Day 67: God's Justice and Refuge (2026)

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Bible Any Year Podcast, where

we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture.

The Bible Any 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 67.

We are reading from chapter 18 of Numbers, Numbers 18.

We're also reading two chapters in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 19 and chapter 20.

We're also praying, Psalm 99 today.

As always, I am reading from the revised standard version, second Catholic edition, as far

as my Bible translation, as well as the fact that I'm reading from specifically the

great adventure Bible from Ascension.

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I don't know.

I can't keep saying this because it's in the 60s for crying out loud.

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Why not?

Go ahead and do that.

Nonetheless, it is day 67.

We are reading from Numbers 18, Deuteronomy 19 and 20, praying Psalm 99.

The book of Numbers, chapter 18, duties of priests and Levites.

So the Lord said to Aaron, you and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear

iniquity in connection with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear

iniquity in connection with your priesthood, and with you bring your brethren also the

tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father that they may join you and minister to you while

you and your sons with you are before the tent of the covenant.

They shall attend you and attend it to all the duties of the tent, but shall not come

near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar, lest they and you die.

They shall join you and attend to the tent of meeting for all the service of the tent,

and no one else shall come near you.

And you shall attend to the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the altar that

there be wrath no more upon the sons of Israel.

Behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the sons of Israel.

They are a gift to you, given to the Lord, to do the service of the tent of meeting.

And you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for all that concerns the

altar, and that is within the veil, and you shall serve.

I give your priesthood as a gift, and anyone else who comes near shall be put to death.

The priest's portion, then the Lord said to Aaron, and behold, I have given you whatever

is kept of the offerings made to me, all the consecrated things of the sons of Israel.

I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual debt.

This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire.

Every offering of theirs, every serial offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs,

and every guilt offering of theirs, which they rendered to me, shall be most holy to you

and to your sons.

In a most holy place shall you eat of it.

Every male may eat of it, it is holy to you.

This also is yours.

The offering of their gift, all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel.

I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual debt.

Everyone who is clean in your house may eat of it.

All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the first fruits

of what they give to the Lord, I give to you.

The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord shall

be yours.

Everyone who is clean in your house may eat of it.

Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.

Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to

the Lord shall be yours.

Nevertheless, the first born of man, you shall redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts,

you shall redeem.

And their redemption price, at a month old, you shall redeem them.

You shall fix at five shekels in silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which

is twenty garas.

But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat,

you shall not redeem.

They are holy.

We shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shall burn their fat as an offering by

fire, a pleasing order to the Lord.

But their flesh shall be yours, as the breasts that is waived, and as the right thigh are yours.

All the holy offerings which the sons of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to

your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual debt, it is a covenant of salt forever before

the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.

And the Lord said to Aaron, you shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall

you have any portion among them, I am your portion, and your inheritance among the sons

of Israel.

To the Levites I have given every tie in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their

service which they serve, their service in the tent of meeting, and henceforth, the sons

of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die.

But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their

iniquity.

It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the sons of Israel

they shall have no inheritance.

For the tithe of the sons of Israel which they present as an offering to the Lord I have

given to the Levites for an inheritance.

Therefore, I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the sons of Israel.

And the Lord said to Moses, moreover, you shall say to the Levites, when you take from

the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then

you shall present an offering from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe.

And your offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the threshing

floor and as the fullness of the winepress.

So shall you also present an offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive

from the sons of Israel, and from it you shall give the Lord's offering to Aaron the priest.

Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every offering due to the Lord from all

the best of them, giving the hallowed part from them.

Therefore, you shall say to them, when you have offered from it the best of it, then the

rest shall be reckoned to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor and as produce of the

winepress, and you may eat it in any place you and your households, for it is your reward

and return for your service in the tent of meeting.

And you shall bear no sin by reason of it when you have offered the best of it, and you

shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel lest you die.

The Book of Deuteronomy chapter 19 and chapter 20, chapter 19, cities of refuge.

When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God gives you, and

you dispossess them, and dwell in their cities and in their houses, you shall set apart three

cities for you, in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess.

