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 176. We're reading from second Kings 8, from Hoseia, Chapters 8, 9, and 10. And we're also praying Psalm 108, as always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the revised standard version, Second Catholic Edition. I am 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/bibleineyear. You can also subscribe to this podcast if you'd like. But as I said yesterday, I'm not a pusher. In fact, I think I said yesterday, you don't even have to. I don't even want you to do that anymore. So, oh, brother. Day 176, getting to me. Here we are reading Second Kings 8, Hoseia 8:9-10, and praying, Psalm 108.

The second Book of Kings, Chapter 8, The Shunamite woman's land restored. Now Elisha said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, Arrise and depart with your household and sojourn wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine And it will come upon the land for seven years. So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of God, she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. And at the end of the seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went forth to appeal to the king for her house and her land. Now the king was talking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me all the great things that Elisha has done. And while he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and her land. And Gehazi said, 'My lord, Hawking, here is the woman, and here is her son whom Elisha restored to life. And when the King asked the woman, she told him.

So the King appointed an official for her, saying, Restore all that was hers, together with all the produce of the fields from the day that she left the land until now. The death of Ben Hadad. Now Elisha came to Damascus. Ben Hadad, the king of Syria, was sick. And when it was told him, 'The man of God has come here, ' the king said to Hazael, 'Take a present with you and go to meet the man of God and inquire of the Lord through him, saying, 'Shall I recover from this sickness? ' So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him. All kinds of goods of Damascus, 40 camel loads. When he came and stood before him, he said, 'Your son, Ben Hadad, King of Syria, has sent me to you, saying, 'Shall I recover from this sickness? ' And Elisha said to him, 'Go, say to him, 'You shall certainly recover. But the Lord has shown me that he shall certainly die. ' And he fixed his gaze and stared at him until he was ashamed. And the man of God wept. And Hazael said, Why does my lord weep? ' He answered, Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel.

You will set on fire their fortresses, and you will slay their young men with the sword, and dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their women with child. And Hazael said, What is your servant who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing? Elisha answered, The lord has shown me that you are to be king over Syria. Then he departed from Elisha and came to his master who said to him, What did Elisha say to you? And he answered, He told me that you would certainly recover. But the next day, he took the coverlet and dipped it in water and spread over his face till he died, and Hazael became king in his stead. Jehoram reigns over Judah. In the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, began to reign. He was 32 years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for the sake of David, his servant, since he promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever. In his days, Edom revolted from the rule of Judah and set up a king of their own. Then Jorem passed over to Zair with all his chariots and rose by night, and he and his chariot commanders struck the Edomites who had surrounded him, but his army fled home. So Edom revolted from the rule of Judah to this day. Then Libna revolted at the same time. Now, the rest of the acts of Jorem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? So Jorem slept with his and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Ahaziah, his son, reigned in his stead. Ahaziah rains over Judah. In the 12th year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaziah was 22 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Atalaya. She was a granddaughter of Omri, king of Israel.

He also walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord as the house of Ahab had done, for he was son-in-law to the house of Ahab. He went with Jorem, the son of Ahab, to make war against Hazael, king of Syria, at Ramoth Gilead, where the Syrians wounded Jorem. And King Jorem returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah when he fought against Ahazael, the king of Syria. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoream, king of Judah, went down to see Joram, the son of Ahab, in Jezreel, because he was sick. The Book of Hoseia, Chapter 8, Israel's apostasy. Set the trumpet to your lips, for a vulture is over the house of the Lord, because they have broken my covenant and transgressed my law. To me they cry, 'My God, we Israel know you. ' Israel has spurned the good, The enemy shall pursue him. They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold, they made idol for their own destruction. I have spurned your calf, O Samaria.

My anger burns against them. How long will it be till they are pure in Israel? A workman made it. It is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces, for they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads. It shall yield no meal. If it were to yield, aliens would devour it. Israel is swallowed up. Already, they are among the nations as a useless vessel. For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey, wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers. If they hire allies among the nations. I will soon gather them up, and they shall cease for a little while from anointing kings and princes. Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. Were I to write for him my laws by 10,000, they would be regarded as a strange thing. They love sacrifice. They sacrifice flesh and eat it. But the Lord has no delight in them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. They shall return to Egypt. For Israel has forgotten his maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities.

