Day 248: Cut to the Heart (2023)

[0] 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.

[1] The Bible in a year podcast is brought to you by Ascension.

[2] 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.

[3] It is day 248.

[4] We are reading from Jeremiah, chapters 35 and 36, as well as Judith, chapters 6 and 7, and Proverbs chapter 17, verses 1 through 4, as always, the Bible translation, I am reading from is the revised standard version, second Catholic edition.

[5] I'm using the great adventure Bible from Ascension.

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[8] I'm not challenging.

[9] I'm just inviting.

[10] I'm not even inviting.

[11] I'm just letting you know that it's available if you want.

[12] If you wanted to, if you wanted to subscribe, you can.

[13] I mean, whatever, no big deal.

[14] I don't take it personally.

[15] It's fine.

[16] It's fine.

[17] You guys, it's fine.

[18] As I said, it's day 248.

[19] We're reading Jeremiah 35 and 36, Judith 6 and 7, and Proverbs chapter 17, verses 1 through 4.

[20] The Book of Jeremiah, chapter 35, the Reckabites commended.

[21] The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiacim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, go to the house of the Reckabites and speak with them, and bring them to the house of the Lord into one of the chambers, then offer them wine to drink.

[22] So I took Je 'azania, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazania, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Reckabites.

[23] I brought them to the house of the Lord into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdalaia, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maasaya, the son of Shalom, keeper of the threshold.

[24] Then I sat before the Reckabites, pitchers full of wine and cups, and I said to them, drink wine.

[25] But they answered, we will drink no wine.

[26] For Jonadab, the son of Reckhab, our father commanded us, You shall not drink wine, neither you nor your sons forever.

[27] You shall not build a house.

[28] You shall not sow seed.

[29] You shall not plant or have a vineyard.

[30] But you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.

[31] We have obeyed the voice of Jonahab, the son of Reckhab, our father, and all that he commanded us, to drink no wine all our days, ourselves, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, and not to build houses to dwell in.

[32] We have no vineyard or field or seed, but we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done all that Jonadab, our father commanded us.

[33] But when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against the land, we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem, for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Syrians.

[34] So we are living in Jerusalem.

[35] Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

[36] Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.

[37] Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words, says the Lord.

[38] The command which Jonadab, the son of Rakab, gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command.

[39] I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me. I have sent to you all my servants, the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land which I gave to you and your fathers.

[40] But you did not incline your ear or listen to me. The sons of Jodadab, the son of Rakab, have kept the command which their father gave them, but this people has not obeyed me. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel.

[41] Behold, I am bringing on Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, and they have not listened.

[42] I have called to them.

[43] I have called to them, and they have not answered.

[44] But to the House of the Reckabites, Jeremiah said, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, because you have obeyed the command of Jonah, your father, and kept all his precepts, and done all that he commanded you.

[45] Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonahab, the son of Rakab, shall never lack a man to stand before me. Chapter 36, the scroll is read.

[46] In the fourth year of Jehoakim, the son of Josiah, King of Judah.

[47] This word came to Jeremiah from the Lord.

[48] Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations from the day I spoke to you from the days of Josiah until today.

[49] It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I intend to do to them so that everyone may turn from his evil way and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

[50] Then Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Neraya, and Baruch wrote upon a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which he had spoken to him.

[51] And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, I am debarred from going to the house of the Lord, so you are to go.

[52] And on a fast day, in the hearing of all the people in the Lord's house, you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll which you have written at my dictation.

[53] You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities.

[54] It may be that their supplication will come before the Lord, and that everyone will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath, that the Lord has pronounced against this people.

[55] And Baruch, the son of Naraya, did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord's house.

[56] In the fifth year of Jeholyakim, the son of Josiah, King of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before the Lord.

[57] Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shafan, the secretary, which was in the upper court at the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house.

[58] When Makaya, the son of Gamariah, son of Shafan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, he went down to the king's house, into the secretary's chamber, and all the princes were sitting there.

[59] Elishama, the secretary, Delaya, the son of Shamaia, the son of Shammaya, El Nathan, the son of Akbor, Gameraa, the son of Shafan, Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.