You shall prepare the roads and divide into three parts, the area of the land which the

Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any man's slayer can flee to them.

This is the provision for the man's slayer, who by fleeing there may save his life.

If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having been at enmity with him in

time past, as when a man goes into a forest with his neighbor to cut wood and his hand

swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor

so that he dies, he may flee to one of these cities and save his life, lest the avenger

of blood in hot anger pursue the man's slayer and overtake him, because the way is long,

and wound him mortally, though the man did not deserve to die since he was not at enmity

with his neighbor in time past.

Therefore I command you, you shall set apart three cities, and if the Lord your God enlarges

your border as he has sworn to your fathers and gives you all the land which he promised

to give to your fathers, provided you are careful to keep all this commandment which I command

you this day by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways, then you shall

add three other cities to these three.

Lest innocent blood be shed in your land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance,

so the guilt of blood shed be upon you.

But if any man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him and wounds

him mortally so that he dies and the man flees into one of these cities, then the elders

of his city shall send and fetch him from there and hand him over to the avenger of blood

so that he may die.

Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel

so that it may be well with you.

Lending landmarks

In the inheritance which you will hold in the land that the Lord your God gives you

to possess, you shall not remove your neighbor's landmark which the men of old have set.

Concerning witnesses

A single witness shall not prevail against the man for any crime or for any wrong in connection

with the offense that he has committed.

Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be sustained.

If a malicious witness rises against any man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both parties

to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are

in office in those days, the judges shall inquire diligently.

And if the witness is a false witness and as accused his brother falsely, then you shall

do to him as he had meant to do to his brother.

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

And the rest shall hear and fear, and never again shall commit any such evil among you.

Your eye shall not pity.

It shall be life for life.

Eye for eye.

Tooth for tooth.

Hand for hand.

Foot for foot.

Chapter 20

Concerning warfare

When you go forth to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army

larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them.

For the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people,

and shall say to them, here, O Israel, you draw near this day to battle against your enemies,

let not your heart faint, do not fear or tremble or be in dread of them.

For the Lord your God is he that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies,

to give you victory.

Then the officers shall speak to the people saying,

what man is there that has built a new house and has not dedicated it.

Let him go back to his house unless he die in the battle and another man dedicated.

And what man is there that has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit.

Let him go back to his house unless he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit.

And what man is there that has betrothed a wife and not taken her,

let him go back to his house, unless he died in the battle and another man take her.

And the officers shall speak further to the people and say,

say, what man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted. Let him go back to his house,

lest the heart of his fellows melt as his heart. And when the officers have made an end

of speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people.

When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. And if

its answer to you is peace, and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it

shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. But if it makes no peace with you, but

makes war against you, then you shall be siege it. And when the Lord, your God, gives

it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword. But the women and the little

ones, the cattle and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for

yourselves. And you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has

given you. Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not

the cities of the nations here. But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your

God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes. But you

shall utterly destroy them. The hitites and the amourites, the canonites and the parasites,

the hivites and the jabby sites, as the Lord your God has commanded. That they may not

teach you to do according to all their abominable practices, which they have done in the service

of their gods, and so to sin against the Lord your God.

When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you

shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them, for you may eat of them,

but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field men that they should be besieged

by you? Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy, and cut

them down. That you may build siege works against the city that makes war with you until

it falls.

Psalm 99. Praise to God for his holiness.

The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned upon the cherubim, let the

earth quake. The Lord is great in Zion. He is exalted over all the peoples. Let them

praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he, mighty king, lover of justice. You have

established equity. You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

Extol the Lord our God, worship at his footstool. Holy is he. Moses and Aaron were among his

priests. Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the Lord and

he answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. They kept his testimonies and

the statutes that he gave them. O Lord our God, you answered them. You were a forgiving

God to them, but an avenger of the wrongdoings. Extol the Lord our God and worship at his

holy mountain for the Lord our God is holy. Father in heaven, we give you praise. We

thank you. We give you glory. You are the God of glory and the God of justice. Lord God,

you care for the people. You care for justice. You care for us. And so we ask you today.

