Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
0.52LIKELY
Sadness
0.53LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
0.66LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.53LIKELY
Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
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Opposition Comes
Nehemiah is now moving forward and progress is being made.
Things are happening
God is being glorified
People are united
The devil is not happy
Stir up the pot
discourage the people
make fun of the people
‘Threaten the people
Tell them the project is too big
I Irritation
Was greatly incensed” (from kāʿas) means “to be irritated” (cf. the reaction of Sanballat and his colleagues when they first heard of Nehemiah’s arrival [2:19]).[1]
As noted earlier (2:10) Sanballat was displeased when he heard that Nehemiah had returned to Jerusalem to help the Jews.
Sanballat, however, did not know of God’s interest in His people.
Sanballat’s displeasure turned to intense anger (4:1; cf.
v. 7).[1]
Sanballat - went from ridicule to anger
Wroth - hot , upset and out of control
This is starting to upset me intimidation did not work
Ridicule did not work
Now I am mad....
Satan will rise up people to put in your path that will do everything to stop you...
Paul faced in going from town to town
Progress in the gospel always faces opposition
II Intimidation and Insult
Sanballat rapidly fired five derisive questions to taunt the Jews and discourage them from their efforts.
1. “What are those feeble Jews doing?”
The word “feeble” (ʾamēlal) is used only here in the sense of “frail,” “miserable,” “withered,” “powerless.”
You frail poor soul you are going to build the wall.....
The JB renders the phrase “pathetic Jews”
2. “Will they restore their wall?”
The word translated “restore” usually means “to abandon.”
See comment on 3:8.
The implication is they will abandon the work....
They will stop .... they started but did not finish....
Some people are know for not finishing
They start well but get distracted or do not finish well.
3. “Will they offer sacrifices?”
The Jews eventually succeeded in offering sacrifices (12:43).
Will they ever get to sacrifice ...
The common theme is to place doubt in the hearer ......
Is that possibel
Are you sure you want to do that?
4. “Will they finish in a day?”
Despite the furious activity of the Jews, the work seemed so great that it could hardly be finished in a short time.
There is no way you could ever do that?
The job is too big
You are not qualified
Its too hard
God wants you to relax and have fun
5. “Can they bring the stones back to life … burned as they are?”
Fire had damaged the stones, which were probably limestone, and had caused much of the stone to crack and disintegrate.[1]
Look at you building materials ....
This will never work
The goal was to get the people to quit.
You just cant do it ...
The end goal was discouragement ......
The context therefore suggests that a fox is intended: the point of the sneer is that any wall the Jews built would be so flimsy that even the light footsteps of a solitary fox would collapse it [1]
It will not last it will be too weak to withstand even a fox
Discouragement is a temptation “common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
And in dealing with it sometimes we need tenderness and other times we need toughness.
But either way discouragement is not to be tolerated or wallowed in.
It’s to be fought.
If we linger in discouragement it can be costly.
Its sense of defeat and hopelessness saps us of energy and vision.
It can consume a lot of time.
It can keep us from doing what we need to do because we don’t want to face it.
And it can even be contagious, weakening others’ faith.
When we feel discouraged we want comfort, which is right to feel.
But the comforts we often turn to are ways to avoid our fears rather than ways to muster our courage to face and overcome them.
When this happens discouragement simply becomes sinful indulgence in unbelief, no different than indulging in lust or anger or other sins of unbelief.
Illustration of discouragement - college
career
III Intervention
As in the imprecatory psalms (Pss 69:22–28; 79:12; 94; 109:14; 137:8–9; cf.
ZPEB, 4:938–39), Nehemiah did not personally take action against his opponents but called down the vengeance of God.
Nehemiah did not argue
He did not fight
He took the case directly to God
God you asked me to do this
You need to take care of it
Prayer was a distinct and consistent part of Nehemiah’s approach to problem-solving.
When faced with Sanballat’s demoralizing attack, he immediately asked God for help: Hear us, O our God, for we are despised.
Like some of the imprecatory prayers in which the psalmists invoked God’s condemnation on His enemies, Nehemiah’s prayer in this instance was severe and condemning.
He prayed that Sanballat and his cohorts would be taken captive and that they would be judged for their sins.[1]
Prayer was a distinct and consistent part of Nehemiah’s approach to problem-solving.
When faced with Sanballat’s demoralizing attack, he immediately asked God for help: Hear us, O our God, for we are despised.
Like some of the imprecatory prayers in which the psalmists invoked God’s condemnation on His enemies, Nehemiah’s prayer in this instance was severe and condemning.
He prayed that Sanballat and his cohorts would be taken captive and that they would be judged for their sins.[1]
When opposition comes how do you handle it?
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