[60] And Makaya told them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people.

[61] Then all the princes sent Jehudai, the son of Nathania, son of Shalamaya, son of Kushi, to say to Baruch, take in your hand the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people and come.

[62] So Baruch, the son of Naraya, took the scroll in his hand and came to them.

[63] And they said, sit down and read it.

[64] So Baruch read it to them.

[65] When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear and they said to Baruch, we must report all these words to the king.

[66] Then they asked Baruch, tell us, how did you write all these words?

[67] Was it at his dictation?

[68] Baruch answered them.

[69] He dictated all these words to me while I wrote them with ink on the scroll.

[70] Then the princes said to Baruch, go and hide you and Jeremiah and let no one know where you are.

[71] King Jeholyakim burns the scroll.

[72] So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama, the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king.

[73] Then the king sent Jehudai to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama, the secretary, and Jehudai read it to the king and all the princes who stood beside the king.

[74] It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the brazier before him.

[75] As Jehudai read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a penknife and throw them into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.

[76] Yet neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words, was afraid, nor did they tear their garments.

[77] Even when Elnathan and Delaya and Gamariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

[78] And the king commanded Jeromil, the king's son, and Siriah, the son of Asrael, and Shalamaya, the son of Abdel, to seize Baruch, the secretary, and Jeremiah the prophet.

[79] But the Lord hid them.

[80] Jeremiah dictates another scroll.

[81] Now, after the king had burned the scroll, with the words which Baruch spoke at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

[82] Take another scroll, and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, has burned.

[83] And concerning Jeholyakim, king of Judah, you shall say, thus says the Lord, You have burned this scroll saying, Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and will cut off from it man and beast.

[84] Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah, He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night, and I will punish him and his offspring, and his servants for their iniquity.

[85] I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.

[86] Then Jeremiah took another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Nariah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burned in the fire, and many similar words were added to them.

[87] The Book of Judith, Chapter 6.

[88] Akior handed over to the Israelites.

[89] When the disturbance made by the men outside the council died down, Halafranes, the commander of the Assyrian army, said to Akior and all the Moabites in the presence of all the foreign contingents, and who are you, Akior, and your hirelings of Ephraim, to prophesy among us as you have done today and tell us not to make war against the people of Israel because their God will defend them.

[90] Who is God except Nebuchadnezzar?

[91] He will send his forces and will destroy them from the face of the earth and their God will not deliver them.

[92] We, the king's servants, will destroy them as one man. They cannot resist the might of our cavalry.

[93] We will burn them up and their mountains will be drunk with their blood and their fields will be full of their dead.

[94] They cannot withstand us, but will utterly perish.

[95] So, says King Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord of the whole earth, for he has spoken, none of his words shall be in vain.

[96] But you, Akior, you Ammonite hireling, who have said these words on the day of your iniquity, you shall not see my face again from this day until I take revenge on this race that came out of Egypt.

[97] Then, the sword of my army and the spear of my servants shall pierce your sides, and you shall fall among their wounded when I return.

[98] now my slaves are going to take you back into the hill country and put you in one of the cities beside the passes and you will not die until you perish along with them if you really hope in your heart that they will not be taken do not look downcast i have spoken and none of my words shall fail then holophonies ordered his slaves who waited on him in his tent to seize achior and take him to betholiah and hand him over to the men of israel so the slaves took him and let him out of the camp into the plain and from the plain, they went up into the hill country and came to the springs below Bethulaya.

[99] When the men of the city saw them, they caught up their weapons and ran out of the city to the top of the hill, and all the slingers kept them from coming up by casting stones at them.

[100] However, they got under the shelter of the hill, and they bound Akior, and left him lying at the foot of the hill and returned to their master.

[101] Then the men of Israel came down from their city and found him, and they untied him and brought him into Bethulia, and placed him before the magistrates of their city, who, in those days were Uzziah, the son of Micah, of the tribe of Simeon, and Chabreeze, the son of Guthonial, and Charmese, the son of Melchial.

