Morning Prayer: “Gilead is mine…”
From Morning Prayer: “Gilead is mine, and Manasseh. Ephraim I take for my helmet, Judah for my commander’s staff. Moab I will use for my washbowl; on Edom I will plant my shoe; over the Philistines I will shout in triumph.” (Psalm 60:7-9) These verses appear in a psalm of national distress, spoken in the voice of God. They are not triumphalist; they are a theological declaration that all lands, all peoples, all conflicts ultimately lie within God’s sovereignty, even when Israel feels defeated or abandoned. The individual components are buried in history and likely need explication if they are not to be mere reading without meaning. “Gilead is mine, and Manasseh.” These are territories east of the Jordan, associated with the tribes of Gad and Manasseh. They represent the vulnerable borderlands, the places most exposed to invasion. God’s claim— “is mine” —is reassurance: the places that feel least secure are not outside God’s care. “Ephraim I take for my helmet.” Ephraim was t...