Day 178: Called Back (2024)

This episode of "The Bible in a Year" podcast with Father Mike Schmitz delves into themes of divine justice and retribution through biblical narratives, focusing on the books of Two Kings and Amos.

1. Divine retribution is a consistent biblical theme, illustrated through Jehu's actions and the prophecies of Amos.
2. True worship requires complete fidelity to God, not just the elimination of false idols.
3. The prophets serve as divine messengers, warning of consequences for continual sin and injustice.
4. Amos's messages emphasize that social justice is integral to genuine worship and righteousness.
5. The recurring biblical call is for a return to God, highlighting the urgency of repentance and realignment with divine laws.

1: Introduction to Amos

Father Mike introduces the prophet Amos, setting the stage for the prophetic messages that highlight the justice of God. Key discussions include the transition from the book of Hosea to Amos and the geographical and historical context of Amos's prophecies.

• Father Mike Schmitz: "Amos, not new now, but new to us today."

2: Jehu's Campaign Against Ahab's House

This chapter delves into the narrative of Jehu's brutal elimination of Ahab's descendants, discussing the fulfillment of divine justice yet highlighting Jehu's partial adherence to God's commands.

• Father Mike Schmitz: "Jehu did something good in terms of eliminating false worship of Baal."

3: The Prophetic Messages of Amos

Schmitz explores the broader implications of Amos’s prophecies, emphasizing the theme of divine retribution for sins of injustice and idolatry among the neighboring nations and Israel.

• Father Mike Schmitz: "For three transgressions and for four, it's sin upon sin."

1. Reflect on personal and communal adherence to faith and justice.
2. Evaluate areas of life where one might inadvertently support injustice or idolatry.
3. Engage in regular scripture reading to understand divine expectations.
4. Participate in community service to embody the principles of social justice.
5. Foster honest discussions in faith communities about righteousness and repentance.

Fr. Mike points out how Jehu followed God half-way, but God wants us to follow Him with our whole hearts. He also explains the prophecy of Amos, who is trying to call people back to the Lord before it is too late. The readings for today are 2 Kings 10, Amos 1-3, and Psalm 110.

People

• Father Mike Schmitz

Books

• The Bible (specifically the books of Two Kings and Amos)

Content Warnings:

None

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 a year podcast is brought to you by ascension using the great adventure Bible timeline. We'll read all the way from Genesis to revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story. Today. It is day 178, you guys.

Wow, just good job. Holy smokes. I am so grateful and so proud of you. We're reading today two kings, chapter ten. We're also diving from Hosea into Amos, the new prophet Amos.

Well, not new now, but new to us today. Amos, chapters one, two, and three. We're also praying psalm 110. As always. The Bible translation I'm 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 that way you would have known that Amos was sneaking up on us today in day 178. You can visit ascensionpress.com bibleina year. If you also want to, you can subscribe to this podcast in your app or not. Or listen to hallow.

And again, I mentioned this before, but you can listen with, like, raindrops in the background and pretty neat. So there you go. As I said, it is day 178. We are reading two kings, chapter ten. Amos, chapters one, two, and three.

And we are praying psalm 110, the second book of kings, chapter ten, massacre of Ahab's descendants. Now, Ahab had 70 sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of the city, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying, now, then, as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, fortified cities also, and weapons. Select the best and fittest of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne and fight for your master's house. But they were exceedingly afraid and said, behold, the two kings could not stand before him.

How then can we stand? So he who was over the palace and he who was over the city, together with the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu, saying, we are your servants, and we will do all that you bid us. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your eyes. Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, if you are on my side and if you are ready to obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time.

Now the king's sons 70 persons were with the great men of the city who were bringing them up. And when the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slew them 70 persons and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. When the messenger came and told him, they have brought the heads of the king's sons, he said, lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning. Then in the morning when he went out, he stood and said to all the people, you are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and slew him.

