The Prophecy of Daniel 11:1-4

In the first four verses of Daniel 11 we have a prophecy of the fall of the Medo-Persian Empire and the rise of the Grecian Empire.

Daniel 11:1  Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him.

2  And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.

3  And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.

4  And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.

The Medo-Persian Empire was in power when Daniel received this prophecy. Two kings of this empire were Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian. Daniel tells us that he prospered during the reign of these two kings.

Daniel 6:28  So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

The angel who was speaking to Daniel stated in verse 1 that he “stood to confirm and strengthen” Darius the Mede, who conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. as recorded in Daniel 5:31.

Daniel 5:30  In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.

31  And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

Although it was Cyrus who actually conquered Babylon, he allowed the credit to go to his uncle, Darius the Mede, who reigned for two years after Babylon fell. But we learn from today’s passage that the victory of Darius over Babylon had angelic assistance from heaven. Commenting on this fact Matthew Henry wrote:

“Note, We must acknowledge the hand of God in the strengthening of those that are friends to the church for the service that they are to do it, and confirming them in their good resolutions; herein he uses the ministry of angels more than we are aware of. And the many instances we have known of God’s care of his church formerly encourage us to depend on him in further straits and difficulties.”

The angel announces to Daniel that his mission was to show Daniel the truth. Everything in the prophecy that follows is infallible prophetic truth that has been fulfilled exactly as it was stated.

The passage we are considering today shows us that in addition to Darius the Mede there would arise four more kings in Persia. Those four kings were Cyrus, who reigned alone after Darius, Artaxerxes or Cambyses, Ahasuerus or Darius Hystaspes, and Xerxes. These are the kings of importance whose dealings had a direct bearing on Israel.

Xerxes, the last of these four kings, was far richer than the other Persian kings. Xerxes attempted an invasion of Greece with a huge army fulfilling this prophecy: he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. However, he was shamefully defeated. The following is a citation from The World Book Encyclopedia, 1974, that expounds what happened in this invasion.

“Then he (Xerxes) devoted himself to the conquest of Greece to avenge his father’s defeat at Marathon. Xerxes also wanted to punish the Greeks for their part in the Ionian rebellion. In 483 B.C., he collected perhaps the largest army that had ever been assembled. It included over 180,000 men drawn from all parts of the empire. Xerxes set out with an immense fleet that the Phoenecians had assembled for him. He used a double line of ships to form two bridges across the Hellespont, and cut a canal through the isthmus of Mount Athos Peninsula. In 480 B.C., Xerxes sent his warriors across the Hellespont and invaded Greece. ¶Xerxes won a victory at Thermopylae. He entered Athens and burned all the houses and temples. But in 480 B.C., his fleet was crushed at the Battle of Salamis. Xerxes feared that his supply line would be cut. He returned to Persia, but left a force in Greece under his brother-in-law, Mardonius. The next year, the Greeks defeated Mardonius at Plataea.”

The defeat of Xerxes paved the way for the downfall of the Persian empire and the rise of Greece. The mighty king that stood up and would rule with great dominion was Alexander the Great of Greece. Alexander conquered Persia and incorporated it into his empire. Alexander did according to his will conquering wherever he went and bringing Greek culture to the countries he conquered. At the height of his power Alexander’s dominion extended from the Ionian Sea (the sea separating Italy and Sicily from Albania and Greece) to northern India. So it was a great dominion indeed.

At the zenith of his power, when he stood up, Alexander died in 323 B.C. at the age of 32 and his kingdom was broken so that it did not continue according to the dominion which he ruled. Rather than being left to his posterity, Alexander’s kingdom was principally divided among four of his generals and so it is described as being divided toward the four winds of heaven.

The events prophesied in these first four verses of Daniel 11 were reported in greater detail in the vision given to Daniel in Daniel 8:1-8, 19-22. I cite verses 19-22.

Daniel 8:19  And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.

