Daniel Boone began to explore Kentucky on this day, June 7, 1769. Six years later he brought the first settlers to Kentucky, founding the fort of Boonesboro. He was captured by the Shawnee Indians and taken to Detroit. There learned the British had incited an Indian attack on the settlement. He escaped and his warning saved the town. As to his faith, Boone wrote to his wife: "The religion I have is to love and fear God, believe in Jesus Christ, do all the good to my neighbor, and myself that I can… and trust on God's mercy for the rest."

Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.

For, after all, put it as we may to ourselves,
we are all of us from birth to death
guests at a table which we did not spread.
The sun, the earth, love, friends,
our very breath are parts of the banquet....
Shall we think of the day
as a chance to come nearer to our Host,
and to find out something of Him
who has fed us so long?
--- Rebecca Harding Davis


... from here, there and everywhere

22 He who finds a wife finds a great good;
he has won the favor of ADONAI.

23 The poor man speaks beseechingly,
the rich man's answer is blunt.

24 Some "friends" pretend to be friends,
but a true friend sticks closer than a brother.

Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.

Don't slack off

     Whatever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do. --- John 14:13.

     Am I fulfilling this ministry of the interior? There is no snare, or any danger of infatuation or pride in intercession, it is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit whereby the Father is glorified. Am I allowing my spiritual life to be frittered away, or am I bringing it all to one centre—the Atonement of my Lord? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest in my life? If the one central point, the great exerting influence in my life, is the Atonement of the Lord, then every phase of My life will bear fruit for Him.

     I must take time to realize what is the central point of power. Do I give one minute out of sixty to concentrate upon it? "If ye abide in Me"—continue to act and think and work from that centre—"ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Am I abiding? Am I taking time to abide? What is the greatest factor of power in my life? Is it work, service, sacrifice for others, or trying to work for God? The thing that ought to exert the greatest power in my life is the Atonement of the Lord. It is not the thing we spend the most time on that moulds us most; the greatest element is the thing that exerts most power. We must determine to be limited and concentrate our affinities.

     "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do." The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and his apparently free choices are God's fore-ordained decrees. Mysterious? Logically contradictory and absurd? Yes, but a glorious truth to a saint.

Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

The place, Hyddgen;
The time, the fifth
Century since Glyn Dwr
Was here with his men.
He beat the English.
Does it matter now
In the rain? The English
Don't want to come:
Summer country.
The Welsh too:
A barren victory.
Look at those sheep
On such small bones
The best mutton.
But not for him,
The hireling shepherd.
History goes on;
On the rock the lichen
Records it: no mention
Of them, of us.

R.S. Thomas Collected Poems

          Epilogue

     Text / Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: "When Moses went up on high, he found the Holy One, blessed be He, attaching little crownlets to the letters [of the Torah]. He said: 'Master of the World! What is taking You so long?'

     Moses was (like many of us) impatient when it came to wanting to acquire the Torah (and to learn the Oral Traditions of the Torah, the Talmud). He couldn't understand the delay. He wanted it now, not later. He (like many of us) thought that desire alone was all that was necessary.

     But Moses, and we ourselves, have come to understand the complexity and the depth of Torah and Talmud. We have learned, with Akiva, that water can bore a hole in solid rock, but only after quite some time and only by being determined and persistent.

     He [God] said to him: 'In the future, at the end of many generations, there will be a man, Akiva ben Yosef is his name. One day he will come and teach mountains of laws from each of these little crownlets.'

     There is an old saying: "God is in the details." Here, in an interesting twist on that idea, we see God focusing great attention on the most minute details of the Torah—the tiny decorative marks that always appear on the tops of seven Hebrew letters. Because of their shape and position, they are called "crownlets." (They are also known as "jots and tittles.")

     Moses, at first, could not fathom that there was any significance to these seemingly insignificant scribbles. God here explains to him that what initially appears to be of little importance will actually be the basis for "mountains of laws." Even in the crownlets there is much to learn.

     One of the things that exasperates the newcomer about the Talmud is the endless concern with minutiae. We often wonder: "How could such great thinkers and teachers constantly get bogged down in such small details and concerns?" Hopefully, we have come to understand that in discussing the specific, the Rabbis were really dealing with the general; while focusing on the particular, they were ultimately looking at the universal.

