NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Part VI

Verse 24: Jesus and His followers returned to Capernaum. There the men who collect the two-drachma Temple tax came to Peter and asked him, “Does your teacher pay the Temple tax?”

We were told earlier that Jesus made Capernaum His home town,¹ and that He stayed there quite often.² Besides, Peter also had a house there, which may be where Jesus stayed when He first moved to this important city on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.³ So the local Jewish officials must have checked their Temple Tax rolls and did not find any “Yeshua ben Joseph.” So they showed up at Peter’s house to inquire if this house guest paid His yearly Temple tax. This was to be expected since such laws had been put in effect after the exiles came back from Babylon and Persia to rebuild the Temple.

In the Jewish Mishnah, there is an entire tractate in the second Division called “Shekalim,” devoted to explaining the laws for paying of such taxes. There it tells us: “On the fifteenth of Adar [Feb/Mar] the tables [of the money changers who would exchange foreign currency into half shekel pieces] were set up in the Province [i.e., Jerusalem]. On the twenty-fifth [they [the money changers] sat at the Temple [indicating the urgency of paying the half shekel which was due before the first of Nissan (Mar/Apr)]. From the time they sat at the Temple, they would begin seizing collateral [of those who had not yet contributed].”⁴ So putting this together, it appears that the Temple tax collectors showed up at Peter’s house sometime before the sixth of March.

This conforms to what the venerable Rabbi Maimonides tells us: “On the first of Adar, the court would announce the collection of the half-shekel so that every single individual would prepare his half-shekel and be ready to give. On the fifteenth of Adar, the money-changers would sit in every city and would gently prod the people to give. If people gave them, they would accept it. If someone did not give, they would not compel him to give.”⁵ This tax would represent about $1.00 today. It should be noted that the fifteenth of Adar was the festive holiday of Purim, which falls one month before the celebration of Passover. Therefore, this episode concerning taxes comes right after Jesus ministry down in Gennesaret and up in Caesarea Philippi. So, it tells us that Jesus spent the better part of December and January in those two places.

Apollinaris, the Bishop of Laodicea gives us his 4^th-century understanding concerning these taxes: “This tax of the half-shekel was the law, defined by Moses, who said, ‘Each will give as redemption of his soul to the Lord, a half shekel.’⁶ The Jews collected this from everyone, and the half-shekel was paid as redemption for two souls according to the law. The rich man was not demanded more, nor the poor man less. The half-shekel is sacred, intimating nothing else than the true divine-human Mediator since everything foreshadowed this. The true redemption was the Lord who had the Father in Himself, since His nature is divine.⁷ The giving of the half-shekel is a symbol of his self-giving, and the shekel is for the redeemed soul. No one is allowed to pay more than the half, not even if he is rich. Thus, it is said, ‘For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,’⁸ that is, all the fullness of divinity, which is offered in his mediatorial work on the cross, abides in his dual nature as God-man. The richness of his divinity and the poverty of his humanity are fully integrated into one person. The half-shekel is interpreted here as his divinity, under question by the tax collectors.”⁹

Verses 25-26a: Peter answered, “Yes, of course, He does.” However, Peter then went into the house where Jesus was staying. But before Peter could say anything Jesus said to him, “The kings of the earth get different kinds of taxes from people. But who are those who pay the taxes? Are they the king’s children? Or do other people pay the taxes? What do you think?” Peter replied, “The other people pay the taxes.”

Does it surprise us, that without even checking Peter assured these Temple tax collectors that Jesus did, in fact, contribute each year? But when he went inside to check with his Master he received a somewhat cryptic greeting before he could even ask the question. Peter answered to the best of his ability, but at most it was a guess. Thus Peter, the impetuous one, who did not hesitate to answer the question of the tax collectors before he even asked Jesus if their ministry did pay taxes to the government, now has to figure out where Jesus stood on whether or not they should pay.

In his sermon, Chrysostom had this to say: “So that Peter should not think that Jesus said this after hearing it from others, He anticipated him by addressing this very thing and giving Peter, a man who up to now shrank from speaking about these things, freedom to speak about it. What He says is something like this: ‘I am free from paying tribute. For if the kings of the earth do not take it from their sons but from their subjects, how much more ought I to be free of this demand, being the Son not of an earthly king but of the King of Heaven and myself a king as well.’ Do you see how He has distinguished the sons of God from them that are not sons?”¹⁰

He obviously knew that members of the royal household did not pay taxes. As a matter of fact, even as far back as the days of King Saul, this was a factor when they were looking for someone to fight the Philistine giant, Goliath, “Whoever kills him will get rich. King Saul will give him a lot of money. Saul will also let his daughter marry the man who kills Goliath. He will also make that man’s family free from taxes in Israel.”¹¹ So where did that leave Jesus with regard to paying the tax? Before Peter could ask, our Lord gave him a big hint.

Jerome gives us his interpretation: “Our Lord was the son of a king both according to the flesh and according to the spirit, begotten either from the stock of David or from the Word of the almighty Father. Therefore, as the son of a king He did not owe tax, but as one who had assumed the humility of the flesh, He has to follow the law. We unfortunates, who are enrolled under Christ’s name and do nothing worthy of such great majesty, for us He both underwent the cross and paid our tax. But we do not pay Him tribute in return for His honor and like the sons of a king we are immune from taxes.”¹²

Verses 26b: Jesus said, “Then the children of the king don’t have to pay taxes.”

