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CRC Synod 2016

The Synod of the Christian Reformed Church is the broadest assembly of their three. Delegates are gathered from around the US and Canada to discuss issues concerning the whole church. Three of the biggest discussions this year were on a report concerning the Native American experience in mission schools, the Belhar Confession and Same-sex marriage.

In our Sunday Sermons we have been going through the book of 1 Samuel. You might imagine that 1 Samuel wouldn’t be very connected to what we talk about at Synod, with Native Americans trying to figure out what has happened to them through the process of Western Colonialism, or the Belhar where Africans also tried to sort out what it meant for European colonials to take their country and set up rules about race which governed the country. I think all of these stories are deeply connected. Our text today is 1 Samuel 8 where Samuel and the elders of Israel try to figure out how they will be governed.

What is a Tribe? 

If you read Genesis 10 this “table of the nations” you get this picture of a world filled with tribes.

When you imagine the earliest form of human society what do you think about? What is a tribe? It is usually an extended family group often led by a patriarch or a matriarch. Everyone involved is family by birth or marriage or some sort of bond like slavery. If you read about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob you see this type of existence. It can be large and formidable, like Abraham battling kings, or it can be small, like Jacob worrying about what the slaughter of Shechem will do to his political reputation and security in the region.

When we talk about “Israel” we talk about the “12 tribes” and we always talk about the “elders”. Who were these people? They were a large, extended family all knit together by kinship groups. In 1 Samuel 1 we hear about Elkanah as son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph and Ephraimite. This locates Elkanah for the readers according to the family.

Mark Charles, when he introduced himself according to your location in the four clans. His mother’s mother give him identity.

Life swirls around kinship, blood and family bonds. Language, custom, culture, all go through this. Let’s look at a little bit of 1 Samuel 8.

1 Samuel 8:1–5 (NET)

¹ In his old age Samuel appointed his sons as judges over Israel. ² The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second son was Abijah. They were judges in Beer Sheba. ³ But his sons did not follow his ways. Instead, they made money dishonestly, accepted bribes, and perverted justice. ⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and approached Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead us, just like all the other nations have.”

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