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 191. As I said yesterday, maybe even the day before, it is the last chapters in two kings and two chronicles.

We're reading Second Kings chapter 25 and two chronicles, chapter 36. Also reading proverbs, chapter nine, verses one through six. Just a short reading for proverbs today. As always, the Bible translation that I am reading from is the revised standard version, second catholic edition, and 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 bibleinaear.

If you want to. You can subscribe to this podcast and receive daily episodes. As I said, notice how I know keep do you notice this? I have not kept like hammering away the point about the subscription of these things. That's all.

Just noting that it is day 191. We are reading two kings 25, 2nd chronicles chapter 36, and proverbs nine one six, the second book of Kings chapter 25. And in the 9th year of his reign, in the 10th month, on the 10th day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and they built siege works against it round about. So the city was besieged till the 11th year of King Zedekiah. On the 9th day of the fourth month, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

Then a breach was made in the city. The king, with all the men of war, fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls by the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were around the city, and they went in the direction of the but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence upon him. They slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters and took him to Babylon, the babylonian exile. In the fifth month, on the 7th day of the month, which was the 19th year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem, and he burned the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house he burned down and all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon together with the rest of the multitude. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen and the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord. The Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon.

And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service. The firepans also, and the bowls. What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver as silver. As for the two pillars, the one sea and the stands which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. The height of the one pillar was 18 cubits, and upon it was a capital of bronze.

The height of the capital was three cubits. A network and pomegranates. All of bronze were upon the capital round about. And the second pillar had the like with the network. And the captain of the guard took Seriah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.

And from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war and five men of the king's council who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land and 60 men of the people of the land who were found in the city. And NebUzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile out of its land. GedaLiah made governor of Judah.

And over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had left, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, the governor. Now when all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedalia governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Cariah, and Sariah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazania the son of the Maakathite. And Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, do not be afraid because of the chaldean officials. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. But in the 7th month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, till the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore, he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged.He gave them all into his hand and all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes. All these he brought to Babylon. And they burned down the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. He took into exile in Babylon, those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons, until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years.Cyrus proclaims liberty for the exiles. Now, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing. Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord, his God be with him.Let him go up.The book of proverbs, chapter nine, verses one through six, the feast of wisdom and general maxims. Wisdom has built her house. She has set up her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts. She has mixed her wine.She has also set her table. She has sent out her maids to call from the highest places in the town. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here to him who is without sense, she says, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave simpleness and live and walk in the way of insight.Father in heaven, we give you praise. And as we come to a conclusion of this, this portion of the story, we know that, gosh, lord, where all things seem dark, where all things seem dark, especially in our lives, we recognize that they are truly dark. They can be real dark. There is real death, there's real suffering, there's real destruction, and yet we keep walking. Lord God, you've given us the ability to continue to move and act in this world, to continue to cry out to you, to call out to you with our broken hearts, to cry out to you with our broken lives.Even in the midst of darkness, you. Couple things to keep in mind. The kingdoms of the north or the kingdom of the north, the nations, the tribes of the north, those ten tribes are gone. They are gone only to be restored in the age of the church.But these two tribes in the south, Judah and Benjamin, they are misplaced, right? They are in exile. A couple things to highlight, just to kind of point out. We have king Zedekiah, and Zedekiah, what happened is here is the army of the Chaldeans. And they captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon.And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and then put out his eyes. So the last thing that Zedekiah saw was the death of his sons, was the death of his children. And, yeah, this is obviously horrible, horrible kind of a situation, but it fulfills this promise that Ezekiel, we're going to read Ezekiel in a number of weeks from now. But Ezekiel had said this in Ezekiel twelve, he had said, I will also spread my net over him, and he shall be caught in my snare. I will bring him to BAbylon, to the land of the Chaldeans.Yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there. So what happened was here's Zedekiah, who again, the last thing he saw was his sons being killed in front of his eyes. And then what happened was the king, Nebuchadnezzar took him, bound him in fetters and brought him to Babylon. And so, yeah, just like Ezekiel had said, he will be brought into the land of the chaldeans and brought into Babylon, but he shall not see it. He will die there.We saw that. I also want to note that there's two prominent people who are left in Judah. That's the GedalIa, who's made the governor, basically, of Judah. And we have Jeremiah. Now, we don't know that JERemiah is left there yet, unless we've already read JeRemiah, chapter 39, where JEREMiah notes this, that he is going to stay with the people of Israel in Judah.He's going to stay with the people, the chosen people in Judah. He's going to stay with them amongst the Poor. And yet all of this second chronicles ends with a word of hope. Remember, this is the last book written. The last book written.It's this word. Yes, the people of Judah are brought into exile. Yes, they're made into servants to the king of Babylon and to his sons, until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia. This is verse 21. To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.Until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths and all the days that it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years. Jeremiah had noted that the land is going to recover its lost sabbaths. What are you doing by turning away from the Lord? Remember how Joel says about that? Says this?I think Amos says this as well, that that sense of, you cannot wait. You can't wait for feast days to be over. You can't wait for Sabbath to be over, so you can go back to your work. And so here is this spiritual interpretation that the chronicler gives, which is, yeah, the Lord is recovering the lost sabbaths of the land that you did not, you were not willing to give God that Sabbath day. You're not willing to give God that rest.You're not willing to give God that worship. So what's happening is he's going to exile you away from the land. The land will have to rest because very few people will be living there. You will not be living there. And therefore, the land will recover its lost sabbaths, but not forever.And this is the incredible good news, the incredible piece of hope, which is God is going to bring you back. And that's the last verses of chapter 36 in chronicles, that the day is going to come when there's this king of Persia, King Cyrus, and he'll make this decree, and he'll be able to say, and he will say, all of you, all of you. The Lord God has given me the kingdoms of the Tobit, as well as continuing with the proverbs. Gosh, you guys, let's keep going because the story is not over.In fact, we're kind of doubling back to hear what was God saying this whole time. What was God saying to get the attention of his people, to win them back, to win back their hearts this whole time that they were taking their hearts from him. We're going to hear those words of those prophets starting tomorrow. So I can't wait. We're going to pray.Pray for me. I'm praying for you. Please pray for each other. This is not, you are not alone. You are not alone.My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God.

