Day 66: Forbidden Forms of Worship (2026)

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 66, and we are reading today from Numbers chapter 17, as well as from Deuteronomy

chapter 17 and chapter 18.

We're also praying Psalm 98, as always, I am reading from the Bible translation of the

revised Standard Version 2nd Catholic Edition, using the great adventure Bible from Ascension.

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But as I said, today is day 66, we're reading Numbers chapter 17, very short chapter

today, as well as Deuteronomy 17 and 18 and Psalm 98.

The Book of Numbers chapter 17, the blossoming of Aaron's Rod.

The Lord said to Moses, speak to the sons of Israel, and get from them rods, one for each

father's house, from all their leaders according to their father's houses, twelve rods.

Write each man's name upon his rod and write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi.

For there shall be one rod for the head of each father's house.

Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the covenant where I meet with

you.

And the rod of the man whom I choose shall sprout, thus I will make to cease from me the

murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against you.

Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him rods, one for each

leader according to their father's houses, twelve rods.

And the rod of Aaron was among their rods.

And Moses deposited the rods before the Lord in the tent of the covenant.

And the next day, Moses went into the tent of the covenant, and behold, the rod of Aaron

for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore

ripe almonds.

And Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the sons of Israel, and they

looked, and each man took his rod.

And the Lord said to Moses, put back the rod of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept

as a sign for the rebels.

The Jew may make an end of their murmurings against me, lest they die.

Thus did Moses, as the Lord commanded him, so he did.

And the sons of Israel said to Moses, behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.

Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord shall die.

Are we all to perish?

Deuteronomy chapter 17 and chapter 18, chapter 17, forbidden forms of worship.

You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God in ox or a sheep in which is a blemish,

any defect, whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.

If there is found among you, within any of your towns which the Lord your God gives you,

a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing

his covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshipped them, or the sun, or the

moon, or any of the host of heaven which I have forbidden.

And it is told to you, and you hear of it.

Then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain, that such an abominable

thing has been done in Israel, then you shall bring forth to your gates that man or woman

who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones.

On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses, he that is to die shall be put to

death.

A person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.

The hand of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward

the hand of all the people.

So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.

Legal decisions by priests and judges.

If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind

of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another.

Any case within your towns which is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to

the place which the Lord your God will choose, and coming to the levitical priests and to

the judge who is in office in those days, you shall consult them, and they shall declare

to you the decision.

Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place which the Lord will

choose, and you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you, according to the

instructions which they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you,

you shall do.

You shall not turn aside from the verdict which they declare to you either to the right

hand or to the left.

The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before

the Lord your God or the judge, that man shall die.

So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again.

Limitations of Royal Authority

When you come to the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it, and

will in it, and then say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round

about me, you may indeed set as king over you him whom the Lord your God will choose.

Run from among your brethren, you shall set as king over you.

You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother.

He must not multiply horses for himself, or cause the people to return to Egypt in order

to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, you shall never return that way again.

And he shall not multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he multiply

for himself silver and gold.

And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book, a copy

of this law, from that which is in the charge of the the physical priests, and it shall

be with him, and he shall read it in all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear

the Lord his God, by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,

that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, and that he may not turn aside

from the commandment either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long

in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel.

11.

11.

Privileges of priests and Levites

The Levitical priests, that is, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance

with Israel.

They shall eat the offerings by fire to the Lord and his rightful dues.

They shall have no inheritance among their brethren.

The Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.

And this shall be the priests do from the people.

From those offering a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, they shall give to the priests

the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach.

The first fruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first of your fleece

of your sheep, you shall give him.

For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand in minister in the

name of the Lord, him and his sons forever.

And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel where he lives, and he may

come when he desires, to the place which the Lord will choose, then he may minister in

the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there

before the Lord.

They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his

patrimony.

Abominable practices prohibited.

When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to

follow the abominable practices of those nations.

There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering.

New practices divination, a tooth-sayer, an auger or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium

or a wizard or a necromancer.

For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominable

practices, the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.

For these nations which you are about to dispossess give heed to tooth-sayers and to

diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren.

Him you shall heed.

Just as you desired of the Lord your God at horub on the day of the assembly when you said,

let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest

I die.

And the Lord said to me, they have rightly said all that they have spoken, I will raise

up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren.

And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command

him.

And whoever will not heed to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will

require it of him.

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him

to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.

And if you say in your heart, how may we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?

When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come

true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken.

The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him.

Psalm 98 praised the judge of the world, a psalm, O sing to the Lord a new song for he has

done marvelous things.

His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory.

The Lord has made known his victory.

He has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.

He has remembered his mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth, break forth into joyous song and sing praises.

Sing praises to the Lord with the liar, with the liar and the sound of melody, with

trumpets and the sound of the horn.

Make a joyful noise before the king, the Lord.

Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the world and those who dwell in it.

Let the floods clap their hands.

Let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.

Father in heaven, we thank you and give you praise.

Lord, God, your psalmist sings your praise and it appraises you better than we could because

it is your word.

Your Holy Spirit, Lord, that helps us to pray.

And so we ask you, please, today help us to pray because on our own, we cannot pray as we

ought.

And so, Lord, help us.

Help us give you praise.

Help us to see your wisdom in your word and to let it transform our minds and our hearts.

And we give you thanks because you are good and you do good because you are our father

and we are your children.

Thank you so much for claiming us as yours.

And we claim you as ours, as is our right.