But who struck down all these know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab. For the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah. So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men and his familiar friends and his priests, until he left him none remaining. Then he set out and went to Samaria. On the way, when he was at Bet eched of the shepherds, Jehu met the kinsman of Ahaziah, king of Judah.

And he said, who are you? And they answered, we are the kinsmen of Ahaziah. And we came down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother. He said, take them alive. And they took them alive and slew them at the pit of Beth eched, 42 persons.

And he spared none of them. And when he departed from there, he met Jehonadab, the son of Rakhab, coming to meet him. And he greeted him and said to him, is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours? And Jehonadab answered, it is. Jehu said, if it is, give me your hand.

So he gave him his hand, and Jehu took him up with him into the chariot. And he said, come with me and see my zeal for the lord. So he had him ride in his chariot. And when he came to Samaria, he slew all that remained to Ahab in Samaria till he had wiped them out. According to the word of the lord, which he spoke to Elijah, Jehu slaughters the worshippers of Baal.

Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much. Now, therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshippers and all his priests. Let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live. But Jehu did it with cunning in order to destroy the worshippers of Baal.

And Jehu ordered sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal. So they proclaimed it. And Jehu sent throughout all Israel. And all the worshippers of Baal came so that there was not a man left who did not come. And they entered the house of Baal.

And the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other. He said to him who was in charge of the wardrobe, bring out the vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. So he brought out the vestments for them. Then Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rahab. And he said to the worshippers of Baal, search and see that there is no servant of the Lord here among you, but only the worshippers of Baal.

Then he went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed 80 men outside and said, the man who allows any of those whom I give into your hands to escape shall forfeit his life. So as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the officers, go in and slay them. Let not a man escape. So when they put them to the sword, the guard and the officers cast them out and went into the inner room of the house of Baal.

And they brought out the pillar that was in the house of Baal and burned it. And they demolished the pillar of Baal and demolished the house of Baal and made it a latrine to this day. Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, which he made Israel to sin. The golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan.

And the Lord said to because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin. Death of Jehu. In those days, the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel.

Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel, from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites from Araware, which is by the valley of the Arnon, that is Gilead and Bashan. Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did and all his might, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son, reigned in his stead. The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was 28 years.

Judgment on Israels neighbors. The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said, the Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem. The pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers. Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.

So I will set a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Benhadad. I will break the bar of Damascus and cut off the inhabitants from the valley of Aven, and him that holds the scepter from bet Eden. And the people of Syria shall go into exile to cure, says the Lord. Thus says the for three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds.

I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him that holds the scepter from Ashkelon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnants of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God. Thus says the for three transgressions of tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her strongholds. Thus says the for three transgressions of Edom and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.

So I will send a fire upon and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah. Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of the ammonites and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped up women with child in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabah, and it shall devour her strongholds with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind, and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, says the Lord. Chapter two judgment on Israel, Judah and the nations thus says the for three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. So I will send a fire upon moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of and moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet, I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will slay all its princes with him, says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of Judah and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his statutes, but their lives have led them astray, after which their fathers walked. So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem. Thus says the for three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes, they that trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the afflicted. A man and his father go into the same maiden, so that my holy name is profaned. They lay themselves down beside every altar, upon garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

Yet I destroyed the amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and who was as strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. Also I brought you up out of the land of EGypt, and led you 40 years in the wilderness to possess the land of the AMorite. And I raised up some of your sons for prophets and some of your young men for nazirites. Is it not indeed so, o people of Israel?

Says the Lord. But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets, saying, you shall not prophesy. Behold, I will press you down in your place as a cart full of sheaves presses down flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life. He who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life. And he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, says the Lord.

Chapter three Israels transgression and punishment hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, o sons of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt. You only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Do two walk together unless they have made an appointment? Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?

Does a young lion cry out from his den if he has taken nothing? Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground when it has taken nothing? Is a trumpet blown in the city and the people are not afraid? Does evil befall a city unless the Lord has done it?

Surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the prophets. The lion has roared, who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken, who can but prophesy proclaim to the strongholds in Assyria and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria and see the great tumults within her and the oppressions in her midst. They do not know how to do right, says the Lord. Those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.

Therefore thus says the Lord, an adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered. Thus says the as the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued with the corner of a couch and part of a bed. Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, says the Lord God, the God of hosts, that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground. I will strike the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end, says the Lord.

Psalm 110 assurance of victory for God's priest king a psalm of David the Lord said to my lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes. Yours is dominion. On the day you lead your host in holy splendor.

From the womb of the morning, I begot you. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. According to the order of Melchizedek, the Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.

He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head.

Father in heaven, let me give you praise and gosh. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for calling us back to yourself. Thank you for the voices and the words of the prophets that you inspired by your holy spirit to call the people of Israel, the people of Judah, and the people of all the nations back to your heart. Lord God, you call us back too.

Help us to hear the words of the prophet Amos and all the words of your scriptures that call us back. That are your logic of love. That you give us so much and you expect so much from us. You expect us to be faithful to you when you are so faithful to us. You expect us to love you in return when you have given us so much love.

Lord God, help us to repent to you before it's too late. Help us to turn to you with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. Help us to love you with everything we are and everything we have. In Jesus name we pray. In the name of the father and the son, holy spirit.

Amen. Okay, so let's start with second kings. Two kings. Chapter ten, we have Jehu, right? So Jehu, gosh, he is kind of a complex character here in chapter ten of two kings, because Jehu is the person who comes after Ahab, right?

And here's Ahab, 70 sons, Ahab hash. And Jehu says, okay, basically, all the people of Samaria, elders, people who you've raised, Ahab's 70 sons, one of them could be king. So which one do you want? Which one do you want to be king? And these folks, they know.

They know better than to say this guy or that guy. They say, no, we want you to lead us Jehu, because. Yeah, because we know, right. We know this reality that it would not be good to get on your bad side. And so they tell Jehu that.

And Jehu basically says, okay, so prove it. Prove it by killing all of, all 70 of Ahab's. Sons and bringing their heads here. And so they do this. Jehu eliminates any person from the house of Ahab who would maybe even possibly pose a threat to his.

To his rule. Now. Then what he does later on in chapter ten is he gets rid of this. The worshipers of Baal basically deceiving people by saying, hey, listen, Ahab worshipped Baal a little bit. I am Baal's biggest fan.

You guys come, and I want everyone, all the priests of Baal, all the servants of Baal, all the people who worship Baal, come and worship with me, leads them into this big temple, and then basically has them all killed. And this is just very interesting because it's so super deceptive. And yet here is Jehu doing something good in terms of he is eliminating the false worship of Baal, and yet he's not numbered among any of the good kings. Because, remember, Israel doesn't. Northern Israel or the nation of Israel, not the kingdom, the nation of Israel doesn't have any.

Any good kings. Because even though Jehu went part way, he didn't go all the way in restoring true worship to the Lord God. He kept Jeroboam's golden calves there in Bethel and in Dan. And because of that, God credited to him as some good. But he was only half hearted.

He only halfway followed the Lord. And that's a lesson for all of us. Did something in eliminating false worship, but he didn't restore true worship. He eliminated some false worship, but he didn't restore true worship to the people, even though he would have known, just like everyone else would have known, if they knew the jewish scriptures, if they knew their history at all, they would know. Nope, the place of worship is in Jerusalem.

And if we're gonna actually worship God the way he wants to be worshiped, we're not gonna bow down to these golden calves in Bethel or in Dan. And Jehu didn't do that. So he's still numbered among the bad kings at the same time. Here we have the book of the prophet Amos. Right?