[102] They called together all the elders of the city, and all their young men and their women ran to the assembly, and they set Akior in the midst of all their people, and Uzziah asked him what had happened.

[103] He answered and told them what had taken place at the Council of Halophonies, and all that he had said in the presence of the Assyrian leaders, and all that Philophonies had said so boastfully against the house of Israel.

[104] Then the people fell down and worshipped God and said, O Lord, God of heaven, behold their arrogance and have pity on the humiliation of our people and look this day upon the faces of those who are consecrated to you.

[105] Then they consoled Akior and praised him greatly.

[106] And Uzziah took him from the assembly to his own house and gave a banquet for the elders and all that night they called on the God of Israel for help.

[107] Chapter 7.

[108] The Campaign Against Bethuliah The next day, Halophonis ordered his whole army and all the allies who had joined him to break camp and move against Bethulia and to seize the passes up into the hill country and make war on the Israelites.

[109] So all their warriors moved their camp that day, their force of men of war was 170 ,000 infantry and 12 ,000 cavalry, together with the baggage and the foot soldiers handling it, a very great multitude.

[110] They encamped in the valley, near Bethulia beside the spring, and they spread out in breadth over Dothan as far as Balbaim and in length from Bethulaya to Siamon, which faces Estrelan.

[111] When the Israelites saw their vast numbers, they were greatly terrified, and everyone said to his neighbor, these men will now lick up the face of the whole land, neither the high mountains nor the valleys nor the hills will bear their weight.

[112] Then each man took up his weapons, and when they had kindled fires on their towers, they remained on guard all that night.

[113] On the second day, Holofernes led out all his cavalry in full view of the Israelites in Bethuliah and examined the approaches to the city and visited the springs that supplied their water and seized them and set guards of soldiers over them and then returned to his army.

[114] Then all the chieftains of the people of Issa and all the leaders of the Moabites and the commanders of the coastland came to him and said, Let our Lord hear a word, lest his army be defeated.

[115] For these people, the Israelites, do not rely on their spears, but on the height of the mountains where they live, for it is not easy to reach the tops of their mountains.

[116] Therefore, my lord, do not fight against them in battle array, and not a man of your army will fall.

[117] Remain in your camp, and keep all the men in your forces with you.

[118] Only let your servants take possession of the spring of water that flows from the foot of the mountain, for this is where all the people of Bethulia get their water.

[119] So thirst will destroy them, and they will give up their city.

[120] We and our people will go up to the tops of the mountain, the nearby mountains and camp there to keep watch that not a man gets out of the city.

[121] They and their wives and children will waste away with famine, and before the sword reaches them, they will be strewn about in the streets where they live.

[122] So you will pay them back with evil, because they rebelled and did not receive you peaceably.

[123] These words pleased Helophonies and all his servants, and he gave orders to do as they said.

[124] So the army of the Ammonites moved forward together with five thousand Assyrians, and they encamped in the valley and seized the water supply and the springs of the Israelites.

[125] And the sons of Issa and the sons of Amon went up and encamped in the hill country opposite Dothan.

[126] And they sent some of their men toward the south and the east, towards Akrabah, which is near Chusi beside the brook Mochmoor.

[127] The rest of the Assyrian army encamped in the plain and covered the whole face of the land and their tents and supply trains spread out in great number and they formed a vast multitude.

[128] The distress of the Israelites.

[129] The people of Israel cried out to the Lord their God, for their courage failed, because all their enemies had surrounded them, and there was no way of escape from them.

[130] The whole Assyrian army, their infantry, chariots, and cavalry surrounded them for 34 days until all the vessels of water belonging to every inhabitant of Bethulia were empty.

[131] Their cisterns were going dry, and they did not have enough water to drink their fill for a single day because it was measured out to them to drink.

[132] their children lost heart and the women and young men fainted from thirst and fell down in the streets of the city and in the passages through the gates there was no strength left in them any longer then all the people the young men the women and the children gathered about Uzziah and the rulers of the city and cried out with a loud voice and said before all the elders God be judged between you and us for you have done us a great injury and not making peace with the Assyrians and now we have no one to help us.

