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. Today is day 165. We are reading from first Kings, Chapter 15 and 16, second Chronicles, Chapter 16 and 17, and the Song of Solomon, Chapter That's a lot of chapters today. That's five chapters today, so that's going to be great. So buckle up and hang on. We are reading from the Bible translation called the Revised Standard Version, second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to get your own Great Adventure Bible from Ascension, you can go to ascensionpress. Com. You can also go to Amazon or wherever you find Bibles are sold and get those there. If you want to download your own free Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress. Com/bibleinayear. If you want to subscribe to this podcast, you can by clicking on subscribe.

As I said, it is day 100 165, which is so good. You guys, congratulations. This is remarkable. I imagine for the last 165 days or at least 165 times, you've allowed God's word to shape your mind and shape your heart and to shape the way in which you see the world. It's so good. What a gift. So day 165, reading first Kings, 15:16, second Chronicles, 16:17, and the Song of Solomon, Chapter 4. The first Book of Kings, Chapter 15. Abijam rains over Judah. Now, in the 18th year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Ma'aka, the daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins which his father did before him. And his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God as the heart of David, his father. Nevertheless, for David's sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him and establishing Jerusalem, because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah, the Hittite.

Now, there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. The rest of the acts of Abysham, in all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abysham and Jeroboam. And Abysham slept with his father's, and they buried him in the city of David. And Assa, his son, reigned in his stead. Assa reigns over Judah. In the 20th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, Assa began to reign over Judah, and he reigned 41 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Ma'aka, the daughter of Abishalom. And Assa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David, his father, had done. He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idles that his fathers had made. He also removed Ma'aka, his mother, from being Queen Mother, because she had an abominable image made for Asherah. And Assa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidran. But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Assa was wholly true to the Lord all his days.

And he brought into the house of the Lord the votive gifts of his Father and his own votive gifts, silver and gold and vessels. War between Assa and Baasha. And there was war between Assa and Baasha, king of Israel, all their days. Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or to come in to Assa, the king of Judah. Then Assa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and gave them into the hands of his servants. And King Assa sent them to Ben Hadad, the son of Teprimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, Let there be league between me and you, as between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your league with Baashah, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me. ' And Ben Hadad listened to King Assa, and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and conquered Ijan, Dan, Abel Bethma'aka, and all Chinaroth, in all the land of Naphtali.

And when Baashah heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and dwelt in Tirza. Then King Assa made a proclamation to all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building. And with them, King Assa built Giba of Benjamin and Mizpah. Now, the rest of all the acts of Assa, all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. But in his old age, he was deceased in his feet, and Assa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, his father, and Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his stead. Nadab that reigns over Israel. Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign over Israel in the second year of Assa, King of Judah, and he reined over Israel two years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin, which he made Israel to sin. Baasha, the son of Ahija, of the house of Issahar, conspired against him, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbathon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbathon.

So Baasha killed him in the third year of Assa, king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. And as soon as he was king, he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He left to the house of Jeroboam not one that breathed until he had destroyed it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahija, the Shalanite. It was for the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned, and which he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel. Now, the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And there was war between Assa and Baashah, King of Israel, all their days. Baashah reigns over Israel. In the third year of Assa, king of Judah, Baashah, the son of Ahijah, began to reign over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned 24 years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin, which he made Israel to sin. Chapter 16. And the word of the Lord came to Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baashah, saying, since I exaltet you out of the dust, and made you leader over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins, behold, I will utterly sweep away Baashah and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat.

Anyone belonging to Baashah who dies in the city, the dogs shall eat, and any one of his who dies in the field, the birds of the air shall eat. Now, the rest of the acts of Baashah, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Baasha slept with his father's and was buried at Tirza, and Elah, his son, reined in his stead. Moreover, the word of the Lord came by the Prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baashah and his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because he destroyed it. Elah reins over Israel. In the 26th year of Assa, king of Judah, Eilat, the son of Baashah, began to reign over Israel in Tirza, and he reigned two years. But his servant, Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. When he was at Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arzah, who was over the house of Tirzah, Zimri came in and struck him down and killed him in the 27th year of Assa, king of Judah, and reigned in his stead.