Therefore, since His Father in heaven was King of the Universe, Jesus was under no obligation to pay this Temple tax. But He also knew that discretion was the better part of valor.¹³ Hilary of Poitiers offers his opinion on this subject: “Is it not clear that the sons of kings are not subject to tax and those who are the heirs of a kingdom are free from service? But His words have an inner meaning. A drachma was demanded of the people. Now the law moves toward that faith which was to be revealed through Christ. Therefore, by the custom of the law this same drachma was demanded from Christ as though from an ordinary citizen. But to show that He was not subject to the law and to demonstrate the glory of His Father’s dignity in Himself, He offered as an example of earthly privilege the fact that kings’ sons are not subject to census and tax. He is the Redeemer of our soul and body. Nothing should be demanded of Him for His redemption because it was necessary that a king’s son be distinguished from the common lot. Therefore, the king’s son offers a stumbling block to the tax law in order to do away with it, he being free from the duty of the law.”¹⁴

Verse 27: “But we don’t want to upset these tax collectors. So do this: Go to the lake and fish. After you catch the first fish, open its mouth. Inside its mouth, you will find a silver coin. Take that coin and give it to the tax collectors. That will pay the taxes for you and me.”

Although Jesus was a royal descendant of King David, and He was, in fact, the spiritual King of the Jews, nevertheless He did not want to antagonize these publicans and thereby jeopardize or delay His mission with such factors. One 19^th-century Bible commentator stated, “That a fish might seize a bright object which falls into the sea is nothing uncommon. A cod was once found with a watch in its stomach, still ticking. The miracle is shown in the omniscience which knew what the fish carried in its jaw, and in the omnipotence which drew it to the hook.”¹⁵

On another note, while the Bible does not name the fish, Tilapia, from the Sea of Galilee, is sometimes referred to as St. Peter’s fish. As a matter of fact, one visitor in a restaurant alongside the Sea of Galilee in Israel became curious upon seeing “St. Peter’s” fish on the menu. The waiter told them it is one of the most popular dishes, especially among tourists. It is delicious when freshly fried. This power over nature should not have surprised the disciples. After all, the Scriptures tell us, “Ravens brought Elijah food every morning and every evening, and he drank water from the stream.”¹⁶

In the KJV, Matthew identifies the coin as “a piece of money,” and the NIV as a “four-drachma coin.” The Aramaic Version simply says, “coin.” The Jewish version says, “a shekel.” The Greek states “a statēr.” According to historians, this was a coin that had various amounts silver. A drachma contained 1 gram of silver. A didrachma was heavier and had two grams of silver. We are told by experts on this subject, that: “The ‘statēr‘ is a Greek or Tyrian coin that was often used to pay the temple tax for two people. The statēr was minted at Antioch, at Caesarea in Cappadocia, and at Tyre. Many coin specialists believe that Judas’ payment of thirty pieces of silver was made in statērs. It is also believed that the chief priests used statērs to bribe the guards of the tomb.”¹⁷

The Jews knew it was not beyond belief to find something of value in a fish’s belly to buy things. Rabbi Ammi and Rabbi Assi shared this story: “A certain gentile, who owned much property, was indebted to a Jew named Joseph-who-honours-the-Sabbaths. Fortunetellers told him, ‘Joseph-who-honours-the-Sabbaths will seize all your property. So he went, sold all his property, and bought a precious stone with the proceeds, which he set in his turban. As he was crossing a bridge the wind blew the jewel into the water, and a fish swallowed it. Subsequently, the fish was hauled up and brought to market on the Sabbath eve towards sunset. ‘A fish for sale! they yelled. Someone told them, ‘Go and take the fish to Joseph-who-honours-the-Sabbaths since he is always ready to buy.’ So they took it to him. He bought it, opened it, and found the jewel inside. So he sold it for thirteen roomfuls of gold denarii.”¹⁸

So anyone who thinks that Jesus’ story about the fish with money in its mouth is made up, now knows that such tales were told with regularity. Not only did Jesus pay His Temple tax, but He paid Peter’s tax as well. This might suggest that this was Jesus’ way of paying rent for staying in Peter’s house. What a beautiful illustration of our Lord’s integrity. He did not seek more than He needed. Should we not also show the same restraint when we ask Him to supply our needs. Again, our Master added one more miracle to let His followers know that He was, in fact, the Messiah, the Son of God. But this was all in preparation for the time when they would also have to believe in Him as the Sacrifice; the Lamb of God who must die to pay the penalty for the sins of the world.

Origen gives us his impression of what happened here: “This coin was not in Jesus’ house but happened to be in the mouth of a fish in the sea. This too, I think, was a result of God’s kindness. It was caught and came up on the hook belonging to Peter, who was the fisher of men. That which is figuratively called a fish was caught in order that the coin with the image of Caesar might be taken from it, that it might take its place among those which were caught by them who have learned to become fishers of men. Let him, then, who has the things of Caesar render them to Caesar,¹⁹ that afterward he may be able to render to God the things of God. But since Jesus is the image of God the unseen and did not have the image of Caesar (for there was nothing in him that had anything to do with the prince of this world),²⁰ He therefore took the image of Caesar from a suitable place in the sea, so as to pay it to the kings of the earth as the contribution of Himself and His disciple. Jesus did this so that those taking the half-shekel might not suppose Jesus to be in debt either to them or to the kings of the earth. For He paid the debt, one He had never taken on or possessed or used to buy anything or made His personal possession, to prevent the image of Caesar ever being alongside the image of the invisible God.”²¹

It is obvious that Jesus did not want to run afoul of the Jewish laws regarding taxes, and thereby put Himself and His disciples in jeopardy of either being arrested, jailed, or being denounced as a non-compliant citizen. He had something greater to accomplish. It gave His disciples both then and now an example of how to manage our obligations in this world and the world to come. Whatever is man-made can be overseen by man, but whatever is God-made belongs first to Him.