As we ask you every day, every day, gosh, Lord, make our hearts like yours. Make our hearts

the kind of hearts that desire justice, that run away from vengeance, but pursue after

what is true and what is good and what is beautiful. Fill our minds with what is true.

Fill our hearts with what is good and fill our lives with what is beautiful. May give you

praise, Lord God, and thank you. Be with us today and every day in Jesus' name. We pray. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So quick, a couple of things,

a couple of things about Deuteronomy, but before that, a couple of things about the book of numbers.

So as we have already heard in the book of numbers, chapter 18, with the duties of the priests

and Levites, one of the things that we had heard before is the fact that while all of the tribes

of Israel are going to be given land, right? They're going to be given property. They're going to be

given flocks and work for themselves to do. Those of the tribe of Levi are not given land.

They're not given an inheritance. That's the word that keeps me used. And why? Because God says,

I'll be your inheritance. Your job is to be serving me. Your job is to be leading worship of me.

And the price is that that means you have to, so I guess the price is you don't get land.

You don't get to have another occupation in some ways. You don't get to have an inheritance

among the people of Israel. But the goodness is, A, you get to worship and you get to be at the

tabernacle or the tent of meeting, be in the temple, ultimately. But you also receive the tithe.

So with every sacrifice that's offered, not every sacrifice, but many of the sacrifices,

that would be what would support the livelihood of the tribe of Levi. So you'd go in and offer a

guilt offering or a sin offering. And part of it, we burnt up. But the rest of it would be not

only offered to the Lord, but then given to the tribe of Levi in order for them to have food for

their families and have food for their lives. And they'd be able to basically have a living that way.

So the supporting of the priests, the supporting of the tribe of Levi would come through the people

of Israel. And the great way in which this would have to cooperate is really remarkable for us.

Because again, tribe of Levi doesn't have an inheritance. They don't get to have their own

property. They rely upon the fact that the other tribes of Israel are going to be worshipping

the God of Israel. And therefore, they're supplying them with their needs.

At the same time, you could very, very clear that to the Levites, they have to give a tithe of

their tithe, meaning that they give a tenth of everything that they've been given. So even though

they're receiving, you know, the gift of the tithe of the people of God, the people of Israel,

they also have to offer a tithe, which is so beautiful and so fair and just. And that goes into,

let leads us into the next book we're reading from Deuteronomy. And in Deuteronomy, it talks about

justice. In fact, there are these things called cities of refuge. We just heard about them in

chapter 19. The cities of refuge, three of them at first, and then God says, but when you come into

the land, if you get the whole of the property of the land that I want to give you, you're going to

have six of these cities of refuge. And they are for what? Well, because of in God's justice,

if someone murders another person by God's justice, they have to die. But if they murder accidentally,

what happens is they get to, I mean, what's going to happen is someone's going to in their heat of

their anger, like you killed my father, prepare to die, even if accidentally, there's cities of

refuge that you can run to and the avenger, the person who wants to kill you cannot enter and kill

you. Places of, again, as I said, places of refuge at the same time, if you, it's specific states

that if you, though, are someone who has killed someone on purpose and you're on to a city of

refuge and the accuser comes, again, not just one accuser, but two or three, then the elders of

that city of refuge will hand you over to trial. And that's the important piece here. It's trying to

avoid crimes of passion or revenge, but saying, no, we're going to only exact this justice when

it's been expressly proven or demonstrated that this was murder, not simply manslaughter. And I

think, again, here is the people of God who are being brought from a place of just kind of, you know,

the wild west to a place of, no, this is order. We're a people of law now or people of justice now,

not just vengeance, which goes on to the last chapter we read today, which is Deuteronomy chapter 20,

having to do with war, always giving a people that they attack the option to surrender, always

giving to people the option to have peace unless it was the people of the tribes where they are going

to enter in the land of Canaan. And those people, they would not give an opportunity to surrender.

Why? And this is really difficult for us. Why is this the case? This is a very unusual kind of

warfare. This is a very unusual kind of situation because it's, see, if strikes us as being so, so

backwards and so, not just backwards, but so violent and over, not justice anymore, right? It seems,

it seems unfair, it seems cruel. These are what you might call wars of judgment.