When he began to reign, as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he killed all of the house of Baashah. He did not leave him a single male of his kinsmen or his friends. Thus, Zimri destroyed all the house of Baashah, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Baashah by Jehu, the Prophet, for all the sins of Baashah and the sins of Elah, his son, which they sinned, and which they made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idol. Now, the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. Conspiracy and Death of Zimri. In the 27th year of Assa, king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirza. Now, the troops were encamped against Gibezhan, which belonged to the Philistines, and the troops who were encamped heard it and said, 'Zimri has conspired, and he has killed the king. Therefore, all Israel Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. So Omri went up from Gibevan, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirza.

And when Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house over him with fire and died because of his sins which he committed, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and for his sin which he committed, making Israel to sin. Now, the rest of the acts of Zimri and the conspiracy which he made, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? Omri reigns over Israel and builds Samaria. Then the sons of Israel were divided in two parts. Half of the people followed Tibaani, the son of Ginnath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. But the people who followed Omri overcame the people who followed Thibony, the son of Ginnath, so that Thibne died, and Omri became king. In the 31st year of Assa, king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel and reigned for 12 years. Six years, he reigned in Tirza. He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemar for two talents of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city which he built, Samaria, after the name of Shemar, the owner of the hill.

Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him, for he walked in all the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, and in the sins which he had made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idol. Now the rest of the acts of Omri, which he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the Book the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Omri slept with his father's and was buried in Samaria, and Ahab, his son, reined in his stead. Ahab reins over Israel and does evil. In the 38th year of Assa, King of Judah, Ahab, the son of Omri, began to reign over Israel, and Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned over Israel in Samaria 22 years. And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all that were before him. And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sedonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.

He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the Kings of Israel who were before him. In his days, Hiel, of Bethel, built Jericho and laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram, his first born, and set up its at the cost of his youngest son, Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua, the son of none. The Second Book of Chronicles, Chapter 16, Alliance with Syria, Condemned. In the 36th year of the reign of Assa, Baashah, king of Israel, went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Assa, king of Judah. Then Assa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king's house, and sent them to Ben Hadad, king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, 'Let there be a league between me and you, as between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go break your league with Baashah, king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.

' And Ben Hadad listened to King Assa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijan, Dan, Abel Mayim, and all the store cities of Naphtali. And when Baashah heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease. Then King Assa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baashah had been building, and with them, he built Giba and Misbah. At that time, Hanani, the seer, came to Assa, king of Judah, and said to him, Because you relied on the king of Syria and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with exceedingly many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord move back and forth throughout the whole earth to show his might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless before him. You have done foolishly in this. And from now on, you will have wars. Then Assa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this.

And Assa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time. Asa's disease and death. The acts of Assa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. In the 39th year of reign, Assa was deceased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease, he did not seek the Lord, but sought the help from physicians. And Assa slept with his fathers, dying in the 41st year of his reign. They buried him in the tomb which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a beer, which had been filled with various kinds of spices and prepared by the perfumers' art, and they made a great fire in his honor. Chapter 17, Jehoshaphat's reign. Jehoshaphat, his son, reined in his stead and strengthened himself against Israel. He placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim, which Assa, his father, had taken. The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father. He did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father and walked in his Commandments, and not according to the ways of Israel.

Therefore, the Lord established the Kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor. His heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord, and furthermore, he took the high places and the Asharim out of Judah. In the third year of his reign, he sent his princes, Benhael, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nathanel, and Micahia, to teach in the cities of Judah, and with them the Levites: Shemaya, Nethanaya, Zibodaya, Asahel, Shemiremouth, Jehonathon, Adonaija, Tobaja, and Tobadanaja. And with these Levites, the priests Elisabeth and Jehoram. And they taught in Judah, having the Book of the Law of the Lord with them. They went about through all the cities of Judah and taught among the people. And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the Kingdoms of the land that were round about Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat. Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and silver for tribute, and the Arabs also brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 hegoats. And Jehoshaphat grew steadily greater. He built in Judah, fortresses and store cities, and he had great stores in the cities of Judah. He had soldiers, mighty men of valor in Jerusalem.

This was the muster of them by Father's houses, of Judah, the commanders of thousands, Adna, the commander, with 300,000 mighty men of valor. And next to him, Jehohanan, the commander, with 280,000. And next to him, a Messiah, the son of Zikri, a volunteer for the service of the Lord, with 200,000 mighty men of valor, of Benjamin, Eliada, a mighty man of valor, with 200,000 men, armed with bow and shield, and next to him, Jehozabat, with 180,000, armed for war. These were in the service of the King, besides those whom the King had placed in the fortified cities throughout all Judah. The Song of Solomon, Chapter 4. The bride's beauty extoled. Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats moving down the slopes of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ews that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them is bereaved. Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like the halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. Your neck is like the Tower of David, built for an arsenal, whereupon hang a thousand bucklers, all of them, shields of warriors.

Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will hasten to the mountain of Myr and the Hill of Frankincense. You are all fair, my love. There is no flaw in you. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride. Come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards. You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride? How much better is your love than wine and the fragrance of your oils than any spice? Your lips distill nectar, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon. A garden locked is my sister, my bride. A garden locked A fountain sealed. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with all choicest fruits, henna and nard, nard and saffron, kelemus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankencense, myr and aloes, with all the chief spices.

A garden fountain, A well of living water, in flowing streams from Lebanon. Awake, O Northwind, and come, O Southwind. Blow upon my garden, let its fragrance be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits. Father, we give you praise and we love you. Please receive our love. Please receive our praise in Jesus' name. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy spirit. Amen. Okay, one note on the Song of Solomon. As we noted, this is the love song between God and his people, and it's about human love as well. There's a couple of things that Pope Jean Paul II, when he wrote this thing called The Theology of the Body, a series of teachings that he had given for In the space of roughly five years on Wednesdays over in the Vatican, he would come out and he would teach every Wednesday for roughly, I think it was like 135 Wednesdays, not in a row, but consecutively or over the space of five or so years. At one point, he reflects it on the Song of Solms, Song of Songs, Song of Solomon.

And he noted, he said that we caught this, I think a couple of days ago, where here's the lover and the lover knocks on the door. And it's the beloved, it's the woman. She can answer or she can't answer. It's hers, though. He can knock and he waits. And if she answers, that's great. He can come in. If she doesn't answer, then he doesn't force his way in. Jean Paul II made this point about when it comes to love between a man and a woman, between the love of a husband and wife, he says that the woman always remains a master of her own mystery. She always remains a master of her own mystery, meaning that even if they're married, her husband, every time he approaches her, every time he initiates intimacy with her, he knocks, essentially, and she can say no. Jean Paul II goes on to say, he says, This is the man's risk. He always risks when he initiates, even as a husband. He's like, No, she's not mine to just use or not mine to my own pleasure. He knocks and he risks. He knocks and he waits. And she can always refuse because she remains, in Jean Paul's words, the master of her own mystery.

In fact, we see this in Chapter 4, where it says, A garden locked is my sister, my bride. She's a garden locked. Another way to say it, he says, A garden fountain, a well of living water. She's a garden locked, meaning that he can't force his way in, meaning that the woman always, always has possession of herself. She gives of herself to the man, or she doesn't, but she gets to choose whether she gives of herself or not. He approaches, and he approaches with love, he approaches also with tenderness, knowing that, again, it's a risk, and she can refuse because she is a garden locked. Another thing to note is it says, A garden locked is my sister, my bride. And Jean Paul, again, points out, he says, One of the things it reminds us of is that every time we approach with whom we might even have a romantic relationship, so whether that be a man to his wife here, my sister, my bride, or a woman to her husband, my brother, my husband, my brother, my groom, Jean Paul points out, he says, That it's always my sister first. He says, Why is that?

Because you think, I don't have a sexualized view of my sister. Jean Paul essentially says, Yes, exactly. You first approach your bride as sister. You first approach your bride as one who exists for love for her own sake. She exists for her own sake, not as your bride first. She first exists as herself. Does that make sense? Paul II said, As often as husbands and wives approach each other like this, first seeing each other as the other who exists for their own sake, for the Lord's sake, first as sister, first as brother, then they can truly give themselves as groom, can truly give themselves as bride because they've entered into this reality. They foresee each other for who they truly are, not who you are to me, if that makes any sense. So it maintains the dignity of the person before being spouse, before being that lover, essentially. So a little reflection from Jean Paul II, when he talks about the theology of the body. If we could go back to our not necessarily confusing, here's what I invite you to do when it comes to Kings and Chronicles is in this, write the names down.

