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.
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Tone of specific sentences
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Saul is king.
The Lord has chosen Him to fulfill this role.
He was chosen by lot in front of the entire assembly of Israel.
The people renewed his kingship after Saul rescued the city of Jabesh Gilead (though, really, it was the Lord who worked salvation for them that day and every day).
The people decided they liked Saul as king.
So now that all Israel has accepted Saul as king, Samuel has to withdraw as their leader, the judge of the people.
He’ll still hang around and exercise his ministry, whether or not the king will listen to him is another thing altogether.
Before we say “Farewell” to Samuel, we need to hear what he has to say to the people (this isn’t farewell nor Samuel’s retirement speech; he’ll have one more king to anoint).
Please realize this is what the Lord wants His people to hear, then and now.
Samuel’s authority as a prophet is as one who gives the Word of God to the king and to the people.
What Samuel says is powerful; it’s precisely what the people of Israel needed to hear.
It’s what we need to hear.
Samuel is going to confront the people of Israel, but before he gets to that, he needs to make a case for his own leadership among the people.
Verses 1-5 cover Samuel’s defense:
Samuel has done what the people has asked.
And now, the once young boy serving in the temple is an old man.
Old and gray.
Samuel can’t hide his age or his sons.
He stands firm and asks some questions about his leadership among them.
In all his years, he never cheated anyone; never bribed anyone; never falsified any accounts; never acted unjustly.
Israel agrees that Samuel has led well.
There had been no real defect in his character or leadership.
He wasn’t perfect, but he was as good as they could ask for.
As soon as Samuel has defended his leadership/ministry among them, he turns to their record.
Samuel had been faithful.
And, just in case the people have forgotten (pretty good odds that they have), Samuel reminds them the Lord Yahweh has been faithful to them, too.
Be Confronted with Truths about the Lord: What He Has Done and Who He is
This is what Samuel is saying in verse 7. 1 Samuel 12:7 “Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.”
Samuel needs to confront the people with the twin truths of God’s character and His goodness toward them.
They need a swift kick to the seat of their collective pants, a wake-up call to be sure.
There’s a pattern throughout Israel’s history: there’s always some self-inflicted crisis, they cry for help, the Lord hears them, and then grants deliverance through one of His provided deliverers (whoever is needed).
The Lord’s pattern of deliverance began with Moses and Aaron through whom the Lord brought the people out of Egypt.
Throughout the book of Judges, the Lord remained faithful to adulterous Israel.
They’d cry out and He’d raise up a deliverer/judge for them.
Samuel names a few of the judges: Jerub-Baal (Gideon), Barak, Jephthah, and himself (Samuel was the last of the judges).
Most recently, after the events of the Exodus and the time when the judges judged, here during the time of Samuel the people were terrorized by the eye-gouging Ammonite named Nahash.
This time, the people don’t cry out for help; they demand a king.
Same tune, second verse same as the first.
They forget the deliverance the Lord had brought them.
They suffer, like me and you, from spiritual amnesia.
How quickly they forget what the Lord has done for them!
Heck, I think they forget who He is about as quickly as they forget what He’s done.
This is what Samuel is setting out to remind them of: who He is and what He has done.
This is what we need to hear.
In verse 8, Samuel refers to the Lord as the One who helps:
1 Samuel 12:8 (NIV)
8 “After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
In verses 10-11, the Lord is described as the One who delivers:
1 Samuel 12:10–11 (NIV)
10 They cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths.
But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.’
11 Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.
And Samuel refers to the Lord as the King they’ve rejected:
1 Samuel 12:12 (NIV)
12 “But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king.
This is what the Lord has done for them: He’s helped them, He’s delivered them, He has ruled over them as King.
This is who the Lord is: Helper, Deliverer, King.
He has been their Helper.
They sin against Him, over and over.
They forsake His help again and again, until they need Him.
On the regular, they commit idolatry by worshipping other gods.
He is their Deliverer and they just take it for granted.
He delivers them and before you know it, they’re back in the same mess in need of deliverance all over again.
The Lord had been their King.
And they ask for another.
Samuel does the hard work of confronting them with the twin truths of who the Lord is and what the Lord has done.
Once we realize anew who the Lord is and what the Lord has done, it’s time for us to respond.
The response is laid out in verses 14-15:
Fear the Lord.
Serve Him.
Obey Him.
Don’t rebel against His commands.
Follow Him.
If we do this, Samuel says, “Good!”
When crisis comes, we need to remember that He is our Helper.
Psalm 121.1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
He is our Deliverer, the One who will rescue us from ourselves and our sin, from the present evil age and the coming wrath.
He is Our King.
The Lord is the One to whom we submit.
We follow Him.
We serve at His pleasure.
He should have our full trust and 100% of our allegiance and worship.
>Sometimes we need to be confronted with the truth about who He is and what He has done.
Sometimes, we just need our eyes opened.
See this Great Thing the Lord is about to do
Samuel, like any good preacher, keeps on going.
Davis comments: “Samuel gave Israel no time to speak.
If Samuel had paused for breath, Israel might have only spouted some religious tripe (nonsense)…Samuel rushes on.”
Sometimes the best argumentation in the world doesn’t get through (every parent, spouse, friend, boss, employee knows this).
Samuel has made a compelling case for the Lord’s help and deliverance and rule.
If only people responded to a well-spoken, well-thought-out argument.
Unfortunately, Israel is pretty dense.
And so are we.
So Samuel has a visual aid.
It’s “Show and Tell” time.
The thunder and the rain ought to do it.
This might not seem like much of a sign.
But Samuel and Israel know it is because it’s wheat harvest.
This will be no mere thunder and rain.
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