     Moses and Akiva were similar in many ways: Both were shepherds; both had their lives changed after coming upon a phenomenon in nature (a burning bush, a hole cut into a rock by dripping water); both went on to become great teachers of Torah to their people. Yet what Moses initially saw as a waste of time, Akiva found to be the fertile source of incredible inspiration. How do we account for this difference?

     Much of it has to do with knowing what to look for. When we approach the Talmud from a western, logical framework, we are puzzled, lost, or turned off. But when we view the Mishnah and the Gemara in the context of the world they came from, we begin to understand things differently. Hopefully, seeing that God spends time on the crownlets, we learn that this is a worthy and an important thing to do.

     He [Moses] said to Him: 'Master of the World! Show him to me!' He [God] said: 'Turn around, behind you!' He [Moses] went and sat at the back of the eighth row.

     Jewish learning does not take place merely in the here and now; it crosses all boundaries of time and space. God teaches Moses that in order to truly understand Torah, one has to look to the past, as well as see into the future. We cannot study the Talmud as outside observers reading ancient history. Instead, we must become the colleagues and disciples of the Rabbis mentioned on the pages, learning not just about them, not even from them, but rather with them!

     The Talmud often reports a teaching in the present tense: "Rabbi Akiva says" (not "said"). Some might explain this merely as a quote from a contemporary source. But there is a deeper way to understand this phrase. In a real sense, Rabbi Akiva is still alive, and he is talking and teaching now. We go back into the past and sit on a bench in his study house, learning at his feet as he lectures to us. Or Rabbi Akiva, like Moses, moves forward in time, dwelling with us, today, counseling us how to apply the ancient teachings to our time and place.

     He could not understand a thing they were saying and became very despondent.

     What an irony: Moses, the Lawgiver, Mosheh Rabbenu (Moses our Rabbi), not able to understand anything that was being discussed in Rabbi Akiva's class! The additional irony is that we can recall the time when Akiva knew next to nothing and had to begin his education as a forty-year-old man sitting in with the kindergarten children, learning the alphabet.

     Akiva and Moses both went through experiences of being totally overwhelmed, of feeling out of place, of wanting to quit and forget about the whole idea of learning. Yet both overcame these feelings of inadequacy, rising to become, respectively, the greatest biblical and talmudic figures. There is a message of comfort here for us: No matter how overwhelmed we may occasionally feel by the sea of Talmud, we should remember we are in good company. And we must also recall that if those before us struggled and achieved, we can do so as well.

     When they reached a particular matter, his [Akiva's] student said to him: 'Rabbi, where do you know it from?' He said to them: 'It is a law that goes back to Moses at Sinai,' and he [Moses] was comforted.

     In studying Talmud, there are moments when we are lost and overwhelmed and may feel very depressed; there are also great moments of exhilaration when we achieve significant breakthroughs and enlightenment. Sooner or later, like Moses, we all hear our names called: Because the Talmud is so deep, because it encompasses virtually every aspect of life experience, eventually each of us will find that there is a realm that we recognize, an area that speaks to our own individual circumstances. Mysteriously, that moment often comes just when we least expect it, and precisely when we need it the most. Part of the secret of Talmud study is sticking with it long enough. Another part of the secret is learning how to listen for our name—recognizing our own story in the pages of the Talmud.

     He returned and came before the Holy One, blessed be He. He said to Him: 'Master of the World! You have such a man, and you gave the Torah through me?

     To be a Jew is to question God. From Abraham, who argued with God over the morality of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, to Moses, who here challenges God's choice of lawgiver, it has always been our right (and even responsibility!) to stand up to God and ask "Why?" or say "No!" That reverent irreverence is found on every single page of the Talmud. Everything and everyone—including God—is questioned. Every position offered is challenged and taken apart. Nothing is taken for granted, nothing is assumed, nothing is accepted unless it passes rigorous tests. Intellectual integrity is prized above almost everything else. We are never afraid of asking a question, because that is the only sure way to get an answer.

     He [God] said to him: 'Silence! This is how I planned it to be …' "

     Humility is a crucial requirement for a student of Talmud: Recognizing our own limitations, understanding that, alone, we cannot become masters of the text. No matter how wise we may be in other readings, we still need guidance and help in order to swim in this sea.