If you have the opportunity at all, if you have a great adventure, Bible itself, this is where this Bible comes into handy in a massive way. Just so helpful because the timeline that Jeff put together shows so clearly, okay, this is the next king, and this is the next king. So We have some overlap with Chronicles talking about the reign of Assa, and then King is talking about the reign of Assa, and Jehoshaphat, and all these other different Kings. We're wondering, wait, is this the north or is this the south? When you have that great adventure Bible timeline, even if you were to go online and order it from ascensionpress. Com, that would be really helpful. If you can't get your hands on the Bible that we have, you can also get the hands on this fold-out timeline that can be critical in this time, because tomorrow even we're going to be introduced to a prophet, a very famous prophet. We have other prophets we've already heard from, or Ahija and some others, but the first really famous prophet is coming up, Elijah, tomorrow. That's really helpful to know, Oh, this is the context for that.

Track down one of those great adventure Bible timelines, or even just write the names of the Kings, write the names of the prophets and write where they're at. Are they in the north? Are they in the south? Little spoiler, if you haven't heard this already, none of the Kings in the north are going to be good. As we ended today with the introduction of Ahab, Ahab becomes one of the worst ones that we get to hear from. None of the kings in the north are going to be good. They're all going to be false and unfaithful to the Lord. They're all going to lead people into evil. We talked about a couple good kings today, though, and we had Assa. Remember Assa? He's known as a good king, and yet he doesn't end well. He's like a story of Solomon who starts out good, doesn't end good. King Assa reigns really well for a long time, 35 years, roughly. But then you have this story where the King of Israel, Baashah, he enters into a league, covenant, an agreement with the King of Syria. The King of Syria, and he basically say, All right, we're not going to allow Assa to come in or go out.

Assa has this great idea. He says, Well, you know what? We take a bunch of money and we can get this King of Syria on our side. He does, and it's great. And from a human perspective, this is a really good idea. But then Hanani, the seer, comes to Assa and says, Okay, you relied upon the king of Syria, and you did not rely upon the Lord. So because of that, remember, the Ethiopians. Do you remember yesterday when we had Assa, faced down the Ethiopians. Assa had 500,000 troops. The Ethiopians had a million troops. It was two to one a situation. And he got victory. Why? Because you relied upon the Lord your God. But now, because you've entered in this agreement with Syria, you will now be fighting. Now, rather than taking his correction, Assa rebells against the Lord. He's in a rage with the seer, puts him in stocks. It's horrible. Then not only that, but a couple of years later, Assa gets sick. He has a disease He's in his feet. Again, he doesn't seek the Lord. He seeks physicians. Assa, basically, he spent 35 years of really good being faithful to the Lord.

In the last part of his life, he's less than faithful. That's the big lesson for all of us. We can spend so much of our lives being faithful. We have to not just start well, not just run well. We want to finish well. We want to end well. Now, Jehoshaphat, his son, is going to be someone who starts well, and he rains well, and he runs well. He's going to finish pretty well. But keep in mind that we're going to start following Jehoshaphat's story as well, as well as the story of Ahab, Ahab, the king of the north, who, spoiler alert, as I said before, is not going to be a good king, but Jehoshabat will be a pretty good king who's in the south. You guys, hopefully you can follow these names and all this stuff. Again, the great thing about reading Kings and Chronicles at the same time is that you hear the same story multiple times. Again, the bad thing about hearing Kings and Chronicles at the same time is you hear the same story and you're wondering, Wait, did I hear this before? Did I not hear this before? Keep track of it.

Get that Great Adventure Bible timeline, or even simply just write down the names as you hear them because you can realize, Oh, they're talking about this guy again, and that can be really, really helpful. Anyways, gosh, it's been a long time. We got to bring this episode, this day of the Bible, to a close as we pray for each other. I'm praying for you. Please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.