THE OUTER LIMITS: ECCLESIASTES - One Shephard

One Shepherd

Ecclesiastes 12:8-14

I think that the book of Ecclesiastes finishes better than any other book in all of scripture. But there is something you can miss and if you do, it’s pointless.

On August 13th 1944 the American army was south of Tuscany Italy and a soldier wrote an encrypted message. But no one found it, until now.

The Italians surrendered to the Nazis, but the Americans were pushing through. This American soldier wrote a coded message in chunks of 5. If your message was in 5s you could decipher them without knowing spaces, because the full letter was transmitted after 5, so 15 letters was decoded to 3.

Someone with a codebook decoded this message found in 2015 stuffed into a bullet - it says this:

THEY - THROW - GRENADES - WE - PULL - PINS - AND - THROW - BACK

NOTIFY REINFORCEMENTS STAND DOWN - NOT NEEDED

The Italian grenades had two pins - the Nazis pulled a pin, and hocked the grenade, apparently.

They encoded a message - but it was never received.

I saw another story of a British man, who’d found a pigeon leg in his chimney; stick with me. It had a container on it - and in the container was another coded message. This one had the officers ID on it, a pigeon registration #, this whole pigeon thing is crazy - the Germans had hawks trained to snatch these homing pigeons from the sky.

This man sent the coded message off to the Brits to decipher - they said they couldn’t. However, he thinks it may have coordinates of a bombing location where civilians died so it’s secret, or spy information or something - but either way it’s a hidden code we may never know.

Today we have a code that could be missed or a mystery that could be un-understood. Lets not let either of those happen - an unfound mystery and unknown truth are just as bad.

So lets step carefully and find it. Lets enjoy the mystery because mystery is fun, BUT more than that - lets know truth from it, ready, lets go:

Ecclesiastes 12:8–14 (ESV)

8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care.

Some people would say that Solomon here has had someone else take over for him, possibly a ghostwriter or an understudy. One commentator Longman refers to this as “the frame narrator”. Mainly because of this change of perspective, or of person /tense, it now says, The Preacher also taught the people knowledge.

I think it’s still Solomon. Picking up from speaking in the 3rd person which he shifted to in verse 8, “says the preacher all is vanity” why shift to the 3rd person?

This book of Ecclesiastes if you’re being careful is curious and if written by Solomon, as I believe, then was written by an absolute genius. It draws you in, and makes you ask - what is this thing, who’s its author…

Remember that bullet with the message inside? Did you ask yourself, self - “what made them open it up”? Who finds a bullet and opens it?

The soldier carefully opened the bullet up; poured out the powder slipped the message inside and he wanted it found. So that someone would look - he turned the bullet backwards, so the blunt end was out and the tip was facing in, it was curious - and made you investigate its continence.

The book starts out, in the 3rd person, then slips into the first. And now jumps back out into the 3rd. I’ve already said, I think Solomon wrote it - in fact I have no doubt. Origen a pretty hard core theologian (if you know your church history you know why I say “pretty hard core” had a disciple that wrote of Ecclesiastes and attributed it to Solomon, he lived in the 200s A.D. The Hebrew Targum (which I call Hebrew The Message, because it’s a 1st century paraphrase Bible) calls it Solomon’s, but not everyone agrees - it’s a backwards bullet tip, who in the world wrote this book? Solomon made it a confounding issue - the bullet tip so backwards but why…

10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

Words of delight - oh praise God, which our Bibles are so drawing and compelling. Scripture is a living and breathing two-edged sword Hebrews 4:12 says.

Solomon wrote compelling, interesting, exciting, truth.

11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.

When I was stationed at a previously closed base once, we used to be driven to and from work, which was a communications outpost. The drivers were insane and used to terrify us - but they’d come to a total stop when shepherds were crossing the roads with their flocks. Their sticks are great for walking, but pointed and great for redirecting with a little poke, then it’s called a goad.

This book of Ecclesiastes is a word from the wise, words for guiding and like nails tent pegs that pin us to reality, when we apply the information and information in practice becomes knowledge.

WAIT

I digress - the backwards bullet - inserted into the casing: the words are like nails collected sayings going by “one Shepherd”. …One Shepherd. It’s the only time the “one Shepherd” is mentioned in all of Ecclesiastes. In fact, to be through it’s the only time “shepherd” is used in Ecclesiastes - is to describe the source of all this wisdom, it’s the backwards bullet.