[133] God has sold us into their hands to strew us on the ground before them with thirst and utter destruction.

[134] Now call them in and surrender the whole city to the army of Philophonies and to all his forces to be plundered.

[135] For it would be better for us to be captured by them, for we will be slaves, but our lives will be spared, and we shall not witness the death of our infants before our eyes or see our wives and children draw their last breath.

[136] We call to witness against you heaven and earth and our God, the Lord of our fathers, who punishes us according to our sins and the sins of our fathers.

[137] Let him not do this day the things which we have described.

[138] Then great and general lamentation arose throughout the assembly, and they cried out to the Lord God with a loud voice.

[139] And Uzziah said to them, have courage, my brothers.

[140] Let us hold out for five more days.

[141] By that time, the Lord our God will restore us to his mercy, for he will not forsake us.

[142] utterly.

[143] But if these days pass by and no one comes for us, I will do what you say.

[144] Then he dismissed the people to their various posts, and they went up on the walls and towers of their city.

[145] The women and children he sent home, and they were greatly depressed in the city.

[146] The book of Proverbs chapter 17 verses 1 through 4.

[147] Better is a dry morsel with quiet, than a house full of feasting with strife.

[148] A slave who deals wisely will rule over a son who actually.

[149] shamefully and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.

[150] The crucible is for silver and the furnace is for gold and the Lord tries hearts.

[151] An evildoer listens to wicked lips and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue.

[152] Father in heaven we give you praise and thank you so much.

[153] Thank you for your word.

[154] Thank you for pouring out your wisdom, pouring out your care upon us.

[155] Lord God, we come before you this day in need of your mercy, not only in need of your wisdom and your guidance, but also in need of your mercy, that just like the people of Israel cried out to you, knowing that even if there's no immediate answer, yet you hear our prayers and you care.

[156] Not that you hear and are indifferent, not that you just see our pain and are indifferent.

[157] You hear our cries, you see our pain and you care.

[158] Lord God, help us to trust in your care.

[159] Help us to trust in your power to save us and help us to trust in you this day and every day.

[160] In Jesus' name we pray.

[161] Amen.

[162] In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[163] Amen.

[164] There is a just briefly before we launch into Jeremiah and Judith in Proverbs chapter 17 verse three.

[165] Gosh, this is so good, you guys.

[166] The crucible is for silver and the furnace is for gold and the Lord tries hearts.

[167] I mean, think about the crucible, right?

[168] That crucible is where things are purified.

[169] And here is the author of Proverbs saying, yeah, the crucible, you know, it's not for un precious things.

[170] Like the crucible is not for things of no worth.

[171] The crucible is for silver.

[172] And the furnace that's not just for wood it's not just for that's not for dirt that's for gold and the lord will try hearts the lord will purify hearts just like the crucible purifies silver so it's precious even more precious and the furnace purifies gold so it's even more precious so the lord allows us to be tried so that our hearts can become more and more clean which is so good i'm just we're a gift especially since i know so many of us are in places of distress we're in places we're like oh yeah i'm being purified right now well actually i'm being tried right now The question is, am I being purified, right?

[173] Because we recognize that we go through sufferings all the time.

[174] I mean, every day has its own kind of suffering, has his own kind of trial, has its own kind of that testing, right?

[175] The question is, in the space of that, or in face of this, in that place where we're tried, where we're tested, will I allow myself to be purified or will I become bitter, right?

[176] Or will I become resentful of this trial?

[177] And that's, if I become resentful, then it's not going to purify me. If I become bitter, then it's not going to make me better.

[178] But if I say, yes, Lord, I know in this moment you're working with me, and I know that you can do anything, you can do all things, that you can work all things for good, for those who love you, then we're going to allow ourselves to be tested and then purified.

[179] So that's just a quick word.

[180] But let's go back to Jeremiah 35 and 36, just briefly.

[181] We have this group of people called the Reckabites, and you're like, who are the Reckabites?

