of Jehu and the prophetic books of Hosea.

1. Divine justice serves as a path to conversion, although it can be severe and challenging.
2. The anointing of Jehu and his mission to eradicate the house of Ahab symbolize the harsh reality of divine retribution.
3. Hosea's prophecies highlight God's persistent call for repentance amidst Israel's ongoing rebellion.
4. Despite the stark judgments, there's an underlying theme of divine mercy and the hope of redemption.
5. God’s love remains steadfast, offering restoration and healing even when people turn away.

1: Introduction

Father Schmitz sets the stage for the episode's focus on divine justice and mercy. He introduces the primary biblical texts and themes for the day. Father Mike Schmitz: "Today, we are exploring the divine justice through the stories of the Old Testament, focusing on the dramatic unfolding of God's plan."

2: Anointing of Jehu

Discusses Jehu's anointing and his tasked mission to execute divine justice against the house of Ahab, illustrating the severe aspects of God's justice. Father Mike Schmitz: "Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel, and you shall strike down the house of Ahab."

3: Prophecies of Hosea

Covers Hosea's emotional pleas for Israel's return to faithfulness amidst their continuous idolatry and rebellion. Father Mike Schmitz: "How can I give you up, O Ephraim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender."

4: Conclusion and Reflection

Father Schmitz reflects on the lessons from the episode, emphasizing the balance between justice and mercy in divine actions. Father Mike Schmitz: "While we witness divine justice, we must not forget the mercy that God extends to those who return to Him."

1. Reflect on personal areas needing repentance and actively seek to reconcile with God’s teachings.
2. Embrace the lessons of divine justice as motivations for personal and communal reform.
3. Cultivate compassion and understanding in judgments, mirroring the balance of justice and mercy demonstrated by God.
4. Engage with scripture regularly to understand the deeper meanings of justice and mercy.
5. Pray for the grace to forgive and extend mercy, even in challenging circumstances, following the example of Christ.

Fr. Mike shortly touches on David's honest prayer in Psalm 109 before diving into the unending love God has for his people. As we continue to journey through our readings, we will begin to see the words of the prophets come to fruition as those who return to the Lord in faith will experience his undying love and forgiveness, despite their unfaithfulness. Today's readings are 2 Kings 9, Hosea 11-14, and Psalm 109.

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Father Mike Schmitz

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Father Mike Schmitz
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 Ear 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 177.

We are reading from two kings, chapter nine. Also the last four chapters, chapter 1112, 13, and 14 of Hosea. And we're also praying psalm 109. As always, the Bible translation that I am reading from is 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 bibleina year. You also can subscribe to this podcast if you're in a podcast app that allows you to subscribe. And if you can't, then you can't. And we'll move on with life, because that's how it goes. We're on day 177.

We're getting closer and closer to the end of the kingdom, northern kingdom of Israel. With each passing story and with each passing day, we get more and more dangerously close to those Assyrians who are going to come in, spoiler alert, they're going to come in and they're going to destroy the northern ten tribes of Israel because they refuse to listen to people like Hosea. Or tomorrow, when we start with the prophet Amos, they refuse to listen to God's call. And so God is going to have to respond not with gentle words of mercy, but with his justice, which is always oriented towards conversion, but is also difficult sometimes to live through. And so we're going to enter more and more deeply into that as we continue with these stories.

As I said, it's day 177. We're reading two kings, chapter nine, Hosea, chapters 1112, 13, and 14, as well as we're praying psalm 109, the second book of kings, chapter nine, anointing of Jehu. Then Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, gird up your loins and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth Gilead. And when you arrive, look there for Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, and go in and bid him rise from among his fellows and lead him to an inner chamber. Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.

Then open the door and flee. Do not tarry. So the young man, the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead, and when he came, behold, the commanders of the army were in council. And he said, I have an errand to you, o commander. And Jehu said, to which of us all?

And he said to you, o commander. So he arose and went into the house. And the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anoint you king over the people of the Lord over Israel, and you shall strike down the house of Ahab, your master, that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish. And I will cut off from Ahab every male bond or free in Israel.

And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her. Then he opened the door and fled. When Jehu came out to the servants of his master, they said to him, is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?

And he said to them, you know the fellow and his talk. And they said, that is not true. Tell us now. And he said, thus. And so he spoke to me, saying, thus says the lord, I anoint you king over Israel.

Then in haste, every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps. And they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, Jehu is king. Joram of Israel killed. Thus Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. Now Joram with all Israel, had been on guard at Ramoth Gilead against Hazael, king of Syria.

