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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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Analytical
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Confident
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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We pick up the story in 1 Samuel 28:3.
We’re told, again, that Samuel had died.
This is a repeat of the death notice in 1 Samuel 25.
The author mentions this again so we remember he’s dead; it’s going to be an important detail.
And then we’re informed that Saul has done something right, at least initially.
Saul has rightly kicked out the mediums and spiritists from the land.
This, in keeping with the Law of God.
In expelling them, Saul’s doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
So says the Law of God:
Saul’s decision to get rid of these things might not have been a popular move.
I’m sure this had an effect on many in the land of Israel, an economic impact if nothing else.
No matter how common mediums and necromancers (people who consult spirits of the dead) might have been, the Mosaic law forbade them as abominations.
These things were common throughout the ANE.
Many texts have been discovered which instruct and teach these practices.
Biblical religion is the only one known to forbid it.
These things were a problem throughout the surrounding region and continued to be a problem throughout the Israelites monarchy (read about it from 1 & 2 Kings to Isaiah).
These two things—Samuel’s death and the mention of Saul’s removal of mediums and spiritists—are the setup for the rest of the chapter.
Here, then, is the current conflict:
Saul’s afraid at the sight of the Philistine army.
This is natural, especially when you look at a map and see how far the Philistines force had advanced already.
The Philistine force is dominating Israel and they continue to press forward.
Saul was afraid; terror filled his heart.
Joyce Baldwin writes: “Saul was afraid with the kind of fear that gnaws physically and incapacitates a person for action.”
Saul inquires of the Lord.
This is the right move.
This is the proper response when fear falls, when one doesn’t know what to do.
Saul inquires of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.
These were the permitted means of asking the Lord that remained.
There were dreams which could have given him guidance.
Kings in the Bible have dreams which often need interpretation from someone else, but were, at that time, one way God communicated.
Urim was a priestly oracle, but Saul had deprived himself of such when he killed all the priests at Nob.
Prophets, trained in Samuel’s school, were another avenue of hearing from the Lord.
But Samuel is dead...
Saul wanted to hear from the Lord now in the hour of his distress, but went he sought didn’t.
He inquired of the Lord and didn’t hear anything.
So Saul does what he knows is wrong.
Let it be said: There is Never a Good Time to do what is Wrong in the Eyes of the Lord.
There is Never a Good Time to do what is Wrong in the Eyes of the Lord.
Saul knows better.
He absolutely knows better.
He knew well enough to banish the mediums and spiritists from the land.
But now he turns to one.
His actions show this is wrong.
He dons a disguise, putting on clothes that wouldn’t give him away, and goes at night to the woman medium.
Nighttime is when you do what is shameful.
When you fear being seen.
When you want to hide.
When evil is on the agenda.
But you can't hide from the One who sees all, from the One who knows the heart.
Saul had rightly cut himself off from mediums and spiritists—the practices of those who don’t know the Lord.
And now Saul turns to them.
This is how the chronicler frames Saul’s death.
There is Never a Good Time to do what is Wrong in the Eyes of the Lord.
Saul does what he knows he shouldn’t.
The woman who is a medium knows that what she does is not legal.
She tells the disguised Saul, “Saul has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land.”
And she admits she’s afraid for her life.
Saul ironically swears by the Lord that her doing what the Lord forbids will be okay.
Wrap your head around that.
The Lord will, according to Saul, be okay with her doing something the Lord has forbidden?!?
“Saul swears the oath by Yahweh, by Yahweh’s life, as he seeks help from a source that Yahweh has condemned.”
-DRD.
Saul does wrong here.
It’s clear to everyone.
This whole turn of events is sad.
Israel was forbidden to engage in such practices.
Still, people regularly do what the Bible prohibits—be it ancient Israel or the contemporary church.
We might not hire mediums or fool around with necromancy (I pray you don’t), but we mess around with activities and actions the Lord tells us not to.
You’re sensible people.
I don’t need to fill in the blank here for you.
There’s Never a Good Time to do what is Wrong in the Eyes of the Lord.
The Bible describes these actions—calling on spirits, summoning the dead—not as futile or silly or pointless but rather as pagan and evil.
The Lord forbids Israel to use these things, not because they don’t work, but because they are wicked.
The woman, the medium is able summon Samuel.
We don’t know how.
There’s no description of the wording used to call up Samuel from the dead.
Perhaps the writer didn’t even want to mention the actual deed, evil as it was.
For whatever reason, the Lord, for His own reasons, permitted Samuel to “come up” in order to speak this word of truth (and doom!) to Saul.
Saul makes a confession here, not to the Lord, but to the spirit of dead old Samuel.
Saul is honest.
He’s in distress.
He’s worried about the Philistines.
He shares that “God has departed from [him] and that God no longer answers [him].”
One of the saddest statements in the Bible.
Whew.
And then Saul gives the reason he has summoned Samuel: “The Lord wouldn’t answer me, so I called on you to tell me what to do.”
Now, I don’t know for sure how long Saul inquired of the Lord.
It couldn’t have been long; less than a day.
It seems he moved on rather quickly from valid means of seeking the Lord’s guidance.
Saul impatiently gives up on the Lord.
The Lord doesn't answer him when Samuel thinks He should.
The Lord doesn't bend to Saul's timeline.
Saul must think the Lord owes him an answer.
Saul's attitude toward the Lord is a little haphazard.
Saul has ignored the Lord's instruction.
He's killed the Lord's prophets.
He's forfeited the kingship and hunted the Lord's anointed.
And now he thinks he's owed an answer, some guidance, some help from the Lord.
His is a life disordered.
His expectations are skewed.
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