We left Hosea yesterday, and here we are with Amos. Now, Amos lived roughly, I think it's 50 years after all of this went down with Jehu. So 50 years after this. And it says right at the very beginning, when Uzziah was the king of Judah, and Jeroboam II, son of Joash, he's the king of Israel. So this is the time of Amos preaching.

So where's Amos coming from? Amos is coming from Tekoa, which is a village or town, whatever 10 miles outside of Jerusalem. So he's actually from the kingdom of Judah, the nation of Judah, but he's prophesying mostly to the people of Israel. It's interesting because at the very beginning of Amos, the Book of Amos, he's not even prophesying to Israel. He's not prophesying to Judah.

He's prophesying to the people around the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel. He's prophesying to Damascus and to Gaza and to Tyre and to Edom. He's prophesying to all these other nations. And he's telling them, here's what the Lord God expects of you, because here's the evil that you are doing. Now, here's a kind of a saying that is in Amos's prophecy, where he says, for three transgressions and for four, what's that mean?

Basically, I read that it simply means it's kind of a way of saying you added sin upon sin. So just like, you know, for this sin and for that sin, not like you have three, but actually there's four later on. It's just for sin upon sin upon sin. You just keep adding it up. And so here's the Lord who has to say, now, there's gonna be a consequence to all of this.

And that's what prophets are doing, right? The prophet is reminding the nations, but then in chapter two, not just the nations, but Judah in verse four, and then later on in chapter two, verse six, to Israel. And that's when Amos really, really hones in and says, the transgressions of Judah, what's their problem? They've rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his statutes. But their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked.

Remember this. Remember that. They're worshiping in truth, but they keep falling into false worship. Now, they have, the heart is still there because they still have the temple in Jerusalem, but they continue and continually have false worship. And so here's Amos calling them back now, when it comes to Israel, there.

And beginning in chapter two, verse six, it's not just a call against false worship, although that's going to keep coming up. It is that the people of Israel, the nation of Israel, is doing injustice in the sight of the Lord. They're not walking in righteousness, that in fact, they are not taking care of the poor. They are trampling upon the poor. They're not taking care of those who are helpless.

They're abusing and using the helpless. And that's going to be this massive massive critique that Amos prophesies against the people of Israel as a nation of Israel. Throughout the course of this book and in chapter three of what we heard today, right, Amos, he gives basically what you might call the logic of God's judgment. And the logic of God's judgment is that his love, he keeps loving and taking care of. This is love and his providence.

He keeps loving and taking care of the people, even the people of Israel who have abandoned worship of him. But he keeps giving them blessings, keep giving them more, keeps giving them prosperity, keeps giving them abundance, and they keep turning away from him. And in chapter three, it basically spells out that God's judgment, because of this, God's judgment is unavoidable. It says this, it says, the Lord God has spoken, who can but prophesy because God has given you so much. And this is in chapter three, verse twelve, it says, thus says the Lord, as the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued.

What's that mean? It means, okay, so here's a shepherd who. Yep. Takes from the lion, he gets like two legs of the lamb back, or maybe a piece of an ear back. What, what he's saying is, yes, some of, some of this will be recovered, but the majority will be lost.

That here the people of the north, the nation of Israel, will be scattered, will be destroyed. And this is the, the promise. But it's the prophecy of Amos who's trying to do what all prophets are trying to do, read the writing on the wall and call people back to the Lord before it's too late. That's we're going to hear from Amos the next two days, chapters four, five and six, tomorrow, and seven, eight, nine, the day after tomorrow. But that's the call of all the prophets.

But here specifically of Amos, this call to say, okay, see the writing on the wall and come back to the Lord before it's too late. And that's our call as well, is to realize here's what God is calling me. Where am I being false? Where am I not being just? Where am I not walking in righteousness before the Lord?

Because now is the time. Now is the time to turn back to him and to let him once again make me right, once again to make me whole and to make us whole. We can't do it on our own, which is why we always, always, always pray for each other. Please pray for me. I am praying for you.

My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.