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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Conscientiousness
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As I was studying this chapter, I caught myself thinking: “Again?
The same topics all over again?
Another sermon about what the Lord is doing, how the Lord operates, the work the Lord does?
Another sermon on the same topic?
That’s not good...”
I confess: I was getting a little tired of the same themes and I was worried you’d be a little bored by the hearing the same stuff all over again.
And then it hit me.
Conviction or comfort, maybe both.
This is what we need to hear.
If we didn’t need to hear it, it wouldn’t be recorded for us as often as it is.
God’s Word is perfect and profitable, timeless and timely.
The focus of God’s Word is God—who He is and what He has done.
We need as much of this as we can possibly get.
Here’s what we need to hear, to read, to see, to feel, to know: The Lord is at work today just as He was in David’s day.
It dawned on me that there is a lot of repetition here in 1 Samuel.
There are topics and themes repeated over and over.
I decided that’s probably on purpose.
It’s not so much that I need to be concerned about new and original sermon content; it’s that I need to be concerned about faithfulness to the text.
There is a reason the themes are repeated over and over.
It’s because the Lord is constant.
He is steady.
He never changes.
How He operates in 1 Samuel 1 is how He operates in 1 Samuel 25. How He operates in 1 Samuel 25 is how He operates in Rich Hill 2022.
There’s no small amount of encouragement in that.
The repetition here is for me.
It’s for us.
For those who need truth repeated a few dozen times.
What we have here in 1 Samuel 25 is more of the same.
And I’m thankful.
Maybe I’ll finally figure it out.
Maybe it’ll start to sink in.
Maybe, just maybe, the Lord will use the repetition to teach me.
As we begin 1 Samuel 25, we read a death notice.
It’s sad and sobering.
The people mourn, as they should.
This is the end of an era; the loss of a great leader.
Mourning accompanied the deaths of Jacob and Aaron and Moses.
And now, Samuel.
Samuel we know and David we know, but there are a couple of new characters here.
We are introduced to them in rather interesting fashion.
The author of the story gives us the detail about a certain man before he gives us the fella’s name.
And then we learn about his wife.
For all time, it’s recorded that Nabal is surly and mean; Abigail, intelligent and beautiful.
And they married each other.
Nabal is a Calebite, meaning a descendant of Caleb, possibly the Caleb who volunteered to scout Canaan and was given the land around Hebron.
If this is the case, Nabal is prominent both by wealth and descent.
The set-up here is pretty obvious.
Something is going to take place with Nabal and Abigail and their introductions are going to prove accurate.
Well, that escalated quickly!
What started as a polite request from David to Nabal in return for the protection and help David’s men provided Nabal’s shepherds, turned ugly, and fast.
David might have been asking for a substantial handout, but 10 men couldn’t have transported enough to feed 600 men.
David wasn’t asking for the farm, just a meal or two— whatever [Nabal] can find for them.
Nabal doesn’t just refuse; he answers David’s men hatefully.
He even uses the phrase “son of Jesse” the way Saul did.
There was a way Nabal could have denied the request that would have been justifiable.
Instead, Nabal—surly and mean—behaves as one might expect from the author’s introduction.
Verse 13 is clear.
Every reader, especially one reading a word-for-word translation, knows what 400 men and David intend to do.
1 Samuel 25:13 (NASB95)
13 David said to his men, “Each of you gird on his sword.”
So each man girded on his sword.
And David also girded on his sword, and about four hundred men went up behind David while two hundred stayed with the baggage.
Sword is mentioned three times for a reason.
They aren’t going to help Nabal sheer some sheep; they’re going to take care of Nabal and his bad attitude once and for all.
Thankfully, one of Mean Nabal’s servants relayed all this to Intelligent Abigail, who wisely responds.
Abigail hurries to do what should have been done in the first place.
Even Nabal’s servant knows what kind a fool Nabal is, and Nabal’s wife certainly knows.
Notice, for the servant, it wasn’t surprising at all that David might bring disaster upon them.
And Abigail knew to act quickly.
When she met up with David and his men, David’s purpose and reasoning is made clear to us:
It’s been a few weeks since we were last in 1 Samuel, so we might need a reminder.
Do you remember what David did to Saul when Saul came in to the same cave David was hiding in?
Instead of killing Saul, David does what?
He cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe, and then David even apologizes for that.
David is awfully restrained.
David even restrains his men, threatening them and telling them not to touch Saul.
Where is David’s restraint here?
He and 400 men are going to battle.
David takes an oath (v.
22) that he’s going to kill every single man who belongs to Nabal.
In chapter 24, David is the restrainer; he will not harm Saul or allow his men to do so.
In chapter 25, David must be restrained.
David sees clearly that he must not take vengeance against the the Lord’s anointed, but doesn’t make the same connection when it comes to Abigail’s husband.
David must not allow a crazy and murderous Saul nor an obnoxious Nabal to throw him off course.
David must not mar God’s work with his own folly.
David must extend the restraint he showed to Saul to Nabal as well.
Restraint with Saul.
Absolutely no restraint here with Nabal.
That is, until the Lord restrains him.
This is where the story gets good and instructive for us.
Abigail, beautiful and intelligent, asks David to listen.
She makes an excuse for her foolish husband, the only thing she has to say for him is that he’s a fool, acting foolishly.
But notice, it’s Abigail who brings the Lord into the discussion.
David uses “God” to add some veracity to his promise to kill Nabal and all the men of his household (v.
22).
But it’s Abigail who brings the Lord Yahweh to bear in this interaction.
David has no restraint of his own in this instance, so the Lord provides restraint with this reminder from Abigail.
I just love how the Lord works, how He uses His people to remind and restrain.
David recognizes this:
Abigail was the jolt David needed.
David takes a pause and recognizes the Lord’s work in this specific situation.
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