Response to the following:
How does Jesus' use of parables of reversal challenge the understanding of the kingdom of God among his contemporaries?
The Jewish people had their beginning with the patriarch Abraham. In Genesis 12 God told Abraham to leave his homeland and promised to make him a great nation. Prior to the story of Abraham, in Genesis 3 we read how Adam and Eve had sinned and joined Satan's rebellion against God. At this moment man was severed from God and the relationship that he enjoyed with God was destroyed. From that point on man was incapable on his own of restoring his relationship with God. Right after they sinned, God promised Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:15) that he would send a descendent of Eve's to crush Satan's power of mankind.
In Genesis 18:18 and 22:18 God promises Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. This alludes to the coming Redeemer (or Messiah) who would come to earth in order to pay the penalty for man's sin and restore the possibility of man enjoying a relationship with God.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the first three generations of this new nation and Jacob's name is changed to Israel. When Jacob and his 11 sons travel to be reunited with Joseph (Gen.39-42) they are 70 in number. A new pharaoh arises in Egypt and enslaves the Israelites. They are slaves in Egypt for 400 years. Then they are delivered from Egypt and travel in the desert for 40 years then enter Canaan and enjoy freedom only for a short time. In 722 BC the northern 10 tribes of Israel are taken into captivity and essentially cease to exist as Jews. In 586 the remaining 2 tribes of Judah and Benjamin are captured by Babylon. From this point on the Jews are slaves of Babylon, Persia, Greece and finally Rome. The Romans become their masters around 70 B.C. and continue to rule over them for about the next 500 years.