20  The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

21  And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

22  Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.

In this passage we have it clearly set forth regarding the destruction of the Medo-Persian empire by Alexander the Great of Greece and then the break-up of the Grecian empire into four kingdoms after the death of Alexander.

So in these first four verses of Daniel 11 we have a succinct overview of the history of the world from 539 B.C. to 323 B.C., a space of 216 years, given in advance to Daniel by an angel sent from God. Indeed, the Holy Bible is the word of God!

The Prophecy of Daniel 11: The Fulfillment of Prophecy

Before we launch into the verses of Daniel 11, let us note some things about the prophecy of future events in general, for that is what we will consider as we walk through this chapter.

 

As I noted in the previous article, this prophecy encompasses some 600 years of history from the third year of Cyrus (536-533 B.C.) to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. There is no way Daniel could have known about these events of the next 600 years without the Lord, Who knows all things past, present, and future, telling him. The accuracy of the details of this prophecy and their precise fulfillment have led skeptics to hold to a later date for the writing of the book, a date after the events predicted herein.

Commenting on chapters 11 and 12 of Daniel, Philip Mauro wrote:

“Furthermore, upon carefully examining this new communication to Daniel (which occupies chapters XI and XII) it is found to be a complete account, in the form of a continuous historical narrative, of the second period of Jewish national existence, from the reign of Cyrus (when the vision was given) to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus. And not only so but─and this is a matter of the deepest interest─the fulfillment of every statement in this long prophetic narrative is found to be recorded in histories of indisputable authenticity, which have come down to our day.” Seventy Weeks and the Great Tribulation by Philip Mauro

The fulfillment of such prophecies as these is clear proof of the existence, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence of the one, true, and living God. The Lord points to His power to declare things in the future before they come to pass as proof that He is God alone.

Isaiah 44:6  Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

7  And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.

8  Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

Isaiah 46:9  Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

11  Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

In the following passage the Lord challenges the deities of the heathen to predict the future as can He thus showing that He alone is God and not they.

Isaiah 41:21  Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

22  Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.

23  Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

24  Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

In fact, the Lord foretold things to Israel just so that they could not attribute those things to their idols.

Isaiah 48:3  I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

4  Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

5  I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.

The fulfillment of prophecies given by God show Him to be omniscient (all-knowing). He must know all the details of the events He foretells else He could not so accurately predict them. Fulfilled prophecy shows God to be omnipotent (all-powerful). He must have all power over all things so as to insure that the events He predicts come to pass as He predicted them. Fulfilled prophecy shows God to be omnipresent (present everywhere). He must be present everywhere to oversee all the details of the events He has foretold will come to pass. If there is one detail the Lord does not know, one detail that He cannot control, or one detail from which He is absent, that one detail could counteract the prophecy and render it a lie.

The prophetic accuracy of the Bible is one of the tests by which we know it to be in truth the word of God.

Deuteronomy 18:21  And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

22  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Jeremiah 28:9  The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him.

If so much as one prophecy of the Bible fails to come to pass, then we can discard the Bible as a fraud and not let anything it says upset us.

Lastly, the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy confirms our faith in the Lord and His word. Jesus said that we would believe when the things He predicted came to pass.

John 13:19  Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.

John 14:29  And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.

So I begin this consideration of the prophecy of Daniel 11 in the hope that it will not only inform your understanding, but that it will also increase your faith in the veracity and trustworthiness of the Holy Bible.

THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 11: Introduction

In my over forty-five years of being a minister of the word of God, I have never presented a study of Daniel 11. It is not one of the easier chapters of the Bible to read. And without a study of history, one is at a loss as to what the prophet was speaking of. But having read the writings of several others on this chapter and having studied some historical resources for myself, I believe I can make a fair case for what is set forth in this chapter. If you will but take the time and thoughtfully consider what I say, you will find Daniel 11 one of the most fascinating portions of Holy Writ. This chapter contains abundant confirmation that God is, and that the Book we call the Holy Bible is His word. Or, to put it in the words of Francis Schaeffer, you will discover that “God is there, and He is not silent.”

