+ DAILY PRAYER +
Reading Num 31:1-24 – War Against the Midianites
31 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Seek vengeance for the ?Israelites? on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.” 3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm yourself from among your men for the battle, so that they will ?go? against Midian to mete out the vengeance of Yahweh on Midian. 4 A thousand from each tribe of every tribe of Israel you will send to battle.” 5 So they were assigned from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand equipped for battle…..
This Daily Devotion covers the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy also called the Books of Moses or the Pentateuch, in a period of one year in a Monday through Friday format, the Psalms and order of devotion follow those presented in The Treasury of Daily Prayer from Concordia Publishing House.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;
He will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the man who walks
not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Reading Num 31:1-24
War Against the Midianites
31 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Seek vengeance for the ?Israelites? on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.” 3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm yourself from among your men for the battle, so that they will ?go? against Midian to mete out the vengeance of Yahweh on Midian. 4 A thousand from each tribe of every tribe of Israel you will send to battle.” 5 So they were assigned from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand equipped for battle. 6 Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the battle, and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the battle with them, and the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets of the blast were in his hand. 7 And they fought against Midian just as Yahweh commanded Moses, and they killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian in addition to the ones they had slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam son of Beor by the sword. 9 The ?Israelites? took captive the women of Midian and their children, and they plundered all their domestic animals and all their livestock and all their wealth. 10 They burned all their cities where they dwelled and all their camps with fire. 11 They took all the plunder and all the war-booty with the humans and domestic animals. 12 They brought the captives, the war-booty, and the plunder to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the community of the ?Israelites?, to the camp to the desert-plateau of Moab, which was on the Jordan across Jericho.
13 And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp. 14 But Moses was angry toward the leaders of the troops, the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the hundreds, who came from the battle of the war. 15 And Moses said to them, “You have kept alive every female? 16 Behold, these women ?caused? the ?Israelites?, by the word of Balaam, to be in apostasy against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, so that the plague was among the community of Yahweh. 17 Now kill every male among the little children, and kill every woman who has ?had sexual intercourse with a man?. 18 But all the females who have not ?had sexual intercourse with a man?, keep alive for yourselves. 19 And you, camp outside the camp seven days; all who killed a person and all who touched the slain purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives. 20 You will purify yourselves and every garment and every object of hide and all the work of goats’ hair, and every object of wood.”
21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of the battle who came from the war, “This is the decree of the law that Yahweh commanded Moses. 22 Only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead—23 everything that will go through the fire—you will pass through the fire, and it will be clean, and only in waters of impurity will it be purified. Whatever does not go into the fire you will pass through the waters. 24 And you will wash your garments on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you will come into the camp.”
Lord’s Prayer
Daily Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God and Father, You sent Your Son to take our nature upon Himself and to suffer death on the cross that all should follow the example of His great humility. Mercifully grant that we may both follow the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in His patience and also have our portion in His resurrection; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Concluding Prayer
Heavenly Father, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts to direct and rule us according to Your will, to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