These are not simple, simple battles, but in this context, and we have to understand this,

these are wars of judgment. The people of Canaan who are living a violent, destructive,

and wicked lives, in fact, a number of times we've already heard that the Lord God is expressly

noted that in the place you're about to enter in the land of Canaan, in the promised land.

One of the practices that they have is they will sacrifice their own children, their sons and

their daughters to this false god, Molech, and they will literally kill their own children.

And God's judgment comes at some point. This is the reality for all of us. It's really hard for

us to understand this because we think like, we have questions about this. But when we understand

this in the context that here is God who's saying, you know, judgment is coming for every one of us.

And the people of Canaan were under God's judgment. And God was using the people of Israel

to exact or deliver his judgment upon the people of Canaan. And now, of course, for us, if we took

that position and we said, that's what I'm going to do then. That I think we should do that as

whatever your country is. We should take justice or judgment of God on whoever we would be taking

the law into our own hands. That is not what God has commanded us to do. But this is what God had

commanded the people of Israel to do. I know that this is as a last note. I'm going to have to say

this many, many times in the future, but I say it right now, maybe for the first time.

If we approach this and we are cynical, if we approach this and we are skeptical, if we

approach this and we have this like, I still don't like it. And I actually don't, I want to stop

reading. I don't like this. And I want to start distrusting the word of God. And I just look at the

distrust part because we can have questions. Of course, we have questions. We wrestle with stuff.

And Jacob wrestled with the angel. That's not a bad thing to wrestle with the Lord. And to say, God,

what is your word trying to teach me? But one of the things we have to increase in our

hearts is our trust and our confidence in him. Then when he led his people, the people of Israel,

that he made a covenant with into the promised land, into the land of Canaan. And there was this

this devastating kind of warfare. It wasn't because God was being unjust. In fact, it was as we said,

these wars of judgment on those people, but also, also, there were wars because of the fact that

God knew, God knows everything, right? You know, he knew that here's a people that if they live in the

midst of these broken people of Canaan, they're going to change their hearts. They're going to give

their hearts to these false gods. And these aren't just kind of like false gods like we would have

in our modern pluralistic society. Right now, we have a, we have a pluralist society that we co-exist

with other religions, which is good. But God knew the people of Israel had an incredible role. And

that was you need to be faithful because it's through you that I'm going to bless the world.

And so I know if you come in go with these other groups, you will not be faithful. What we're going

to see is that they will not do what God asked. And surprise, they will not be faithful. This is

going to be Moses's last words in the book of Deeneronomy where he tells them, after all giving you

all these commandments, I know you're not going to do it. So I know that it upsets a lot of us.

But keep this in mind. This is not out of context. The context is these are wars of judgment

on a people that had hardened their hearts to the true God, had sacrificed their own children

to their false gods. And God needed to preserve the people of Israel and their faith so that you and

I right now, this day, could be blessed. You know, last little note, I'll say this again in the

future. At the same time, God knew that they wouldn't be faithful. He knew that they wouldn't do

this. And so this commandment in some ways, we could just see as a warning, maybe maybe rather

than an instruction. If that gives you some peace, I just invite you to like take that little bite.

Maybe this is God giving a commandment knowing they wouldn't do it because he's revealing something

that their hearts buy the commandment, giving them a prediction rather than instruction.

Now at the same time, it's clearly instruction. But if that will give you a heart some peace day,

then a little peace is better than nothing. But it can't be a false peace. It has to be true peace.

I don't know if that makes any sense. Anyways, you know, we're going to continue walking through this.

And whenever it gives us pause, wherever it gives us trouble, it's okay. It is okay because the

Lord is faithful. He is just. He never, ever commands us to do anything unjust because he cares

for every person. He makes the sun shine on the good and the bad makes the rain shine on the evil

and the good. And he loves you. And he, and he, even in our brokenness, he still chooses us.

So we come before him, knowing that his judgment is just and that he can, he obviously has the

right to judge us. And so we ask for his mercy today. And I'm praying to God today for his mercy upon

you. I asked you, please pray to God for his mercy upon me as we continue to pray for each other.

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