THE BIBLE UNZIPPED Recommended book: Norman K. Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh FROM TRIBAL CONFEDERACY TO STATE: DIALECTIC APPROACH TO SCRIPTURE AND A VERY BORING BIBLE PASSAGE THAT MIGHT COME TO LIFE.

What held the tribal confederacy together? Descendants of Abraham The Promise Collective Memory: from slavery to freedom Religion: Law, Covenant, Sanctuary Strong Personalities: The Judges

STRUCTURE OF ISRAEL TRIBAL CONFEDERATION (12 Tribes) Assemblies to commemorate the covenant and recite laws. Assemblies to organise defensive wars TRIBE Assemblies three times a year for religious celebration Assemblies to organise defensive wars Assemblies for for weddings MISHPANHAH ( 50 of them per tribe) Heads of clans meet to determine military quotas. Heads of clans lead religious ceremonies Heads of clans meet to discuss problems BETHAN ( Extended Family) Weddings, funerals, defense, education, agricultural production, feasts and religious services Source: Norman K. Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh

LIFE AS AN ELDER OFA BETHAN

STRUCTURE OF ISRAEL TRIBAL CONFEDERATION (12 Tribes) Assemblies to commemorate the covenant and recite laws. Assemblies to organise defensive wars TRIBE Assemblies three times a year for religious celebration Assemblies to organise defensive wars Assemblies for for weddings MISHPANHAH ( 50 of them per tribe) Heads of clans meet to determine military quotas. Heads of clans lead religious ceremonies Heads of clans meet to discuss problems BETHAN ( Extended Family) Weddings, funerals, defense, education, agricultural production, feasts and religious services Source: Norman K. Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh

How did you feel? What was important to you? To whom could you appeal Where were your emotional ties?

By Samuel’s day what were the problems? Spiritual apostasy Civil war Poverty Philistines Technology

So was the monarchy a good idea? 1 Samuel 8:1-9 Psalm 45:1-5

The Big Change 1 Kings 4:1-19 Think back to your role play: What‘s the difference now? To whom do you appeal? How do you feel now?

Though clan ties persisted, and though the twelve-tribe system continued as a sacred tradition, on a national scale the tribes as tribes no longer cut a figure. Tribal independence had ended. Tribesman who had once known no central authority and no political obligation to rally in times of danger were now organized in government districts, liable to heavy taxes and conscription for manual labour. The tribal system was broken; the effective basis of social obligation was no longer Yahweh’s covenant, but the state. And this meant inevitably that in daily affairs covenant law lost much of its relevance. More than that, the framework of tribal society had been sprung. Onto Israel’s traditionally agrarian and pastoral society an imposing commercial and industrial superstructure had been grafted. She was no longer merely a nation of small farmers. - John Bright

What’s changed? Centralised More Urban Tribal bonds weakened Higher taxes and slavery Centred on the South ( Jerusalem) Are they a society of equals now? No Free of Philistines They have the new technology Master traders Prosperity Arts and culture Temple and religion National debt, treaties with pagan nations Divided nation They have a king.