     Paradoxically, it is Moses' recognition of his unworthiness that makes him truly worthy of passing on the Torah. As always, God has the last word in all arguments: Moses may be right, but God has chosen him nevertheless. And therefore, with God's help, he will succeed. May the same be true of us.

Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving . Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.

     Your kingdom come. --- Luke 11:2

     The Bible is a book of hope. The model prayer;: A series of expositions on "The Lord's Prayer", It always speaks of a best that is still to be. We read of Eden, of a time when the world was free from pain and sadness, because humankind was free from sin. Their home was a garden, all nature served them, and God was their familiar friend. But we read on a chapter or two, and a change comes over the aspect of things. Eden disappears and has never been found since.

     People lost everything by sin except hope. That note of hope, struck even in the story of the tragedy of the Fall, is the keynote of the Bible. The Bible is a book of the future and the springtime and the dawn. "Your kingdom come" is a prayer for the good time coming, for the golden age, for the better Eden. For the earth's golden age will come when God is King. Jesus means that we are to pray that God may reign here on the earth, that people here may acknowledge him as King, that life here may be regulated by his commands. This is not a prayer that we may be taken out of earth into heaven, but it is a prayer that heaven may come down to earth, so that earth itself may become heavenly.

     In most people's minds the idea of a golden age is associated with the name of some king. The Israelites associated it with the name of David. For [the] British, romance gathers round the time of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. And as a matter of fact, the world's good time is inseparably connected with the coming of a King and the establishment of a kingdom. But the kingdom is no earthly royalty, and the King is no David or Arthur. The kingdom is the kingdom of God, and the name of the King is Jesus. When that kingdom is established, when that King is enthroned, a better Eden will be here than the Eden we have lost.

     But, isn't God King now? Isn't the world his? That is true! But that kingship rests on God's creatorship. God wants to be king in Jesus Christ, in virtue not of his power but of his love. He wants people to obey him not because they are afraid of him but because they love him. "Your kingdom come." Whose kingdom is it? It is our Father's kingdom—a kingdom of love! God wants to be King not because he is Creator, but because he is Father. It is for this kingdom we pray.

     "Your kingdom come," in my own heart, over all the world, and in every department of life.
--- J. D. Jones

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers (27). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.

     To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph. Gittith, a Hebrew word appearing in the phrase al ha-gittith. Of uncertain significance, it appears at the beginning of Psalms 8, 81, and 84. It is often left untranslated ('according to the Gittith'), though some translators have sought to explain the term via the Hebrew gath '(wine-)press' or the Philistine city of Gath. Like the similar (and equally mysterious) phrase al ha-sheminith ('on the eighth'), this phrase has been taken to refer to a musical mode, such as exist in traditional Arabic music, or to a particular musical instrument, or even to a particular well-known song that served as a contrafact for the psalms in question.

James L. Kugel, Ph.D.; Professor of Near Eastern Languages; Harvard University; Cambridge, Massachusetts. HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (See all Religion & Spirituality Books)

     Equivalent to Apollyṓn, this name is used in Rev. 9:11 for the king of the scorpions that plague the human race. It is taken from the Old Testament (Job 28:22), and is a personification of the place of destruction (Job 26:6 etc.). The Gk. Apollyṓn is influenced by the Septuagint use of apṓleia and the idea of Apollyon as the god of plague and destruction (Aeschylus Agamemnon 1082).

J. Jeremias, I, 4] Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich and Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (10 Volume Set) (See all New Testament Bibles)

     Hosea is preeminently the prophet of love, but unlike some teachers today, he doesn't minimize the holiness of God. We're told that "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16), but we're also reminded that "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1:5). God's love is a holy love, not a sentimental feeling that condones sin and pampers sinners.

     The prophet focuses on three particular sins: idolatry (spiritual adultery), ingratitude, and hypocrisy.

