Day 274: Perseverance in Opposition (2026)

Fr. Mike Schmitz (0:04)

Hi, my name is Fr. 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. It is day 274 We are deep in Nehemiah. We're reading Nehemiah chapters 4 and 5 Also, we're beginning the Book of Esther, and we begin the Book of Esther here in the Revised Standard Version. I'll get to that in just a second. So we're also reading Esther 11 and 12, shock plot twist. We're also reading Proverbs 20 verses 27 through 30 As always, as I said, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using The Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. Why does that matter? It matters because the Book of Esther is complicated. There's the story of Esther that is widely accepted by all Christians essentially, and there are a number of chapters in Esther that are not necessarily accepted by all Christians. In fact, just like when Martin Luther in 1521, was it 1521, 1519, took out the seven books, the Deuterocanonical books, he also took out some chapters in Esther, and there's a precedent for having some hesitation, of course, because even someone like St. Jerome had hesitation over some of the Deuterocanonical books and some of the chapters of Esther and some of the other chapters like in Daniel, we read the story of Susanna and Belle and the dragon way back there, if you can remember all the way back then. But the Orthodox and the Catholic churches have discerned that these chapters are part of the canon, so they're part of the Deuterocanonical books. And so in order to understand the story fully, chapters 11 and 12 are actually the first two chapters that we're going to be reading, so we can get the chronological story of the Book of Esther. So hopefully that helps a little bit when you're reading your Bible to say, oh, this makes more sense than not. Hopefully it makes more sense. If you want to download your own Bible in a reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com/bible in a year. You can also see that, wait, we're starting with Esther 11 and 12? Yes, you are. You also can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates. As I said, this day is Day 274 We're reading Nehemiah 4 and 5, Esther 11 and 12, that are the first two chapters of Esther, and Proverbs 20, Verses 27 through 30

The Book of Nehemiah, Chapter 4 Hostile Plots Frustrated. Now, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he ridiculed the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brethren and of the army of Samaria, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore things? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and the burned ones at that? Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Yes, what they are building, if a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.

Here, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt upon their own heads, and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.

So we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward, and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry, and they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. But Judah said, The strength of the burden bearers is failing, and there is much rubbish. We are not able to work on the wall, and our enemies said, They will not know or see till we come into the midst of them and kill them and stop the work. When the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times, from all the places where they lived, they will come up against us. So, in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears and their bows. And I looked, and arose, and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.