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
0.45UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.1UNLIKELY
Fear
0.13UNLIKELY
Joy
0.15UNLIKELY
Sadness
0.62LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.47UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.38UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.84LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.6LIKELY
Extraversion
0.05UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.77LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.61LIKELY

Tone of specific sentences

Tones
Emotion
Anger
Disgust
Fear
Joy
Sadness
Language
Analytical
Confident
Tentative
Social Tendencies
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
THE DEATH OF A STRONGMAN
 
A sermon on /Judges 16:30b/
Read: Judges 15:20 – Judges 16:31
* *
*Psalters (morning): *391*;* 390; 293; 200; 29; 316.
*Psalters (evening):*  317; 370; 293; 200; 29; 316.
!
Introduction
!!
On June 18, 1815, two armies met each other outside the small town of Waterloo in Belgium.
There they would fight one of the most significant battles that Europe would ever see.
It was Europe against the French … the Duke of Wellington against Napoleon.
The victor would claim Europe.
The continent waited with baited breath for news of the outcome of the battle… and in London, England it was no different.
And when finally the eagerly-awaited-for message reached this great city, they announced it from the top of a large Cathedral by a man with two signal flags.
With these flags, he spelt out his message one letter at a time.
The entire city had their eyes glued upon this one man as he began to relay his message.
But then, as it is often happens in London, a dense fog suddenly settled down upon the city, just as the words *“Wellington defeated” *were finished.
The top of the cathedral could no longer be seen, and the heartbreaking news of the Duke of Wellington’s defeat spread like wildfire throughout London.
But then, as it also commonly does, the fog suddenly lifted and again the man atop the cathedral became visible, and he began to signal his message again.
But this time he was able to spell out the complete message of the battle: *“Wellington defeated the enemy!”*
What was thought at first to be death and defeat… was instead victory.
Out of death came triumph – out of supposed defeat came the news of victory.
!!
This story of the Battle of Waterloo gives us a window through which we can view the death of Samson.
Samson seemed to be defeated.
Looking at this passage, all seems lost here:  After all, they had put out his eyes!
And now this giant of a man, this one-man-army, this terror of the Philistines… was being led around by the hand… by a small boy.
Samson, /strong/ Samson… being led by a boy – surely this was defeat.
And then when he does get his strength back, just when you think, “there could be hope yet!” he dies.
He just dies… in a pile of rubble.
Now why’d he have to go and do that?
Hadn’t Judges 13 prophesied that Samson was going to be a deliverer; he was to be a savior in Israel.
Oh there was so much potential in Samson, so much that we could have looked up to:  There was someone I could have followed, someone I could have believed in! – Why’d he have to go and die?
Why’d he have to die?
And it was such a glory-less death.
He “let” himself be captured: he had let himself be betrayed, by a close friend even.
Surely this was defeat – defeat not only for Samson, but defeat for Israel.
But then we read these words, at the end verse 30, the complete message, so to speak:  “So the dead which he slew at his death were more than/ they/ which he slew in his life” (KJV).
“So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life” (NKJV).
Here, out of seeming defeat, there was a victory.
Here in the death of Samson, there was victory.
!!
So let us look today at this /victory in death/ by the title, *“The Death of a Strongman.”*
First, we will look at Samson /the person/; then second, Samson /the prisoner/; and third, Samson /the powerful/.
So “The Death of a Strongman”: the person, the prisoner, and the powerful.
!!! 1.  Samson the Person
First, *Samson the person*:  The last verse in chapter 15 seems to read like an obituary at the front of chapter 16 doesn't it?
“And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years” (KJV).
“And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines” (NKJV).
I say this because when we read this phrase for any other judge, then what usually follows is something like, “and he died, and was buried.”
It’s always given like a funeral announcement.
But here it’s placed almost in the middle of the Samson story.
So why have this obituary-sounding notice here now – especially since it /is/ repeated again at the end of chapter 16?
!!
/Samson obtained a good report/
Well there are two good explanations for this.
*First *the author seems to be summarizing most of Samson’s judgeship – he’s filling in the gaps for us:  Looking at chapter 14 and chapter 15, they only tell us about the beginning few months of Samson’s judging (probably even the months just before he was accepted as judge).
And then in chapter 16 we are told about only maybe the last year of his judgeship and his life.
So in between these chapters, the author has written for us these words attesting to Samson’s twenty /faithful/ years of judging Israel:  “And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years” (KJV).
“And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines” (NKJV, Judges 15:20).
But then you might ask if we should assume this was faithful judging:  Who’s to say that Samson was not a wicked judge dominated by his sin during these twenty years?
This is certainly how many modern commentaries describe Samson:  They tell us that when we look at Samson, we should feel nothing but “a thrill of disappointment and keen sorrow that a servant of Jehovah should [act as Samson did] in His name.”
They refer to Samson, at his death, as being a man who was full with the “envenomed hatred of a soul still unregenerate.”
But what are they forgetting when they write this?
If we only had this narrative in the book of Judges, you might be inclined to agree at least somewhat with their description:  But they’re neglecting what the rest of the Bible says about Samson.
In Hebrews 11:32-33 the author to the Hebrews writes this:
"And what more shall I say?
For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also /of/  David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness … became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens."
(NJKV)
 
And he goes on like this for a few more verses before he concludes that all these, /Samson included/:  “obtained a good report through faith.”
Samuel, David … and Samson!
So whatever report man may give of Samson, this is God’s report.
From both the writer of Judges, and the writer to the Hebrews, Samson obtains a good report – he was faithful.
They could summarize his life as faithful.
If someone were to summarize your life today – what would they be able to write behind your name?
What would the author of Judges or the author to the Hebrews be able to write?
Would they put:  “He loved the world.”
“O how this man loved life.”
If they knew you, would this be their great summary of your life?
Or would they be able to write that:  “He has ruled his house faithfully for 20 years.”
Or, “she has been a mother, a grandmother, for 60, 70 years.”
Or, “he is a son to his father”; “she is a daughter to her mother.”
“She has been a Christian for 50 years.”
What would they write about you that would summarize your life?
Would you obtain a good report?
!!
/Samson was a Judge/
Not only did Samson obtain a good report, but he was also a judge:  Samson/ ruled/ Israel.
And he did so faithfully for twenty years as a God-appointed Judge.
Samson was given one of the clearest calls of all the judges:  from his birth it was prophesied that he would begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
He was also dedicated as a Nazirite from his birth:  He was one who vowed his whole life to God, and submitted to His will.
Do you know that it is said of Samson more than of any other person in the Bible that, “the Spirit of the LORD came upon him”?
Samson was a mighty man, a man of strength, a man of valor:  He fought an entire Philistine army, and he won!  3,000 men of Judah were afraid of that same army.
Samson was a man’s man.
Samson was a deliverer.
Samson was a judge.
!!
/Samson was a picture of Christ/
So he obtained a good report, he was a judge, but he was also a type – a picture – of Christ.
Remember that the office of judge in the Bible is very special.
It’s special because it pictures for us the work of Christ.
Children, what if I told you that in the Old Testament there are many, many pictures of Jesus Christ?
Would you believe me? – That there are pictures of Jesus in the Bible?
Well, there are.
There are many pictures of Jesus Christ.
But now keep listening, because I’m not talking about those kinds of pictures that you would draw with your pencil or your crayon, but I’m talking about words pictures, and people-pictures, and objects, and events – things that God used, and has written about, so that when we see them, we somehow think of Christ.
Let me give you an illustration:  In my wallet I have a picture of my daughter.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9