But King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria. So Jehu said, if this is your mind, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel. Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come down to visit Joram. Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came.

And said, I see a company. And Joram said, take a horseman and send to meet them. And let him say, is it peace? So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, thus says the king, is it peace? And Jehu said, what have you to do with peace?

Turn round and ride behind me. And the watchman reported, saying, the messenger reached them, but he is not coming back. Then he sent out a second horseman who came to them and said, thus the king has said, is it peace? And Jehu answered, what have you to do with peace? Turn round and ride behind me.

Again the watchman reported, he reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously. Joram said, make ready. And they made ready his chariot. Then Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, set out each in his chariot and went to meet Jehu and met him at the property of Naboth, a jezreelite.

And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, is it peace, Jehu? He what peace can there be so long as the harlotries and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many? Then Joram reigned about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, treachery, O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and shot Joram between the shoulders so that the arrow pierced his heart. And he sank in his chariot.

Jehu said to bidkar his aid, take him up and cast him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth, the jezreelite. For remember when you and I rode side by side behind Ahab, his father, how the Lord uttered this oracle against him as surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, says the Lord, I will repay you on this plot of ground. Now, therefore, take him up and cast him on the plot of ground in accordance with the word of the lord. Ahaziah, king of Judah, killed when Ahaziah, the king of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth Hagan, and Jehu pursued him and said, shoot him also. And they shot him in the chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ablim.

And he fled to Megiddo and died there. His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David. In the 11th year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah. Jezebel's violent death. When Jehu came to Jezreel.

Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window. And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, is it peace, you zimri, murderer of your master? And he lifted up his face to the window and said, who is on my side? Who? Two or three eunuchs looked out at him.

He said, throw her down. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her. Then he went in and ate and drank and said, see now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter. But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. When they came back and told him, he said, this is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the in the territory of Jezreel, the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say this is Jezebel.

The book of Hosea, chapter eleven God's compassion despite Israels unfaithfulness. When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me. They kept sacrificing to the baals and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk.

I took them up in my arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of compassion with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who raises an infant to his cheeks. And I bent down to them and fed them. They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king because they have refused to return to me. The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them in their fortresses.

My people are bent on turning away from me, so they are appointed to the yoke, and none shall remove it. How can I give you up, o ephraim? How can I hand you over, o Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboim?

My heart recoils within me. My compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger. I will not again destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not man, the holy one in your midst, and I will not come to destroy. They shall go after the Lord, he will roar like a lion.

Yes, he will roar. And his sons shall come trembling from the west. They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria. And I will return them to their homes, says the Lord. Ephraim has encompassed me with lies and the house of Israel with deceit.

But Judah is still known by God and is faithful to the holy one. Chapter twelve the long history of Israel's rebellion Ephraim herds the wind and pursues the east wind all day long they multiply falsehood and violence. They make a bargain with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt. The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God.

He strove with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with him, the Lord, the God of hosts. The Lord is his name. So you, by the help of your God return.

Hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God, a traitor in whose hands are false balances he loves to oppress. Ephraim has said, aye, but I am rich. I have gained wealth for myself. But all his riches can never offset the guilt he has incurred. I am the Lord your God.

From the land of Egypt I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast. I spoke to the prophets. It was I who multiplied visions and through the prophets gave parables. If there is iniquity in Gilead, they shall surely come to nothing. If in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls, their altars also shall be like stone heaps on the furrows of the field.

Jacob fled to the land of Aram. There Israel did service for a wife, and for a wife he herded sheep. By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved. Ephraim has given bitter provocation. So his lord will leave his blood guilt upon him and will turn back upon him his reproaches.

Chapter 13 God the savior and judge of Israel. When Ephraim spoke, men trembled. He was exalted in Israel, but he incurred guilt through baal and died. And now they sin more and more and make for themselves molten images, idols skillfully made of their silver. All of them the work of craftsmen sacrifice.

To these they say, men kiss calves. Therefore they shall be like the morning mist or the dew that goes early away, like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor, or like smoke from a window. I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt. You know no God but me, and beside me there is no savior. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

But when they had fed to the full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up. Therefore they forgot me. So I will be to them like a lion, like a leopard. I will lurk beside the way. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs.

I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would tear them. I will destroy you, O Israel. Who can help you? Where now is your king to save you? Where are all your princes to defend you?

Those of whom you said, give me a king and princes. I have given you kings in my anger, and I have taken them away in my wrath. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up. His sin is kept in store. The pangs of childbirth come for him.