But I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour his strongholds. Chapter 9: Punishment for Israel's Sin. Rejoice not, O Israel. Exult not like the peoples, for you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. You have loved a harlot's higher upon all thrashing floors. Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them. They shall not remain in the land of the Lord, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria. They shall not pour libations of wine to the Lord, and they shall not please him with their sacrifices. Their bread shall be like mourner's bread. All who eat of it shall be defiled. For their bread shall be for their hunger only. It shall not come to the house of the Lord. What will you do on the day of appointed festival and on the day of the feast of the Lord? For behold, they are going to Assyria. Egypt shall gather them. Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver. Thorns shall be in their tents. The days of punishment have come. The days of recompense have come.

Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool. The man of the spirit is mad because of your great iniquity and great hatred. The prophet is the watchman of Ephron, the people of my God. Yet a foweler's snare is on all his ways, and in the house of his God. They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeya. He will remember their iniquity, he will punish their sins. Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. ' But they came to Baal Peor and consecrated themselves to Baal. They became detestable like the thing they loved. 'Ephrem's glory shall fly away like a bird. No birth, no pregnancy, no conception. Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them till none is left. Woe to them when I depart from them. 'Ephrem's sons, as I have seen, are destined for a prey. Ephram must lead forth his sons to slaughter. Give them, O Lord. What will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal. There I began to hate them.

Because of the wickedness of their deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more. All their princes are rebels. Ephron is stricken. Their root is dried up. They shall bear no fruit. Even though they bring forth, I will slay their beloved children. My God will cast them off because they have not listened to him. They shall be wanderers among the nations. Chapter 10, Israel's Sin and Captivity. Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built. As his country improved, he improved his pillars. Their heart is false, and now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars. For now, they will say, 'We have no king, for we fear not the Lord. ' And a king, what could he do for us? They utter mere words. With empty oaths, they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field. The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Bet-Aven. Its people shall mourn for it, and its idolatrous priests shall wail over it, over its glory which has departed from it.

Yes, the thing itself shall be carried to Assyria as a tribute to the great King. Ephron shall be put to shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol. Samaria's King shall perish like a chip on the face of the waters. The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, 'Cover us, ' and to the hills, 'Fall upon us. From the days of Gibbeya, you have sinned, O Israel. There they have continued. Shall not war overtake them in Gibbia? I will come against the wayward people to chastise them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are chastised for their double iniquity. Ephraim was a trained heffer that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck. But I will put Ephraim to the yoke. Judah must plow, Jacob must harrow for himself. So for yourselves, righteousness, reap the fruit of mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and reign salvation upon you. You have plowed iniquity. You have reaped injustice. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you have trusted in your chariots and in the multitude of your warriors.

Therefore, the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel on the day of battle. Mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. Thus it shall be done to you, O house of because of your great wickedness. In the storm, the King of Israel shall be utterly cut off. Psalm 108. Praise and prayer for victory. A song, A Psalm of David. My heart is steadfast, O God. My heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul. Awake, O harp and lyre. I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great above the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exaltet, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth. That your beloved may be delivered Give help by your right-hand and answer me. God has promised in his sanctuary, with exaltation, I will divide up Shechem and portion out the valley of Suckoth. Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Ephraim is my helmet, Judah, my scepter.

Here. Moab is my wash-basin. Upon Edom, I cast my shoe. Over Philistia, I shout in triumph. Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go forth, O God, ' 'with our armies. ' 'Oh, grant us help against the foe, for vain is the help of man. ' 'With God, we shall do valiantly. ' 'It is he who will tread down our foes. Father in heaven, thank you so much. Thank you for the gift of yourself and the gift of your son. Thank you for fighting for us. Vain is the help of the people around us. While we need each other and while we need to lift each other up and fight for one another, with you, we shall do bravely, with you we shall do valiantly. It is you who accomplish all we have done, and it is you who will tread down our foes. Help us to be faithful to you and be faithful in waiting on you and to be faithful to allow you to show up and to fight for us as you want to fight for us, not as we want to be fought for, because Lord, your will surpasses our best laid plans.

Your wisdom surpasses our depth of understanding as the ocean surpasses a puddle, a puddle, Lord God. We just praise you and we trust you today in Jesus' name, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy spirit. Amen. Today in Second Kings, we have a story of Elisha, again, with the Shunamite woman who made another appearance. What a gift that Elisha was a friend of hers and of her family because he was able to save her life and preserve their property for seven years during this time of famine, which is incredible. But also, we also have not only the death of Ben Hadad, who is the king of Syria, and the instatement of Gazael as the new king of Syria. I mean, he's the king of Cap and Crunch. That's what He is. But Hazael is the new king of Syria. Golly, home, brother, you guys. We also have a recap of the story of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, King Judah begins to reign. Remember that Jehoram was not a king very long. He reigned for eight years, and then his son rose up after him, and Jehoram slept with his father, and then his son, Ahaziah, became king, and he did not reign very long at all.