This is the message; this is the core of Ecclesiastes and a code, if you will, in the Bible. What is this mysterious One Shepherd, which seems to be the single source for all the truth which verse 12 will say - is all we need, why is Shepherd capitalized in your Bible, it’s not a proper noun, is it?

In Genesis, Psalms and Isaiah we see that God is the shepherd over Israel God.

Psalm 23 says “the lord is my shepherd” Isaiah 40 says that The Sovereign Lord …tends his flock like a shepherd” In Genesis 48 we see God as Joseph's shepherd…

Then,

Ezekiel 34:23 (ESV)

23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

In a parable about a community left behind by bad leaders like the Egyptian taskmasters God promises rescue and care for them He says “I will shepherd the flock with justice” (Ezek. 34:11-16). Then God says that He will put over the flock “one shepherd, David, and tend them…and be their shepherd” (Ezekiel 34:23) Ezekiel says God’s rescue IS the placing of “David” to be their shepherd.

So, is the “one Shepherd” ultimately responsible for all of the message of scripture God, or David or…

The Godly Shepherding line in John

John 10:16 (ESV)

16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Church - are you getting this? Does that send chills down your spine; are you following this?

Who wrote Ecclesiastes, it’s some what obscured, I’m comfortable saying Solomon others argue that - it’s the bullet flipped backwards it’s the clue to look. Then we see

11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.

These wise words are like a shepherds goad that puts the flock on the right path. That fixes them securely - and who wrote them, who gave them, ultimately one shepherd - God, though the Davidic line, Through Christ - one Shepherd - who came for the lost flock, you - this is the mystery.

Consider:

Ephesians 3:4–5 (ESV)

4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,

5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. It was a mystery a code, we know that an un found mystery and an unknown code are just as bad - but when found and understood - …

Ecclesiastes 12:12-14 (ESV)

12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Solomon, wavered between trying to figure out life, independently from God, applying his wisdom and did stupid things.

He amassed wives, he amassed possessions - among the people who think Solomon wrote this book of Ecclesiastes many say it’s his life’s reflection and repentance from stupid living, since Kings ends with him being nooooooot so repentant Ecclesiastes is his work post repentance, hence his slip to the 3rd person - don’t try and try and try to find a way outside of God, be in scripture and trust fearing God is the beginning of wisdom.

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

That’s your entire duty, fear God, and obey Him.

Fearing God allows you to say, I may not get it all - I may not understand exhaustively everything, why people, die, why gravity works, why people yawn but I trust God, and seek joy and live with risk for Him and His agenda - because I trust Him because He’s the one good shepherd and I can trust the One shepherds word!

14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Because God created all things, because God offered up His Son, the one Shepherd who lived perfectly as sacrifice for us, we can be found in Him and reconciled to God. Our sins aren’t un-judged they’re' judged on Christ, if we’re found in Him.

You see what this text does; it pushes us to finding the truth in Christ from scripture, the mystery. Which here is obscured, even to Solomon to some degree we’ll see that later in 1

I Corinthians 13:12 (ESV)

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Solomon found his joy in abandon, not in personal wisdom. When we started this book, we said - that we’re seeing through scan lines.

Why?

Because Solomon jogs back and fourth between a view of life under the sun, and coloring of life and a trusting of God who is over it. And so he goes between joy and satisfaction and vexing frustration and back to joy… as his vantage point shifts.

When he sought to exhaustively understand things, he was vexed and all was meaningless - when he recognized the sovereignty of God and found joy in all that God gives, he found freedom and satisfaction.

His joy was in abandon, not in personal wisdom.

So what are we to do with this book of Ecclesiastes, that gives clues like the backwards bullet so that we’ll look more deeply?

We can react in one of two ways - we can ignore it, and look away and hide from its secrets like the British pigeon code, or we can go all in and know it

Church, lets know it. If you’re called to salvation in Christ because of the truth that all of scripture is about God, given by the one Shepherd - and for your salvation and your sanctification, then be saved. Now.

If you’re a believer in God found in Christ, in-dwelled by the Holy Spirit, go all in and live for God.

We’re going to be studying that very topic next - how do I LIVE for God, as we study Romans, join us for the next 8 weeks. You have a reading plan, you got it when you came in, it’s in your bulletin, we want you to be in on this, because it’s the good shepherds voice, so lets live!