Fr. Mike explains the events of today's readings, breaking down Hushai's advice to Absalom, David's warning and charge of Solomon, and the theme of centralized worship. We all desire to be temples of the Holy Spirit, and we bring this prayer to God through today's episode. Today's readings are 2 Samuel 17, 1 Chronicles 22, and Psalm 36. 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.
Chapter 1: Who is Father Mike Schmitz and what is the Bible in a Year podcast about?
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 will read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds
Chapter 2: What are the readings and theme for Day 135?
And how we fit into that story today, it is day 135. We are reading three chapters today. First from 2 Samuel 17, then 1 Chronicles 22, and we're finally praying Psalm 36. As always, the Bible translation that I'm using is the Revised Standard Version, the Second Catholic Edition. And 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. And you can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe. As I said, it is day 135. Also, good job. So good. What a gift. And we're reading 2 Samuel chapter 17, 1 Chronicles 22 and Psalm 36. Second book of Samuel chapter 17, the council of Ahithophel continued.
Chapter 3: What counsel does Ahithophel give to Absalom in 2 Samuel 17?
Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, let me choose 12,000 men and I will set out and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down the king only and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband.
You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace. And the advice pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel, the council of Hushai. Then Absalom said, Call Hushai, the archite also, and let us hear what he has to say. And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, Thus has Ahithophel spoken. Shall we do as he advises? If not, you speak.
Chapter 4: How does Hushai's advice to Absalom differ from Ahithophel's?
Then Hushai said to Absalom, This time the counsel which Ahithophel has given is not good. Hushai said, Moreover, you know that your father and his men are mighty men. and that they are enraged like a bear robbed for cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war. He will not spend the night with the people.
Behold, even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits or in some other place. And when some of the people fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, there has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.
Then even the valiant men whose heart is like the heart of a lion will utterly melt with fear for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man and that those who are with him are valiant men. But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you from Dan to Beersheba as the sand by the sea for multitude and that you go to battle in person.
So we shall come upon him in some place where he is to be found, and we shall light upon him as the dew falls on the ground. And of him and all the men with him, not one will be left. If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley until not even a pebble is to be found there.
And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel, for the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. Hushai warns David to escape.
Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, now thus and so have I counseled. Now therefore, send quickly and tell David, Do not lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up. Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at Ein Rogel.
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Chapter 5: What happens after Absalom chooses Hushai's counsel?
A maidservant used to go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David, for they must not be seen entering the city. But Elad saw them and told Absalom. So both of them went away quickly and came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it.
And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth and scattered grain upon it, and nothing was known of it. When Absalom's servants came to the woman at the house, they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
After they had gone, the men came up out of the well and went and told King David. They said to David, Arise and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you. Then David arose and all the people who were with him, and they crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.
When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. And he set his house in order and hanged himself, and he died and was buried in the tomb of his father. Then David came to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. Now Absalom had set Amasa over the army instead of Joab.
Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had married Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother. And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.
When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Machir the son of Amiel and Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Ogallim, brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, meal, parched grains, beans, and lentils, honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd for David and the people with him to eat.
For they said, the people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.
The first book of Chronicles chapter 22.
The site for the temple chosen continued. Then David said, here shall be the house of the Lord God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel. David's preparations for the temple. David commanded to gather together the aliens who were in the land of Israel and he set stone cutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God.
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Chapter 6: What preparations does David make for the temple in 1 Chronicles 22?
He sets himself in a way that is not good. He spurns not evil. Your mercy, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like the great deep. Man and beast you save, O Lord. How precious is your mercy, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life. In your light do we see light. O continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright of heart. Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the evildoers lie prostrate.
They are thrust down, unable to rise. Father in heaven, we give you thanks.
We praise your name and we give you glory. We thank you for your justice because your justice is that you are right and you are true. You are fair and what we deserve, you are willing to give. But we also thank you, Lord God, for your mercy. And we know that in your mercy, you do not contradict justice, but in your mercy, you fulfill justice in yourself.
Chapter 7: What charge does David give to Solomon about building the temple?
And in giving your son as the sacrifice for my sin, as sacrifice for our sins, you show yourself to be a God of justice and mercy in your one heart, as you are one God in your one character. truly consistent, just, and merciful. And so we thank you. I thank you, God, for your justice, that you're not fickle. I thank you for your mercy, that you are love.
Please receive our thanks and praise this day. In Jesus' name, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, so here we are. Gosh, 2 Samuel chapter 17. Remember, this is like intrigue. This is all about Yeah, the stuff that goes on when there's civil war, when there's war going on. So we have Ahithophel, right? Who's a trusted counselor. He has great advice.