[182] Well, this is interesting because basically we more or less only hear about the Reckabites here in Jeremiah 35 a little bit.

[183] in 2nd Kings chapter 10 as well.

[184] But the key thing here is that they're, what are they?

[185] They're nomads.

[186] And you might think of them in terms of like monks, like a monastery, but a monastery where they have families.

[187] So basically they have Jonah Dab, who's the son of Rakab and so therefore the Rukabites, right, that they have taken a couple vows.

[188] They've decided that they're going to live according to the teaching of their fathers.

[189] And that was that they would not drink alcohol.

[190] It was also that they would not live in homes.

[191] They would live in tents just like Abraham, right?

[192] That kind of idea of, listen, our earliest fathers were nomads.

[193] So we also are going to be nomads.

[194] That you're not going to own land.

[195] You're not going to own a house.

[196] You're not going to be those who like till the land, right?

[197] You're not going to plant crops at all.

[198] And so you're always going to be on the move.

[199] And you're going to live a certain way just depending on God.

[200] And so here is the word of the Lord coming to Jeremiah.

[201] No, sorry, sidebar.

[202] Reckabites are now living in Jerusalem and not out in the field.

[203] field because the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, are attacking.

[204] And so they're like, we got to get into the city because we need some protection.

[205] So they made a little bit of a compromise and they don't own any homes in the city, but they're taking an extended stay in Jerusalem so that they can be protected.

[206] So the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah.

[207] Hey, call them into the temple, the house of God, and offer them wine.

[208] Even have it right there.

[209] And so he does this.

[210] And they say no, because our father told us to not drink wine.

[211] And it's so interesting because basically the Lord asks Jeremiah or tells Jeremiah to put them to the test, to offer them wine.

[212] And they say no, they pass the test.

[213] And Jeremiah makes the point.

[214] He says, listen, this is just a family.

[215] This is just a local sect or local kind of tribe within the House of Israel who are faithful to the commands of their human fathers.

[216] But here, House of Israel, you have God himself who has given you these commands and you dismiss them.

[217] And so he's able to use the Reckabites as this great image of faithfulness, a great image of integrity, even in the face of opposition.

[218] And say, okay, you know, other Israelites, other Jews, you can in some ways like, hey, be shamed by the goodness of the Reckabites.

[219] And there's something about that.

[220] You know, when we see people around us who are, are just kind of like going to the lowest common denominator, we can think that our just rising slightly above the lowest common denominator is us being heroic in our faith.

[221] But when you see people who are consistently, people of integrity, consistently people who are generous, consistently people who are faithful to the Lord and who care for others in a way that they just, it's self -sacificial, then you realize, oh my gosh, yeah, that's the standard.

[222] The standard isn't the lowest common denominator.

[223] The standard is, here's how high God has called us to.

[224] And that's just such as, incredible witness that when you meet those kind of people, there's a little bit of shame there, but it's the good kind.

[225] It's the kind that says, okay, God is calling me higher.

[226] It's not the kind that says, well, no, I'm no good.

[227] They're better than me. It's the kind that says, no, that's the new standard.

[228] The new standard is faithfulness to the Lord, care for my brothers and sisters.

[229] And that's just great.

[230] So that's chapter 35.

[231] 36 is the story of how Jeremiah reintroduced to Baruch, because we met him in the book of Baruch, but Baruch was the scribe for Jeremiah.

[232] We already kind of thing established that.

[233] And at one point, here at the Word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah and says, write these things down.

[234] All that you've preached out loud, write them down on the scroll.

[235] So he does, he says, okay, go into the temple.

[236] I'm not able to go into the temple anymore.

[237] I'm kind of barred from there.

[238] The bouncers keep me out of there.

[239] So Baruch, you read the words that I have dictated to you and you've written down.

[240] Baruch does this.

[241] The important people, quote unquote, they hear his words, and they are cut to the They're like, man, the king needs to hear this.

[242] And this is the part that's just so devastating.

[243] Remember, Jeremiah is not chronological, right?