to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, till the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore, he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged.

He gave them all into his hand and all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes. All these he brought to Babylon. And they burned down the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. He took into exile in Babylon, those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons, until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years.

Cyrus proclaims liberty for the exiles. Now, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing. Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord, his God be with him.

Let him go up.

The book of proverbs, chapter nine, verses one through six, the feast of wisdom and general maxims. Wisdom has built her house. She has set up her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts. She has mixed her wine.

She has also set her table. She has sent out her maids to call from the highest places in the town. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here to him who is without sense, she says, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave simpleness and live and walk in the way of insight.

Father in heaven, we give you praise. And as we come to a conclusion of this, this portion of the story, we know that, gosh, lord, where all things seem dark, where all things seem dark, especially in our lives, we recognize that they are truly dark. They can be real dark. There is real death, there's real suffering, there's real destruction, and yet we keep walking. Lord God, you've given us the ability to continue to move and act in this world, to continue to cry out to you, to call out to you with our broken hearts, to cry out to you with our broken lives.

Even in the midst of darkness, you. Couple things to keep in mind. The kingdoms of the north or the kingdom of the north, the nations, the tribes of the north, those ten tribes are gone. They are gone only to be restored in the age of the church.But these two tribes in the south, Judah and Benjamin, they are misplaced, right? They are in exile. A couple things to highlight, just to kind of point out. We have king Zedekiah, and Zedekiah, what happened is here is the army of the Chaldeans. And they captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon.And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and then put out his eyes. So the last thing that Zedekiah saw was the death of his sons, was the death of his children. And, yeah, this is obviously horrible, horrible kind of a situation, but it fulfills this promise that Ezekiel, we're going to read Ezekiel in a number of weeks from now. But Ezekiel had said this in Ezekiel twelve, he had said, I will also spread my net over him, and he shall be caught in my snare. I will bring him to BAbylon, to the land of the Chaldeans.Yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there. So what happened was here's Zedekiah, who again, the last thing he saw was his sons being killed in front of his eyes. And then what happened was the king, Nebuchadnezzar took him, bound him in fetters and brought him to Babylon. And so, yeah, just like Ezekiel had said, he will be brought into the land of the chaldeans and brought into Babylon, but he shall not see it. He will die there.We saw that. I also want to note that there's two prominent people who are left in Judah. That's the GedalIa, who's made the governor, basically, of Judah. And we have Jeremiah. Now, we don't know that JERemiah is left there yet, unless we've already read JeRemiah, chapter 39, where JEREMiah notes this, that he is going to stay with the people of Israel in Judah.He's going to stay with the people, the chosen people in Judah. He's going to stay with them amongst the Poor. And yet all of this second chronicles ends with a word of hope. Remember, this is the last book written. The last book written.It's this word. Yes, the people of Judah are brought into exile. Yes, they're made into servants to the king of Babylon and to his sons, until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia. This is verse 21. To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.Until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths and all the days that it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years. Jeremiah had noted that the land is going to recover its lost sabbaths. What are you doing by turning away from the Lord? Remember how Joel says about that? Says this?I think Amos says this as well, that that sense of, you cannot wait. You can't wait for feast days to be over. You can't wait for Sabbath to be over, so you can go back to your work. And so here is this spiritual interpretation that the chronicler gives, which is, yeah, the Lord is recovering the lost sabbaths of the land that you did not, you were not willing to give God that Sabbath day. You're not willing to give God that rest.You're not willing to give God that worship. So what's happening is he's going to exile you away from the land. The land will have to rest because very few people will be living there. You will not be living there. And therefore, the land will recover its lost sabbaths, but not forever.And this is the incredible good news, the incredible piece of hope, which is God is going to bring you back. And that's the last verses of chapter 36 in chronicles, that the day is going to come when there's this king of Persia, King Cyrus, and he'll make this decree, and he'll be able to say, and he will say, all of you, all of you. The Lord God has given me the kingdoms of the Tobit, as well as continuing with the proverbs. Gosh, you guys, let's keep going because the story is not over.In fact, we're kind of doubling back to hear what was God saying this whole time. What was God saying to get the attention of his people, to win them back, to win back their hearts this whole time that they were taking their hearts from him. We're going to hear those words of those prophets starting tomorrow. So I can't wait. We're going to pray.Pray for me. I'm praying for you. Please pray for each other. This is not, you are not alone. You are not alone.My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God.

