tribute Summary and Overview

a tax imposed by a king on his subjects (2 Sam. 20:24; 1 Kings 4:6; Rom. 13:6). In Matt. 17:24-27 the word denotes the temple rate (the "didrachma," the "half-shekel," as rendered by the R.V.) which was required to be paid for the support of the temple by every Jew above twenty years of age (Ex. 30:12; 2 Kings 12:4; 2 Chr. 24:6, 9). It was not a civil but a religious tax. In Matt. 22:17, Mark 12:14, Luke 20:22, the word may be interpreted as denoting the capitation tax which the Romans imposed on the Jewish people. It may, however, be legitimately regarded as denoting any tax whatever imposed by a foreign power on the people of Israel. The "tribute money" shown to our Lord (Matt. 22:19) was the denarius, bearing Caesar's superscription. It was the tax paid by every Jew to the Romans. (See PENNY T0002891.)

The chief biblical facts connected with the payment of tribute have been already given under TAXES. The tribute (money) mentioned in #Mt 17:24,25| was the half shekel (worth from 25 to 27 cents) applied to defray the general expenses of the temple. After the destruction of the temple this was sequestrated by Vespasian and his successors and transferred to the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter. This "tribute" of #Mt 17:24| must not be confounded with the tribute paid to the Roman emperor. #Mt 22:17| The temple rate, though resting on an ancient precedent-- #Ex 30:13| --was as above a fixed annual tribute of comparatively late origin.

TRIB'UTE , that which is paid to rulers in token of subjection and for the support of government. Gen 49:15. By the Jewish law, Ex 30:13, a tribute or capitation-tax was half a shekel, or twenty-five cents, which was expended in the temple-service. The conversation of our Saviour with Peter on the subject of paying this tribute-money was designed to show him that, being himself the Son of God, the King for whose service the tribute was paid, he might justly be exempted from paying it; but, to prevent any needless irritation on the part of the officers or nation, he by miraculous power provided the means of paying the required tribute, which amounted to fifty cents for both. Matt 17:24.

frontTAX.) The use of the word in the Old Testament is in reference to the almost universal custom whereby the conquering nation (whether Egyptian, Assyrian, or Roman) levied large and in many cases recurring sums of money from the nations subjugated by them; and the monuments erected by the conquerors naturally present this subject very frequently. In Matthew 17:24-27, "the didrachma receivers said to Peter, Doth not your Master pay the didrachma? He saith, Yes?" Their question implies it was the religious impost; no civil tax would have been asked in such a tone, as if its payment dare be questioned. The half-shekel or half-stater or didrachma (fifteen pence) was the universally recognized due required from every Israelite grown male in support of the sanctuary services, in the benefits of which he had a share: according to Exodus 30:11-15. (See MONEY; JESUS CHRIST; PETER.) Collected both before and after the Babylonian captivity (2 Kings 12:4; 2 Chronicles 24:9) from all Jews wherever sojourning (Josephus 18:9, section 1; Philo Monarch. 2:2, section 224). Hence Peter at once recognized the obligation. But Christ, while to avoid offense (wherein Paul imitated his Master in a different case, 1 Corinthians 9:4-19) He miraculously supplied the stater in the fish, for Himself and Peter, yet claimed freedom from the payment to the temple, seeing He was its Lord for whose service the tribute was collected. As Son of the heavenly King He was free from the legal exactions which bound all others, since the law finds its antitypical realization in Him the Son of God and "the end of the law" (Romans 10:4). The temple offerings, for which the half shekels were collected, through Him become needless to His people also; hence they, by virtue of union with Him in justification and sanctification, are secondarily included in His pregnant saying, "then are the children (not merely the SON) free" (John 8:35-36; Galatians 4:3-7; Galatians 5:1). As children with Him, they are sons of the King and share the kingdom (Romans 8:15-17). The legal term "the didrachma" Matthew uses as one so familiar to his readers as to need no explanation; he must therefore have written about the time, alleged, namely, some time before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, after which an explanatory comment would have been needed such as Josephus gives (Ant. 18:10, section 1). The undesigned omission in Matthew confirms the genuineness. and truth of his Gospel.