Traditionally, in Papua New Guinea, tribal war was the norm for settling social disputes between two different indigenous tribes. Accusations of murder, sorcery, rape, theft, and kidnapping toward another tribe were just a few of the social evils that were commonly held in check through the use of surprise midnight raids. It was the role of the village men to protect the women and children of the village at all costs, and the most effective measure of control was ferocious, bloodthirsty revenge attacks. Revenge warfare against your enemy guaranteed an even more fierce and bloody retaliatory revenge-strike upon your own tribe.
In every battle, there is the victor and there is the conquered. After a battle of any sort, according to Papua New Guinea tradition, the victor of a battle would send a barefooted runner to climb to the top of a high mountaintop and sing out a Victory Song that echoed over the valley to announce to everyone in the villages below that the victory had been won and the enemy had been conquered.
Each tribal language group possessed their own specific Victory Song. So, as The Victory Song of the conquering tribe reverberated throughout the valley in their own language, the tribe heard their specific Victory Song and that tribal language group knew that their tribe was the victor, and the enemy had been conquered. And that "good news" would incite the villagers of that language group to, in turn, break out in song joining their barefooted mountain-top-singer in singing their specific tribal Victory Song. It became a tribal celebration.
It was The Victory Song sung from the mountain tops that proclaimed to the villages below that they had been saved from their enemy, and that peace had been restored to the tribe. It was indeed a proclamation of "good news!"
Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, and proclaim salvation.”
As we will soon see, the term "gospel," traditionally translated as, "good news" was conceived long ago in the Old Testament (as evidenced in Isaiah 52:7 above); and was usually situated on the stage of tribal warfare, surrounded by background scenes full of fierce combat, death, victory and the announcement of a Victor, bringing peace and comfort to the hearers awaiting news of the battle. "The gospel" is "The Victory Song" sung by victors in battle.
What was conceived ages ago and recorded for generations, is manifested and readily visible in this Papua New Guinean tribal tradition.
This blog is dedicated to the exploration of The Victory Song as discovered on the pages of the Old and New Testaments.
In my next blog, I will look at the genesis of the term “the good news,” or “gospel.” We will start from ages ago, and see how "In the Beginning God Created…the Stage for the Gospel.”