In the Parables as Subversive Speech Herzog instills the parables portraying an everyday life within Agrarian societies and Aristocrat empires, during the early first century of Palestine. During the time of Jesus, Palestine was under the Roman Empire’s control and the peasant society which consisted of urban elites exploiting the poor peasants. Regions, such as Galilee and Judea, contain small villages that were poor and over populated. The Romans had built up a system of government comprising of Roman regulators and Jewish officials who used their power to control extended regions in the name of Rome. This was the arrangement of force in which the group of Herod the Great became prominent. Herzog focuses on the rise of bureaucracies within the Agrarian societies, which led to much of the population being taken …show more content…
The environment in the time of Jesus consisted of Agrarian societies, in which Elites controlled the socioeconomic aspects through degradation and manipulation of the bottom tier class. From passages 6:20-22 (Luke) blessed is used four times in addressing those who have suffered at the hands of the Elites. Blessed has a significant meaning since its associated with holiness or good fortune. In passage 6:21, Luke states “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied,” the peasants, artisans, merchants, the unclean and the degraded, and expendables are blessed, because in the realm of God, they shall not suffer and be oppressed when their time comes. Luke, implies the Elites may be wealthy, powerful, and oppressive at the expense of the bottom tier class, but in the afterlife, the bottom tier will suffer no more, for they are blessed. Many passages of Luke, address the problem of Elites and peasantry classes, but passages 1:46-55, Mary’s song advocates revolution towards the Elites and their oppressive