The Appeal of the Lost Sheep

The Appeal of the Lost Sheep
Psalm 119:145-176

A Bedouin herdsman tells of how he was tending a flock of goats in the Judean wilderness near the Dead Sea. Before sleeping, the herdsmen would count their flocks, but for some reason this herdsman failed to do the count for two days. On the third morning he did so and found that a goat was missing. So he told the other herdsmen that he wanted to leave the rest of his flock with them and go and search for the lost goat. He describes how he had to climb hills and go down into valleys and thus roam far away from his flock and the other herdsmen. Eventually he came across a cave with its entrance open at the top, like a cistern. He thought maybe the goat had fallen into the cave, so he threw a stone into the cave to see if it startled the goat. What it did was hit a pot. The herdsman heard the sound of the pot breaking, and it was the beginning of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls...