The December 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine includes an excellent article about one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer groups in the world, the Hadza of northern Tanzania. Unlike the vast majority of African tribes in the early 21st century, the Hadza have not switched from hunting and gathering to either of the two dominant forms of land agriculture: grazing herds or planting crops. The Hadza, as hunter-gatherers, simply live off the land without any special preparation or maintenance of the plants or animals.

According to the article, there are several interesting characteristics of the Hadza that I think are worth considering:

• They have no real sense of elapsed time, such as a year, month, day, or hour. Because they are not tied to annual agricultural cycles, they perpetually live in the immediacy of the moment.
• They have no concept of warfare and live almost entirely free of any possessions. It is considered inappropriate for a hunter to gloat over a successful hunt, and the game of each hunt is shared openly with everyone else.
• There are no official leaders of the Hadza, although the senior male of each camp has the honor of the best portion of the hunt of the day and has the camp named after him. Each Hadza group (camp) maintains a small number of members, usually clustered around the senior male. Other Hadza are free to come and go between the various Hadza camps.

I would propose that the Hadza give us a glimpse of the genuine expression of the life of the kingdom of God:

• The kingdom is a place where elders are respected, yet no one lords it over anyone else.
• The kingdom is eternal and comes from a realm beyond time and space. It is truly timeless.
• The kingdom’s modus operandi is cooperative and not competitve. Provision is freely shared.