Now the prophecy recorded in Daniel 11 was given to Daniel for the purpose of informing him of what would befall his people, the Jews, in the latter days. That this was the purpose of the prophecy was made quite clear by the angel that announced it to him.

Daniel 10:14  Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.

For a period of three weeks Daniel had been chastening himself and praying before God for understanding.

Daniel 10:2  In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.

3  I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

At the end of these three weeks, an angel came to Daniel to impart the sought after understanding.

Daniel 10:10  And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands.

11  And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.

12  Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.

Daniel’s experience sets before us a good example. Daniel truly wanted to understand the word of God. He knew that this sought after understanding comes from God and, therefore, he turned to God for it. And he so wanted this understanding that he was willing to deny himself in the pursuit of it. Oh, that we were all that earnest about understanding the truth of God!

Again, the purpose of Daniel 11 was to inform him of “what shall befall thy people in the latter days.” The latter days of the Jewish people began with the restoration of Israel from the Babylonian captivity, which occurred around 536 B.C. and ended at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Therefore, this prophecy of Daniel 11 and that of Daniel 12 encompass some 600 years of history. It outlines for us what transpired in Israel between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament.

The prophets who prophesied before the restoration of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity were called “the former prophets.” The prophet Zechariah reminds the people of how their fathers had refused to hear the cry of “the former prophets” and, therefore, God’s wrath came upon them.

Zechariah 1:4  Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

5  Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?

6  But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.

Zechariah 7:7  Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

Zechariah 7:12  Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

God’s “great wrath” coming upon this people resulted in their being turned over to the Babylonians who destroyed their capital city of Jerusalem and their temple, and took them captive. But after their captivity there arose prophets of “the latter days,” prophets such as Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. These prophets called them to restore their city and temple, and also prophesied to them of “the latter days” of their history.

So now we have an idea of where we are headed as we consider this great prophecy. We will be looking at the kings and events that had a bearing on Daniel’s people from the time of their restoration to the land until their destruction and expulsion from the land in 70 A.D.

In conclusion, it bears pointing out that the Bible recounts the history of men and nations as it bears on His church and people. And such is the case with Daniel 11. God’s eye is upon His own. He moves all men and nations with a view to His dealing with His people. And it is been thus from the beginning and will be so to the last tick of time.

Deuteronomy 32:7  Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

8  When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9  For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

Psalm 119: Conclusion

On 17 August 2010, over six years ago, I began what I then described as “a gargantuan task,” and that was to set out on “a verse by verse consideration of Psalm 119.” And now at long last on this day, 9 December 2016, I submit to my readers the conclusion. It seems surreal to have continued in this task all the way to this point. Now here I am sending out the 181st meditation. These 181 meditations comprise three written for the introduction, one on each of the 176 verses, one on the first three verses, and now this conclusion.

This psalm is the largest chapter in the Bible. It comprises 176 verses divided up into 22 octaves (eight verses each) corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is obvious that the theme of this psalm is the written revelation of God, which is called the Holy Scriptures and which we also call the Holy Bible. The word Bible comes from a Greek word meaning books. It strikes me as interesting that a psalm about the Scriptures is arranged according the alphabet of the first language of the Holy Scriptures which was Hebrew. It also strikes me as interesting that the Bible is made up of 66 books, which is the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet times 3. The triune (three in one) God communicates with man in words which are made up of letters, in this case, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

As I pointed out in the introduction of this psalm, the author recorded “a variety of experiences, emotions, and frames of mind in which he found himself.” As one makes his way through the 176 verses of this psalm he vacillates between the high peaks of praise to God and the deep valleys of depression, and whatever comes in between. In reading the varied experiences of the psalmist we see those same experiences lived out in the apostle Paul, who described his life thus:

