Matthew 17:24-27 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Does not your master pay tribute?… The whole point of the story depends upon the fact that this tribute-money was not a civil, but an ecclesiastical impost. It had originally been levied in the wilderness, at the time of the numbering of the people, and was enjoined as to be repeated at each census, when every male Israelite was to pay half-a-shekel for "a ransom for his soul," an acknowledgment that his life was forfeited by sin. In later years it came to be levied as an annual payment for the support of the Temple and its ceremonial. It was never compulsory; there was no power to exact it. Being an "optional church-rate," Jews who were or wished to be considered patriotic would be very punctilious in the payment of it. (A. Maclaren. D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? |
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