And the advice is, hey, just let me, I'm going to lead 12,000 men. We're going to just go kill your father. We're going to just destroy him. And then everyone else will be saved. Everyone else will be spared. We'll bring them back. And it'll be a celebration because it wasn't civil war that destroyed everybody. It was just the one king took care of him, done.
And a lot of people actually like you, Absalom. So that's going to be good, right? And then what happens? Well, Hushai, remember Hushai was the spy that David had sent to stay with Absalom and to present himself as Absalom's servant. As I served your father, David, now I serve you.
And Hushai, he not only has great advice, well, great advice for David, but it's advice that appeals to Absalom's vanity. Remember, Absalom is a very good looking man. He has hair that weighs a lot of weight from top of his head to the tip of his toe. He has no flaw in him and he has vanity, right? So what does Hushai say?
Hushai says, okay, let's not let Ahithophel go and kill your father David because then Ahithophel has the victory. How about you, Absalom? How about you lead the people? And we have to do this because remember, your father David is a mighty warrior. His mighty men around him are valiant men.
And if you're going to let Ahithophel go and destroy this mighty warrior, this mighty man, that's not the way to go. Not only because of a bunch of reasons, but also because you know what's going to happen is you've never been in battle. You've never fought any wars. You've never... earned people's respect when it comes to being a conqueror. David is a mighty man. Everyone knows it.
His mighty men are valiant men. Everyone knows it. So you need to lead them, Absalom, yourself. And Israel gathered to you and then they will be able to basically put their trust in you, put their confidence in you and see you as the true king. And so Absalom more or less falls for Hushai's advice. And what happens? Ahithophel goes back to his home.
He says, when Ahithophel saw that Hushai's advice was heeded and his was not, he went back to his home and got his affairs in order and he killed himself. Now, why did he do this? Not because he was embarrassed, not because he was pouting, because he realized Ahithophel is a smart guy. Ahithophel knows Hushai's advice will be followed and
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Chapter 8: What is the significance of Psalm 36 in today's readings?
And Ornan says, no, no, let me just give it to you. And I'll give you my cattle as well. I'll give you the threshing sledges. You can burn those for the sacrifice. And David makes a really big point of highlighting the fact that he's like, no, no, I'm going to pay you for this because this should cost something. And there's something really true about this, right?
A religion that doesn't cost us anything or following Christ that doesn't cost us anything is only going to go so deep. It's only going to go so deep in our lives. And David has an impulse for this. He kind of has an intuition for this. He realizes, nope, I have to actually buy this in order to be invested, right? You have skin in the game, essentially, is one of the ways people say it.
So David has bought this land. Now, this is going to be, this is Mount Moriah, right? So this is the place that the temple is going to be built. And I say the temple, I mean the temple. After this, at this point, this is a really critical moment because this site of the temple, up until this point, sacrifices were offered many different places. They were offered in Gibeah.
They're offered in Gilead. They're offered all over the place, Bethel. But at this point, sacrifice will only be offered in one place. that you have many synagogues, but only one temple. You don't offer sacrifice in synagogues. You don't worship in synagogues. You only worship in the temple in Jerusalem.
And this is the beginning of David collecting all these materials and actually people who can work with these materials, craftsmen and whatnot, to build the temple. He can't build it, right? It's his son Solomon. That's why we read in 1 Chronicles 22 today that here's David saying to Solomon, having amassed
all these materials, I've gathered all these things, you have to add to them because you're going to build a temple to the glory of God. And the key piece for us, at least for today, is soon this temple is going to be the only place you can offer sacrifice. This is going to be the locus, the one place of offering sacrifice. and basically centralized worship.
That's going to make a big difference and make a big deal when it comes to the lives of the people of Israel. Because remember in John chapter four, we covered that, gosh, it must've been a month ago now when we read John over a month ago, that in John chapter four, Jesus meets the woman at the well, right? The Samaritan woman.
And she says that we worship here, but you Jews say that you can only worship in Jerusalem. Who is it? You know, who's right? And Jesus points out that the day will come. He said it's true. The day will come when people will worship God in spirit and in truth.
And that's a foreshadowing, right, of God's promise of his sacrifice, the sacrifice of his body and blood offered at every mass, which is so cool and so incredible. But today, the point of 1 Chronicles 22 and 21 from yesterday is this is going to be the beginning of centralized worship. You can only offer sacrifice in the temple.
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