2 Corinthians 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed....

 Indeed, Paul could have traced his own life in Psalm 119 and so may we all who walk with God in the light of His word. The outstanding feature of this psalm is that all the varied experiences and emotions of the psalmist were processed through the word of God. There is something in the Bible that bears on any and everything about life. The very last words of the psalm define the psalmist in whatever condition he found himself: I do not forget thy commandments. Eight times throughout this psalm he affirmed that he did not forget God’s word (verses 16, 61, 83, 93, 109, 141, 153, 176). He resolved in verse 16 that he would not forget it. He further resolved in verse 93 that he would never forget it, and indeed he made good on that promise. No matter what happened, he kept his Bible in hand. He was like Ezra the priest whom Artaxerxes the king described as having the law of God “in thine hand” (Ezra 7:14).

The psalmist always had his counsellers nearby to advise him: “Thy testimonies are also my delight and my counsellers” (Psalm 119:24). From Psalm 119 we learn that the Scriptures provide us with the answers for either coping with our problems or solving our problems. This reminds me of something I read in a blog written by Pastor Larry Lilly, whom I personally know. I cite it here:

“I know a man who uses a simple, yet largely unused method in solving problems. He first writes out the nature of the problem, then searches to see if there is a similar problem identified in the scripture, then writes out a biblical definition of the problem and the biblical solutions. He then asks, ‘How can I fit this solution to my problem?’ The answer will come.”

To that I can but add a hearty “Amen.”

Psalm 119 opens with a description of the blessed man: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.” This description finds its ultimate expression in the Lord Jesus Christ of Whom is it written:

Hebrews 7:26  For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens….

And thus we have been able to see our Lord Jesus peering through the verses of the Psalm.

As I look back over the six plus years in which I have been writing these meditations, I am touched by all the varied experiences that I have passed through during this time. As I have been engaged in this task I have, of course, grown older. I endure frequent stiffness and shots of pain in the muscles and joints of my body. It takes a bit for the parts to loosen up in the morning. And I notice that I tire out more rapidly. But I am still able to do exercise classes and keep fairly fit. I am able to fulfill the duties of my ministry which consist of praying, preaching about 70-75 minutes every Sunday, conducting a Bible study each week, writing these meditations, counselling, and some travelling here and there. Thanks be to God that as of this writing I am not on any pharmaceutical medications. During this period I have watched some of my grandchildren enter into their teen years. Two of my grandsons are now taller than I. It seems but yesterday that I cradled them in my arms. I also saw the increase of our family with the birth of my youngest daughter’s two children with now another on the way. Not long after I began this work I made a ministerial trip to the Far East which lasted the better part of six weeks. It took months of preparation to get ready for that trip. I count that time as one of the busiest of my life. The trip itself was exciting and eventful, but hugely draining. It literally took me months to recover from it. Also during these years I had the privilege of participating in the ordination of two men to the ministry, one of whom took over the pastorate of a church I started in Minnesota. As I was working through this psalm I went through some of the worst depression of my life, but the good Lord brought me through it. I also experienced a bout with my nerves and narrowly escaped what could have been a crippling battle with anxiety. Over these years I have lived with the sorrow of watching my beloved mother decline with the dreadful disease of Alzheimer’s. It hurts to watch the person you know fade before your very eyes so that they cease being the person you knew. It is a protracted loss that brings a protracted grief. I have also experienced other losses of things I loved and enjoyed. I have seen members, including three of my grandsons, added to the church under my ministry whilst also seeing members leave my ministry. We lost two of our most faithful members to death and others in the congregation are nearing their end. Yet we are also reaping a crop of babies in the congregation which gives us a prospect for the future of the church, if God so will. During this time I have done some very serious self-reflection digging down beneath the surface of my problems to discover the deeper issues that give rise to them. This has helped me in my personal growth. Like the psalmist, I too can say to God that “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies” (Psalm 119:59). Over these years God has blessed me to continue to increase in the knowledge of His word. Just preparing these meditations on Psalm 119 has been very rewarding. I have learned so much. I look forward to going over them again as I edit them with the intent of composing them into a book. God has also blessed me in preparing some serial messages that have been personally enriching to study and that have greatly blessed the congregation. Of all the blessings that I have experienced over these years, I esteem those gleaned from the study and meditation of the word of God to be the best. My sentiments echo those of the psalmist when he wrote:

Psalms 119:72  The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

Psalms 119:103  How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Yes, the years spent in composing these meditations have seen their gains and losses, their ups and downs. In short, as I have been composing these meditations on this psalm to a great extent I have lived this psalm. And just as God’s word met the psalmist wherever he was and brought him comfort, so God’s word has met me and been “my comfort in my affliction” (Psalms 119:50).

And so I am done. My heart is warm and my eyes moisten at the thought that I have finally arrived at the end of this undertaking. I take my leave of this task with the certain realization that I have only skimmed the surface of all that can be gleaned from these verses. The riches of God’s word are unsearchable (Ephesians 3:8). Even eternity itself will not be enough time to fathom “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God” (Romans 11:33). But thanks be to God that by His amazing grace we will have an eternity to engage in the task. In relation to that, this task of searching through Psalm 119 was not gargantuan at all. It was but a shallow skimming of the cream on the surface. But, oh, it is a delightful cream and a foretaste of yet richer and fuller things to come! And so I commend this work to God with thanks to Him, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, Who enabled me, His unworthy servant, to execute it in His name. May it please Him to make further use of this work for His glory and the good of His people.

Philippians 4:20  Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalm 119:176

At long last we now come to the last verse of Psalm 119 and the end of the octave entitled Tau.

Psalms 119:176  I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

We begin by focusing on the expression thy servant. This is the thirteenth time in this psalm that the psalmist designated himself as God’s servant (see verses 17, 23, 38, 49, 65, 76, 84, 122, 124, 125, 135, 140, 176). If one is a servant of God, his chief aim and purpose is to do the will of his Master, God. Every time he addresses God as Lord, he is using a word which means master. And God, the Master, expresses His will for His servants in His word. So God’s servants serve Him by keeping His word. Therefore, being a servant of God, the psalmist prayed this prayer in verse 125 of this psalm:

Psalms 119:125  I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.

Commenting on this verse I wrote:

“As a servant of God, the psalmist wanted to know God’s testimonies. He wanted to know His Master and His will so that he might serve Him. What servant is worth his salt that cares nothing for what his master says?”

As a servant of God the psalmist was living his life in subjection to his Master rather than in rebellion against Him. And he kept His Master’s commandments ever before him as he testifies in today’s verse:  for I do not forget thy commandments.

And yet even though he served the Lord and did not forget His commandments, he still had to confess:  I have gone astray like a lost sheep. The Lord’s people are sheep.

Psalms 100:3  Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

And as sheep they are prone to go astray.

Isaiah 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Therefore, even when we are serving the Lord and keeping His commandments in mind, we will still find ourselves going astray from time to time. If you think about it, you will find this to be true. Have you ever found yourself thinking some abominable thought for a period of time before you caught yourself thinking it? Weren’t you amazed that you could let your mind wander to something like that without realizing it right away? Does your mind ever wander during a sermon you should be listening to? Have you ever been caught up and carried away in a relationship only to realize later on that it was not one that was healthy for you; and, therefore, you had to back out of it at the cost of pain to yourself and perhaps the other? Have you ever been so enthralled with a pleasure or a sport, or have you ever been so consumed with a care or worry, that it was choking the word of God in your life before you realized it? Have you ever involved yourself in a business that seemed so good at the start only to later regret you ever signed on? Have you ever pursued an idea that seemed so grand at the time only then to have it blow up in your face leaving you to ask yourself how you could ever have been so stupid? Have you ever in an unguarded moment been seized by an emotion that carried you where you shouldn’t go? Of course, such things have happened to you. You see, what happened is that you went astray like a lost sheep. And it can happen even with the best of intentions because we are sheep prone to wander from the right way. Being finite there are just so many things we cannot see, we cannot know. Therefore, there are things that may look very good that in reality are very bad, but we just don’t see it.

