Jesus was an itinerant Jewish prophet from Narzareth who wandered around the land of Palestine during the first century C.E. proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom of God. Like the Jewish prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, he spoke out against the abuses of the priesthood of the Israelite religion, but on the grounds that the Law of Moses was not to be trifled with by human beings and that Yahweh would come to the defense of the weak and downtrodden. Also akin to the ancient Jewish prophets, Jesus often used brain-teasing parables to make his points, most likely to avoid allowing immoderate individuals to seize upon his often radical views too easily. In particular, he seems to have consciously styled his ministry in large part on that of the Old Testament figure Elijah, declaring himself