We claim our rights in the name of Jesus, amen, in the name of the Father, in the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Okay, so we had probably one of our shortest chapters of this entire journey on day 66 in

Numbers chapter 17 where there's the story of, again, with rebellion after rebellion,

we have the people of Israel being put to the test, essentially, where the Lord says

to Moses, okay, take all these rods, mark the names of the fathers of the chow sold

and all 12 tribes on them, including Aaron, bring them into the temple of the Lord or

to the tentative meeting, the tabernacle, the holy, holy place.

And Aaron's rod is the one that blossoms.

And so that means, okay, no, listen, I know you all want to serve in the temple, I know

everyone wants to be a priest, but it's only going to be from the family of Aaron, of

the tribe of Levi.

And so that's our shortest chapter in Numbers 17.

That will subdue the people and hopefully that they will just accept the authority that

God has given them.

He said ironically, we're going to see what happens in the next couple days.

With a quick break tomorrow, of course, to talk about the Levitical priesthood once again,

because once again, it's so important for us to understand how vital service is, meaning

service in terms of worship.

And that is so important.

But today, we looked into Deuteronomy chapter 17 and chapter 18 and there were talks

about forbidden forms of worship.

So things not just like turning to other gods, but also what kind of thing can we offer

to God?

And so if there was a defective sheep or ox or cattle, whatever it was, that defective

thing is not given to God.

And that reminds us so clearly of the fact that we give God our best.

And that's what we're called to do.

If someone does turn away, as chapter 17 says, if someone does turn away and worship false

gods, the sun or moon or whatever, the justice of God is so clear here, because it's spelled

out in the law that if that person is accused by one person that, nope, that's not good enough,

they have to have two or three witnesses who had contestify, I have seen this person commit

idolatry.

And not only that can't just be one person, you know, someone with a grudge against someone

falsely accusing, accusing so he said versus he said, has to be two or three witnesses.

But even then the penalty being capital punishment, the penalty being death, it's so just brilliant.

I mean, it's harsh, but it's brilliant that the person throwing the first stone has to

be the one of the accusers, has to be one of the witnesses in terms of, yeah, can't just

palm this off to someone else.

And again, remember, this is a rough time.

And these people are being brought from having virtually no law who might makes right, you

know, strength makes the winner to say, no, this has to be just.

This is that step, high for eye, tooth for tooth, and even this saying like, okay, not

just he said versus he said, but has to be two or three witnesses.

And even then the witnesses are on the line because sure, I can, I can give false witness.

And then, you know, let me go, but to give false witness and then to be the first person

to throw the first stone in this person's death, that costs a lot from a human being.

And I think that's, again, the part of the wisdom of God, it's, it's a brutal wisdom.

But I do believe it is still wisdom going on, just one last, two last things.

Even in chapter 17, we have the limitations of royal authority.

Now Israel doesn't have a king.

And for a long time, Israel is not going to have a king until King Saul.

This is going to happen like in a while from now, we're going to go through the period

of Joshua, we're going through the period of Judges.

Then finally, in first Samuel, we're going to enter the area of kings.

And there's instructions here in Deuteronomy that say, when you come to the land,

the people are going to ask for a king.

And here's what the king has to do.

The king can't collect horses, you know, for himself.

That would be a massing an army for himself and that your sons and daughters are now at his disposal.

Also, he should not multiply wives for himself.

This is heart turn away.

That is such a clear, clear line because what happens?

We have King Saul in the future.

Then we're going to have King David.

Then we're going to have King Solomon and Solomon.

We'll have 300 wives and 700 concubines.

And here is the word of God saying that the king will not multiply wives for himself,

unless his heart turn away.

And that is literally exactly what happens to King Solomon,

which is 300 wives and 700 concubines.

His heart turns to serve other gods.

And that's one of the reasons why in this chapter, right in this next section,

it says that that king, when he sits on the throne,

he will keep that law to himself and read it every single day

so that he's reminded of God's law and doesn't turn away from the Lord.

But that is what happens.

That Solomon turns away from the Lord, his God.

Now, the last, very last note,

in Deuteronomy chapter 18, we have this.

Not only are the abominable practices prohibited,

like turning to a sorcerer, a wizard or a diviner,

and necromancer, all these things, but God then promises.

The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me,

he says Moses, among you, from among you, from your brethren.

And you shall listen to him, ultimately,

oh my gosh, ultimately, that prophet like Moses is our Lord Jesus.

It is incredible.

This is a one of the prophecies of Jesus,

one of the future foretellings of our Messiah,

of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is a prophet like Moses.

And it's just remarkable that here we are back,

way back in Deuteronomy chapter 18,

Moses is promising, the days are going to come

when the Lord raises up a prophet like me.

Now, there are other prophets as well,

incredible prophets that were like Moses.

But Jesus is the one who ultimately fulfills this prophecy

of being the fulfillment of that great role of prophet.

Jesus Christ is the final, essentially in some ways,

the final prophet that leads into a nation of prophets.

We know that those who are baptized are anointed,

priest, prophet, and king.

We talked about that before.

But he's the one, it's his prophecy that we share.

It's in his power, his role, his ability that we share.

We're going to continue in the next couple days,

looking at the critical priesthood again.

And I just want to encourage you to stick with this

because it is important for us to understand

here is how the Lord desired to be worshipped in the past.

And it reveals something even more deeply

about how the Lord desires to be worshipped in the present.

I'm praying for you every single day,

and I ask you to please pray for me,

but also pray for each other because, again,

as I've said a thousand times now,

roughly 66 times because this is day 66.

We are not alone.

You are not alone on this.

We need to encourage each other and walk with each other

and lift each other up.

My name is Father Mike,

and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.