But he is an unwise son, for now he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb. Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O death, where are your plagues, O Sheol? Where is your destruction?

Compassion is hidden from my eyes. Though he may flourish as the reed plant, the east wind, the wind of the Lord shall come rising from the wilderness, and his fountain shall dry up. His spring shall be parched it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing. Samaria shall bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword.

Their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

Chapter 14 a plea for repentance and a promise return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with your words and return to the Lord. Say to him, take away all iniquity except that which is good, and we will render the fruit of our lips. Assyria will not save us. We will not ride upon horses, and we will say no more.

Our God did the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy. I will heal their faithlessness. I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be as the dew to Israel.

He shall blossom as the lily he shall strike root as the poplar. His shoots shall spread out. His beauty shall be like the olive and his fragrance, like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow they shall flourish as a garden they shall blossom as the vine. The fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

O ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress. From me comes your fruit. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things.

Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

Psalm 109 prayer for vindication and vengeance to the choirmaster. A psalm of David. Be not silent, o God, of my praise, for wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They beset me with words of hate and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accurse me even as I make prayer for them, so they reward me evil for good and hatred for my love.

Appoint a wicked man against him. Let an accuser bring him to trial when he has tried, let him come forth guilty. Let his prayer be counted as sin. May his days be few. May another seize his goods.

May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children wander about and beg may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit. May the creditor seize all that he has. May strangers plunder the fruits of his toil. Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor any to pity his fatherless children.

May his posterity be cut off may his name be blotted out in the second generation. May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the lord. And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually. And may his memory be cut off from the earth.

For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted to their death. He loved to curse, let curses come on him. He did not like blessing. May it be far from him. He clothed himself with cursing as his coat.

May it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones. May it be like a garment which he wraps round him like a belt, with which he daily girds himself. May this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord, of those who speak evil against my life. But you, O God, my lord, deal on my behalf for your name's sake, because your mercy is good. Deliver me.

For I am poor and needy, and my heart is stricken within me. I am gone like a shadow. At evening. I am shaken off like a locust. My knees are weak.

Through fasting my body has become gaunt. I am an object of scorn to my accusers. When they see me, they wag their heads help me, O Lord. My God, save me according to your merciful love. Let them know that this is your hand.

You, O Lord, have done it. Let them curse, but do bless. Let my assailants be put to shame. May your servant be glad. May my accusers be clothed with dishonor.

May they be wrapped in their own shame, as in a mantle with my mouth. I will give great thanks to the Lord and will praise him in the midst of the throng, for he stands at the right hand of the needy to save him from those who condemn him to death.

Father in heaven, we give you praise and we do pray for your grace. We pray for your help. We come before you in prayer and in fasting. We come before you in our need. Because just like David in this psalm 109, God, we have those who stand against us.

We have those who curse us, those who have kept a blessing far from them. And unlike David, though unlike David, who asks for those who have cursed him to experience curses themselves, we ask for the grace, to be able to call out injustice when we see it, to name evil when we see it, but also a willingness to be like Christ, to be able to extend mercy, to be able to extend forgiveness. And so, Lord God, unlike David, we do not ask for curses to come upon our enemies. We ask for their conversion. We ask for you to love them into a new life.

We ask for you to give them the blessings that will change their hearts so that they know who you are and that they will follow you with their entire lives. In Jesus name, we pray for our enemies, and we pray for those who love us. We pray for those who do not love us as they should. And we pray for each other. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Okay. Gosh. You know, one of the things about these psalms is it's a psalm of David 109. And as we know David's story by now, we've, we've heard it thoroughly.

We know that he had real enemies. He had people who sought his life day after day. He had people who called them themselves, his friends, and pretended to be his friends, and they were not his friends at all. And so it makes sense that here is David who has this very honest prayer where he likes. He wants to see those who have been traitors.

He wants to see them get justice. And that's not bad. Remember, keep in mind, before we get to mercy, we have to understand justice. Before we get to a place where we can forgive. We have to understand that there is something to be forgiven.

And so that's where David is, in this place of his honest prayer, where he wants to see justice upon those who are his enemies. And yet, again, as we said in that prayer, we're called to go further than that. We're called to not pray in the image of David exclusively. We're called to pray in the image of Christ who said, father, forgive them. They do not know what they're doing, even as his freedom, his life, his everything, his dignity was being stripped away from him.