. Couple things to keep in mind. The kingdoms of the north or the kingdom of the north, the nations, the tribes of the north, those ten tribes are gone. They are gone only to be restored in the age of the church.

But these two tribes in the south, Judah and Benjamin, they are misplaced, right? They are in exile. A couple things to highlight, just to kind of point out. We have king Zedekiah, and Zedekiah, what happened is here is the army of the Chaldeans. And they captured him and brought him up to the king of Babylon.

And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and then put out his eyes. So the last thing that Zedekiah saw was the death of his sons, was the death of his children. And, yeah, this is obviously horrible, horrible kind of a situation, but it fulfills this promise that Ezekiel, we're going to read Ezekiel in a number of weeks from now. But Ezekiel had said this in Ezekiel twelve, he had said, I will also spread my net over him, and he shall be caught in my snare. I will bring him to BAbylon, to the land of the Chaldeans.

Yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there. So what happened was here's Zedekiah, who again, the last thing he saw was his sons being killed in front of his eyes. And then what happened was the king, Nebuchadnezzar took him, bound him in fetters and brought him to Babylon. And so, yeah, just like Ezekiel had said, he will be brought into the land of the chaldeans and brought into Babylon, but he shall not see it. He will die there.

We saw that. I also want to note that there's two prominent people who are left in Judah. That's the GedalIa, who's made the governor, basically, of Judah. And we have Jeremiah. Now, we don't know that JERemiah is left there yet, unless we've already read JeRemiah, chapter 39, where JEREMiah notes this, that he is going to stay with the people of Israel in Judah.

He's going to stay with the people, the chosen people in Judah. He's going to stay with them amongst the Poor. And yet all of this second chronicles ends with a word of hope. Remember, this is the last book written. The last book written.

It's this word. Yes, the people of Judah are brought into exile. Yes, they're made into servants to the king of Babylon and to his sons, until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia. This is verse 21. To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.

Until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths and all the days that it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years. Jeremiah had noted that the land is going to recover its lost sabbaths. What are you doing by turning away from the Lord? Remember how Joel says about that? Says this?

I think Amos says this as well, that that sense of, you cannot wait. You can't wait for feast days to be over. You can't wait for Sabbath to be over, so you can go back to your work. And so here is this spiritual interpretation that the chronicler gives, which is, yeah, the Lord is recovering the lost sabbaths of the land that you did not, you were not willing to give God that Sabbath day. You're not willing to give God that rest.

You're not willing to give God that worship. So what's happening is he's going to exile you away from the land. The land will have to rest because very few people will be living there. You will not be living there. And therefore, the land will recover its lost sabbaths, but not forever.

And this is the incredible good news, the incredible piece of hope, which is God is going to bring you back. And that's the last verses of chapter 36 in chronicles, that the day is going to come when there's this king of Persia, King Cyrus, and he'll make this decree, and he'll be able to say, and he will say, all of you, all of you. The Lord God has given me the kingdoms of the Tobit, as well as continuing with the proverbs. Gosh, you guys, let's keep going because the story is not over.In fact, we're kind of doubling back to hear what was God saying this whole time. What was God saying to get the attention of his people, to win them back, to win back their hearts this whole time that they were taking their hearts from him. We're going to hear those words of those prophets starting tomorrow. So I can't wait. We're going to pray.Pray for me. I'm praying for you. Please pray for each other. This is not, you are not alone. You are not alone.My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God.

Tobit, as well as continuing with the proverbs. Gosh, you guys, let's keep going because the story is not over.

In fact, we're kind of doubling back to hear what was God saying this whole time. What was God saying to get the attention of his people, to win them back, to win back their hearts this whole time that they were taking their hearts from him. We're going to hear those words of those prophets starting tomorrow. So I can't wait. We're going to pray.

Pray for me. I'm praying for you. Please pray for each other. This is not, you are not alone. You are not alone.

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