O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...

environment outside of the normal everyday happenings.c) It could create a direct link to Moses who received the Law on a Mountain.Further exploration of the link between Moses and Jesus in the SOM willfollow.2.4.3.3 Economic ClimateGalilee was a ‘monitised economy’ that had strong trade links and a thriving tradewithin itself (Esler 1995:41). In Jesus’ context the use of money was common placefor all classes of people, from the poorest of society to the wealthy. By the time of theSOM there was enough financial education for people to be aware of concepts like“maximizing resources,” “keeping production costs low,” as well as “manipulatingdemand to keep prices high.”The original audience of the SOM, as well as the community to whom the Gospelwas originally addressed, were people who were ruled by the Roman Empire (Carter2001:1). The Jews were living under a pagan “superpower (Wenham and Walton2001: 21).” In Jesus’ context Rome was, “militarily powerful, culturally vibrant, richand pagan.” For the Jewish community Rome would have been seen as yet anotheridol worshipping oppressor who YHWH would eventually repay for their wickedness(Wright 1992:159).However the Roman way of life worked to the interest of some in the Jewishcommunity, for example, the high priestly families as well as the tax collectors(Wenham and Walton 2001:21). In Matthew’s gospel Jesus is often seen inconfrontation with religious leaders. This would not be over what modern-daysociety we would label as only a religious matter (Carter 2001: 35).The religious leaders would have been part of the elite that maintained the statusquo in order to keep the Roman societal structures in place (Carter 2001:35). Theirconflicts with Jesus would have had, “social, political and economic dimensions aswell.” These confrontations would be to the religious leaders, an assault on theirwealth, amongst other things.15