So we learn from these prayers in the book of psalms, and they can be modeled for our prayers, but we have to continually to bring them unto the light of Christ and, and understand them there. Moving on to second kings nine, what we have is the story we've come across. We've already read this in chronicles, the death of Jezebel, but we get a little bit more of the details that when Jehu, Jehu was anointed by. Remember that Elijah the tishbite before Elisha, Elijah was going to not only anoint Elisha to be his successor, also he was going to anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be next king over Israel. And here is the fulfillment of this with Elisha sending one of his kind of co prophets, right, one of the band of prophets, to anoint Jehu in secret.

And so he does that. And then we have all this unfolding of the king of Judah and the king of Israel who get killed, essentially, by Jehu. And also we have the death of Jezebel. And one of the things we see here is that here's Jezebel, who scripture points out that here she is, she paints her face, basically. She tries to make herself as attractive as she thinks she wants to be or needs to be in order to, I don't know.

Gosh, does she think that she's going to, I guess, for lack of a better term, seduce Jehu as he's coming to this place? To be able to basically overturn the current dynasty and set up a new dynasty, I'm not sure. But what is clear is that Jezebel has lost touch with reality in many ways. Maybe not just in this way where she comes out maybe thinking that she's going to distract Jehu from his mission, but also she's so departed from reality that doesn't realize that the people who are her servants, these two or three eunuchs who are working for her, and they've been her servants her whole life, that as if they would be faithful or loyal to her because Jehu simply says, throw her down. And then they threw her down.

It's very clear. He said, throw her down. So they threw her down. In that sense of, here is what we get in scripture with Jezebel, with Ahab, with all these other Atalia, these other characters, is they have been choosing evil for so long, and that finally, at some point, they get justice for what they've chosen. And this is one of the laws of scripture here, one of the laws of the Lord is that at some point, like we said the other day, at some point, God actually lets us get what we've chosen.

And that's in many ways the upshot of the book of the prophet Hosea. Now, Hosea lived to see the destruction of the kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel. He lived to see that all the things he's prophesying come to pass where the Assyrians did come in, and they did destroy those northern ten tribes known as the kingdom of Israel. And but these last chapters, these last chapters in Hosea, he's saying, yes, here's what is going to happen, because you continue, you continue to turn away from faithfulness. You continue to, it says this, oh, gosh.

God says, I was the one who taught Ephraim to walk. Remember, Ephraim is another word for the kingdom in the north, Israel. I took them up in my arms, but they didn't know that I healed them. I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who raises an infant to his cheeks. I've bent down and fed them, and then it says, but they refused to return to me.

And this reality of at some point, at some point, we get what we've chosen. And while Hosea is alive, the kingdom of Israel gets what it has chosen. It has chosen exile, and it gets exile. It's chosen to not belong to the Lord, and it gets to not belong to the Lord. Remember, the names of Hosea's children not pitied are not my child.

You know, that sense of that's what the prophets continue to warn people against, and that's ultimately what they receive. Now, at the same time, the story's not over. In fact, the last two chapters, God the savior and judge of Israel in chapter 13 and in chapter 14, a plea for repentance and a promise is this, is that even though they keep saying to the Lord God, you're not our God, and keep turning to false idols, to false gods, there's a promise. And Hosea keeps saying, return, O Israel. This is the last chapter, chapter 14.

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you your words and return to the Lord. And you will say no more, our God, to the work of your hands. And that is just so powerful. And God says, I will heal their faithlessness and I will love them freely.

This is just the powerful word of promise. Because, yes, Assyria will come in and they will destroy the northern kingdom of Israel. And Hosea will see this. But he also knows this unending, unstoppable love of God. Yep, the kingdom of Israel got what they've chosen.

They have chosen. At this point, they have lived faithlessly upon faithlessly. They've never known true worship, right? Because from the beginning, when Jeroboam I was there and set up those places of worship in Bethel and in Dan, they turned away from worship of God so fully. And then they even turned away from that.

They turned away from false worship of God to false worship of idols. And yet still God says, I will heal their faithlessness. I will love them freely. How? How is that possible?

Well, it's only possible because at one point in history, God himself becomes one of us. And from all the tribes and all the peoples and all the races and all the nations of the world, he extends his blessing to the furthest end. And in doing this, what Jesus does is because, remember, the ten tribes in the north are gone, lost forever. The only way God can bring them back in and restore them is when he restores them in the kingdom of God that Jesus proclaims and establishes in the church. Ah, it's so good.

I will love them freely. Brothers and sisters, you and I are often faithless, and yet God says, turn to me. I will heal your faithlessness and I will love you freely. What a good God to love. Our broken hearts.

Keep praying for each other because this is a long journey. Keep praying for me. I am praying for all of you. My name is Fr. Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.