He reigned for one year. Remember, because his mom's name was Atalaya. If we remember anything about this, we have a connection with Ahab and Jezebel this whole way. But Atalaya, we have Jezebel, who is one of the bad people of the Old Testament. But also we have Atalaya, who, as we know, kills everybody in her family except for the grandson that was able to escape. Atalaya has this connection with Ahab, the king of Israel. There's this connection with Jaurim, the son of Ahab, who is in the north, and Jehaurim, the, I guess, in-law, maybe, potentially, of Ahab. They have a certain connection between the two of them. That doesn't get very deep, but at the same time, it was there. One of those many times when the king of the north of Israel and the king in the south, in Judah, have common interests, even though their common interests were in basically being awful. That's one of the things that we have today in Second Kings. We also have Hoseia 8:9-10. Hoseia 8:9-10 covers a few things. One of the things we need to think of when we are listening to the prophets, and this is going to happen a bunch in a number of days, for the next of days, we're going to be looking at Hoseya, Amos, Jona, Micah.

But then we're also going to get back to the deeper prophets or what they call the major prophets of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezequiel and the other minor prophets as well, is they're always speaking in a particular context. One of the contexts is this, is here is God's blessings, that God has given everything they could possibly want, everything they need. Still, the people have taken God's blessings and have said, Oh, these are for us. We'll give them to false gods. We'll chase after other gods. Again, one of the things we need to do is put it in context. Here is Hoseia speaking to the north, saying basically, Listen, if you do not turn away from this, if you keep on doing these things, God will let you go. I mean, he's going to let you go. This is one of the pieces we just want to end today with, is at some point, the story has to come to a conclusion. At some point, the story has to come to a conclusion. This is the case for every one of our lives. Yes, God's faithfulness is unending. It is infinite. As I said, unending means doesn't end.

It will never, ever end. But our story at some point will end. This is not God saying, Okay, Israel, that's enough. I'm now so tired of you that I will no longer ever have mercy on you. I'll no longer forgive you. But it is saying, Okay, in this world, time is finite. Eternity, obviously infinite. But in this world, time is finite. And I'm calling you to repentance. You only have so much time to repent. At some point, the story is over, the clock runs out, the last grain of sand ticks through that hour glass, and the choice that we've made is the choice that we get. Here is Hoseya who's basically begging, begging the Northern tribes of Israel. Also, Ephraim is another name for Israel. So when he says, Ephraim, he's talking about the Northern Kingdom of Israel. And saying, what's going to happen is God loves you, and yet, and yet at some point, you're going to get what you've been choosing. And what you've been choosing is anything other than God. And at some point, that's exactly what you're going to get. You're going to get anything other than God. But that's not what God wants.

But I have to warn you, at some point, you're going to get what you've chosen. This is the case for every one of us. The prophet's role in our lives in so many ways is, yes, to remind us of God's love for us, but also to remind us that at some point, we get what we've chosen, no matter how powerfully, how faithfully, how unstoppably God loves us, at some point, we get what we've chosen, and God lets us have it. He lets us walk away from him with what we've chosen to have. That's why all of us, all of us are called to listen to the words of the prophets and put them in context. Again, the Kingdom of Israel or Ephraim, but also in our own lives, and to say, Okay, God, I've turned away from you. I have not walked in faithfulness. That maybe for the most part, I do okay, but I'm actually not seeking your voice. I'm not actually seeking your heart. I'm not seeking to do your will. In Matthew's gospel, we have Jesus telling the story in the sermon of the mount. He says, Well, everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like the person who builds the house on sand.

The rains fell, the winds came, it blew and buffeted the house, and it was collapsed and utterly ruined because it was built on sand. But those who hear these words of mine and act on them will be like the person who built their house on a rock. Same rains came, the winds blew and buffeted the house, and it did not collapse because it was set solidly on rock. Every one of us right now is building something. We are building some life. We are building some eternity. Are we building it on ourselves? Are we building it on the false gods of this world? Are we building it on the things that we love more than God? Or are we building our lives in our eternal lives, on the Lord Jesus himself by doing his will, by following his Commandments, by repenting of our sins and turning to him? I hope that's what we're doing. If we're not, let's just keep praying for each other because that's what we need. We do not want to spend eternity separated from God. This is God's desperate plea, pursuit of us, that none of us, none of us would get to the end of our lives and then realize, I have been choosing something other than God this whole time, and so for eternity, I will get what I've chosen, something other than God.

So please pray for me. I need to repent all the time, and I'm praying for you because I know that you're just like me. Keep praying for each other. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to you tomorrow. God bless.