     Idolatry (Hosea 2:2–5a). God speaks to the children and tells them to rebuke their mother for her unfaithfulness. Israel was guilty of worshiping the gods of the pagan nations around them, especially the Canaanite rain god, Baal. Whenever there was a drought or a famine in the land, the Jews repeatedly turned to Baal for help instead of turning to the Lord. (See 1 Kings 18–19.) Pagan worship involved sensual fertility rites; and for these rites, both male and female prostitutes were provided. In a literal as well as a symbolic sense, idolatry meant prostitution.( The Hebrew words referring to prostitutes and prostitution (KJV, "whoredom," "harlotries") are used twenty-two times in Hosea's prophecy (1:2, 2:2, 4–4; 3:3, 4:10–15, 18; 5:3–4; 6:10; 9:1). Words connected with adultery are used six times (2:2; 3:1; 4:2, 13–14; 7:4). God looked upon His covenant relationship with His people as a marriage, and He saw their idolatry as marital unfaithfulness. )

     Since the people were acting like prostitutes, God would treat them like prostitutes and shame them publicly. He would no longer claim the nation as His wife because she had broken the solemn marriage covenant and consorted with idols. According to Hebrew law, adultery was a capital crime, punishable by death, but God announced that He would discipline Israel and not destroy her. ( Hebrew law stated that a divorced woman could not return to her former husband and marry him again (Deut. 24:1–4). God gave unfaithful Israel a "divorce" in that He no longer shared His intimacy and His mercies with her (Isa. 50:1; Jer. 3:1–5). One day He will take her back and restore the broken relationship and heal their land (Isa. 54:4–8; 62:4).)

     Unfaithfulness to the Lord is a serious sin, just as unfaithfulness to one's mate is a serious sin. The man who says he's 90 percent faithful to his wife isn't faithful at all. As Israel was tempted to forsake God for idols, the church is tempted to turn to the world system that hates God and wants nothing to do with God.

     We must be careful not to love the world (1 John 2:15–17), be friendly with the world (James 4:4), become spotted by the world (1:27), or conform to the world (Rom. 12:2). Each believer and each local church must remain true to Jesus Christ the Bridegroom until He returns to take His bride to the heavenly wedding (2 Cor. 11:1–4; Eph. 5:22–33; Rev. 19:6–9).

     Ingratitude (Hosea 2:5b–9). Instead of thanking the true God for His blessings of food, water, and clothing, the nation thanked the false gods and used those gifts to serve idols. What ingratitude! God provided rain for the land (Deut. 11:8–17), but the Israelites gave the credit to Baal, the rain god. Because it is God who gives us power to earn wealth (8:17–18) and enjoy the blessings of life (1 Tim. 6:17), we must thank Him and acknowledge His goodness. What wickedness it is to take the gifts of God and use them to worship false gods!

     God had every right to abandon His people, but instead, He chose to discipline them. The nation would chase after false gods, but Jehovah would block their paths and confuse their plans so that they would stumble on the way. He would take back His gifts and leave the nation as naked as a newborn baby and as barren as a desert.

     It's remarkable how many times God's people are admonished in Scripture to be thankful. I've noted at least fifteen places where we're commanded to "give thanks to the Lord," and Psalm 100:4 and Colossians 3:15 both admonish us to be thankful. Both Jesus and Paul set the example by giving thanks often to the Lord for His blessings. One of the first steps toward rebellion against God is a refusal to give God thanks for His mercies (Rom. 1:21). God will not allow us to enjoy His gifts and at the same time ignore the Giver, for this is the essence of idolatry.

     Hypocrisy (Hosea 2:10–13). The people still enjoyed celebrating the Hebrew festivals, but in their hearts, they gave the glory to Baal and the other false gods that they worshiped. Unfortunately, the same sin was being committed by their brothers and sisters in the temple of Jerusalem (Isa. 1). How easy it is to attend divine services and go through the motions of worshiping God when our hearts are really far from Him (Matt. 15:7–9).

     But the truth would eventually come out, for God would judge His people and expose their hypocrisy. He would take away their blessings and abandon them to their sins, for one of the greatest judgments God can inflict on any people is to let them have their own way. God is holy and will not permit His people to enjoy sin for long or to live on substitutes. Eight times in the Bible we read, "Be holy, for I am holy"; God means what He says.

W. W. Wiersbe, (1996) Be Amazed (Minor Prophets): Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship (The BE Series Commentary)