Since January 1st of this year I have been listening to a podcast called “The Bible in a Year”. It is produced by Ascension Press and features Father Mike Schmitz and Jeff Cavins. Jeff is the author of the Bible Timeline which breaks down the Bible into stages reviewing salvation history from Genesis through Revelation. It begins with Creation and moves on to the stories of the flood, Abraham’s covenant with God, Jacob’s sons, the migration to Egypt during the famine, the Israelite enslavement, the Exodus from Egypt, the desert wandering, entering the Promised Land, the period of the Kings, the exile into Babylon, return to Jerusalem, Roman occupation and then into the New Testament highlighting Jesus’ fulfillment of the Old Testament. Father Mike hosts each daily episode reading the chapters for the day and then giving a reflection on those readings.
We have just finished the books of Kings and Chronicles. The first and second books of Kings focuses on the narrative of the kings of Israel and Judah. Israel was a united kingdom under David and his son Solomon. Solomon, towards the end of his reign, heavily taxed the people in the northern part of Israel. When his son, Rehoboam, assumed the throne he doubled down and imposed stiffer restrictions. As a consequence, a rival king rose up and took control of the 10 tribes to the north, leaving Rehoboam in control of the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah to the south around Jerusalem. Jeroboam, the northern king, did not want his subjects going to Jerusalem to worship so he created altars in the north for people to worship pagan gods, thus drawing them away from the true God.
Over the following centuries there was a long line of evil kings in the north, who ignored God, and a succession of kings in the south who either followed God’s commands and precepts, or others who did not. Instead following baal, the pagan god. The people of the two kingdoms tended to follow the lead of the king. When he was good, and followed God’s commands, the people were good. And when bad…much of the people followed suit.
Father Mike made a point during one of the podcast episodes during this period by pointing out that just because the kings of certain periods did evil in the sight of the Lord, it did not mean that the people had to follow suit. Leaders, even tyrannical ones, cannot fully dictate the way of the soul. The Israelites had the ability to still worship God as did their ancestors. Even in the midst of non-believers. Granted some kings likely made this more difficult to do then others. But, in general, one has the inner freedom to praise and follow God regardless of the direction of the leadership.
In today’s first reading from Exodus we see the Hebrews leaving Egypt and beginning the dessert wandering first stopping in the town of Succoth. Here they picked up Hebrew slaves who were working the Egyptian copper and turquoise mines. The reading makes the statement that, “A crowd of mixed ancestry also went up with them.” It is believed that, along with the Israelites, were Egyptian slaves seeking to escape enslavement, Egyptians wanting to leave the ruin that was now Egypt after the plagues and non-Israelites who had inter-married or inter-mingled with the Hebrews.
Later in the chapter, after today’s portion, it is written: “If any alien residing among you would celebrate the Passover for the LORD, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may join in its celebration just like the natives. But no one who is uncircumcised may eat of it. There will be one law for the native and for the alien residing among you.”
In other words, even though there are those among you who do not observe the festivals dictated by God, this does not absolve you from doing so. And moreover, if those among you who are alien wish to partake in the rituals they must adhere to the precepts first. Such as being circumcised. God makes it clear that they were to focus on doing what is righteous in the Lord and not be led astray by those in their midst. As we saw in the books of Kings and Chronicles (which serves to summarize the events in the earlier books) the people of Israel did not comply. They were led away from serving God by the pagans in their company in the land of Canaan. The “secular” practices of the populace enticed them to turn their backs on God.
While it can be easy to condemn the Israelites for repeatedly falling away from God, should we not look in the mirror and see this same thing today. How the allure of popular culture pulls us away from worship, from Scripture, from prayer. How we allow the idols of sports, entertainment, work, hobbies, and addictions lead us away from the one true God just as were the Israelites in the dessert and in Canaan. But I am sure we are not unique in our day. Generation after generation is tempted to worship the “religion” of their time in place of following the one who made us.
Can we who also live amongst a “mixed ancestry” remember that we live in the world but are not of the world? While Jesus walked among sinners while he also was in the world, he drew some away from that darkness and into the light that comes from the Father. May we also let that light shine before those we walk with.
If you are interested in more info regarding the Bible in a Year Podcast, click here to go to the Ascension Press website.
