Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Matthew 17:24

A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.

THE TRIBUTE MONEY. (Mat 17:24-27) And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money--the double drachma; a sum equal to two Attic drachmas, and corresponding to the Jewish "half-shekel," payable, towards the maintenance of the temple and its services, by every male Jew of twenty years old and upward. For the origin of this annual tax, see Exo 30:13-14; Ch2 24:6, Ch2 24:9. Thus, it will be observed, it was not a civil, but an ecclesiastical tax. The tax mentioned in Mat 17:25 was a civil one. The whole teaching of this very remarkable scene depends upon this distinction. came to Peter--at whose house Jesus probably resided while at Capernaum. This explains several things in the narrative. and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?--The question seems to imply that the payment of this tax was voluntary, but expected; or what, in modern phrase, would be called a "voluntary assessment."

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