This is why we must ever pray: seek thy servant. We should ever be asking the Lord to watch over us and reel us back in when He sees us going astray. In essence, this is what we are asking for when we pray: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This prayer of the psalmist was also expressed in these words in verse 10 of this psalm: “O let me not wander from thy commandments.” If the Lord does not seek us, we will wander hopelessly lost. I think it is good to say to the Lord something to this effect: “Lord, do whatever He it takes to keep me in the strait and narrow way, even if it means slamming me upside the head with an iron frying pan; but just don’t give up on me.” And sometimes, being slammed with an iron frying pan is about what it takes for some of the Lord’s sheep to be brought back from their errant ways.

But if you would have the Lord to seek you, be sure you can add this plea to your prayer: for I do not forget thy commandments. Keep the Bible in your life and in your thoughts. Do not cast it aside. It is your rallying point. If you discard the Book, then you will go astray like a lost sheep. And the Lord, as a judgment, may just let you spend the rest of your days in this world wandering about from one error to another with no return as the following two passages declare.

Psalms 81:8  ¶Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

9  There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

10  I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

11  But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

12  So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

Psalms 95:7  ¶For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

8  Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9  When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

And whilst I am on the subject of not forgetting God’s commandments, let me point out that it is not only for your good that you remember them, but also for the good of your children!

Hosea 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Commenting on verse 168 of Psalm 119 and comparing it with today’s verse, Charles Spurgeon had this to say:

“We are struck with the contrast between this verse, which is the last of its octave, and verse 176, which is similarly placed in the next octave. This (verse 168) is a protest of innocence, ‘I have kept thy precepts,’ and that (verse 176) a confession of sin, ‘I have gone astray like a lost sheep.’ Both were sincere, both accurate. Experience makes many a paradox plain, and this is one. Before God we may be clear of open fault and yet at the same time mourn over a thousand heart-wanderings which need his restoring hand.”

My experience certainly confirms what Mr. Spurgeon wrote. Then I would also like to pass on to you the comments first of Matthew Henry and then of Charles Bridges on today’s verse.

“Thus he concludes the psalm with a penitent sense of his own sin and a believing dependence on God’s grace. With these a devout Christian will conclude his duties, will conclude his life; he will live and die repenting and praying.”

“And thus will our Christian progress be chequered, until we reach the regions of unmixed praise, where we shall no longer mourn over our wanderings, no longer feel any inclination to err from him, or the difficulty of returning to him – where we shall be eternally safe in the heavenly fold, to ‘go no more out.’ (Rev. iii.12).”

As we have now come to the end of this psalm let me remind you of something that I said at the outset that I would do. I said that as I pored over the verses of Psalm 119 I would “keep an eye out to behold the Lord Jesus Christ as He is certain to show Himself here as in all the other Scriptures.” As we consider today’s verse we see the Lord Jesus Christ showing Himself, for the psalmist speaks of himself as a lost sheep needing to be sought. And who seeks the sheep but the shepherd? And Who is the Shepherd of God’s sheep but the Lord Jesus Christ. Speaking of Himself He said, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14). And being the good Shepherd, it is He that seeks the sheep when they are lost.

Ezekiel 34:11  For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

12  As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

Who of us that profess to be the Lord’s sheep have not from time to time experienced “the cloudy and dark day” when we lost our way? And yet the Lord Jesus brings us back into the way so that we can say with David as he wrote of his Shepherd: “He restoreth my soul” (Psalms 23:3).

This concludes the verses of Psalm 119. God willing, I shall write a conclusion to this series of meditations in the next installment.