[244] We've already heard Jeremiah preaching to Zetakaya, who's the final king here.

[245] But right now, we're talking about Jehoia Kim again.

[246] So you're thinking, oh, my gosh, back and forth and back and forth.

[247] It's okay.

[248] We're back with Jehoa Kim when he writes this or when he dictates this and Baruch writes it down.

[249] And they bring this scroll, the words of God himself, the word of the Lord, through Jeremiah, written by Baruch, into the king's presence.

[250] and it's the ninth month, which means, you know, it's wintertime, December, and so there's a fire burning there.

[251] And so as they're reading this scroll in the king's presence, think of how, like, methodical even, just like, just, gosh, dark, dark King Jeholykem is.

[252] Because every so often they read a column, a couple columns, four columns, and he gets up, and he takes a penknife, and he cuts off those columns, and walks over to the fire, just drops him, keep on reading.

[253] To read some more, walks over with the knife, cuts it off, puts it in the fire.

[254] Keep on reading.

[255] and he is it says very clearly he does not repent it doesn't cut him to the heart in fact he cuts the word of god the word of god doesn't cut him and that is that is gosh you know what's the temptation for all of us is to dismiss the word of god where the word of god is meant and the spirit of god is meant to cut us to the heart but sometimes we come across teachings of god in his word teachings of god in the gospels you know in a couple days roughly little over a week or two we're going to hit the gospel of Matthew, and Jesus will be teaching some things that are really hard.

[256] They're really hard.

[257] Now, the temptation is going to be, I'm going to cut those out.

[258] I'm just going to ignore those as opposed to, I'm going to allow that to cut me to the heart.

[259] And it's so important because here is Jehoeim.

[260] And the result of this, Jeremiah says, the result of this is Jehoiacim, you're going to be destroyed.

[261] You're not just going to be cut to the heart.

[262] You're going to be cut out.

[263] You're going to be not just spiritually dead.

[264] You're going to be dead dead as well.

[265] and that's what happens, you know.

[266] So that's just a quick and powerful thing that we need to pay attention to.

[267] Now, Judith, how much time to spend on Judith just really briefly?

[268] You have the people of Bethulia.

[269] Halophrines is attacking.

[270] And we heard this yesterday.

[271] It was so good that word of Akior, right?

[272] Akior had said, here's what you're going to face.

[273] If you face down the Israelites, here's what you're doing.

[274] You're attacking this group of people, this people who have fighting for them, the Lord their God.

[275] If they're faithful, you can't defeat them.

[276] You know, if they're unfaithful, then yeah, they're just ordinary.

[277] But if they are faithful to the Lord their God, there is no way Holofernes, you will ever be able to defeat them.

[278] And so Holofernes does not take that very well.

[279] And he says, here we're going to go.

[280] We're going to have the showdown here at Betuliah and all the people are praying.

[281] And this is really important.

[282] They proclaim this fast.

[283] And, you know, Halophanes get some wise counsel about, listen, don't attack the city.

[284] by the Ammonites.

[285] So the Ammonites are saying, hey, listen, don't attack the city.

[286] It's on the mountain.

[287] How about just take over the water supply?

[288] And pretty soon, they're going to be going crazy with thirst.

[289] And that's what happens.

[290] 34 days.

[291] They're just, man, we got to give up.

[292] And then there's this great word, this great word from Uzziah, who says, have courage.

[293] Let's hold out five more days.

[294] And by that time, the Lord our God will restore us to his mercy, for he will not forsake us utterly.

[295] But if these days pass and no one helps us, I'll do what you say.

[296] And so they have five more days of prayer, five more days of suffering, five more days of holding on to their faith.

[297] And that's why we're going to be introduced to tomorrow to Judith.

[298] And Judith is going to be this great, great heroine of the Old Testament.

[299] And I can't wait to meet her tomorrow.

[300] So gosh, here we go.

[301] You guys, long day.

[302] I apologize.

[303] But what a great day.

[304] What a gift of a day to be able to be with y 'all.

[305] I'm praying for you.

[306] Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike.

[307] I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

[308] God bless.