22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
thou shalt only set him king over thee whom Jehovah thy God will choose: from among thy brethren shalt thou set a king over thee; thou mayest not set a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother.
Be it known therefore unto the king, that, if this city be built and the walls be completed, they will not pay tribute, tax, and toll, and in the end it will bring damage to the kings.
And I gave orders, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city of old time has made insurrection against the kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been raised therein. And there have been mighty kings over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all beyond the river; and tribute, tax, and toll were paid to them. Now give order to make these men to cease, and that this city be not built, until the order shall be given from me; and take heed that ye fail not to do this: why should harm grow to the damage of the kings?
Since the days of our fathers, we have been in great trespass to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, our priests, have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, and to captivity, and to spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
And there were that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute upon our fields and vineyards;
He says, Yes. And when he came into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, What dost thou think, Simon? the kings of the earth, from whom do they receive custom or tribute? from their own sons or from strangers?
tell us therefore what thou thinkest: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? But Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said, Why tempt ye me, hypocrites? Shew me the money of the tribute. And they presented to him a denarius. And he says to them, Whose [is] this image and superscription? They say to him, Caesar's. Then he says to them, Pay then what is Caesar's to Caesar, and what is God's to God.
And they come and say to him, Teacher, we know that thou art true, and carest not for any one; for thou regardest not men's person, but teachest the way of God with truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? Should we give, or should we not give? But he knowing their hypocrisy said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Bring me a denarius that I may see [it]. And they brought [it]. And he says to them, Whose [is] this image and superscription? And they said to him, Caesar's. And Jesus answering said to them, Pay what is Caesar's to Caesar, and what is God's to God. And they wondered at him.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Luke 20
Commentary on Luke 20 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 20
In this chapter we have,
All which passages we had before in Matthew and Mark, and therefore need not enlarge upon them here, unless on those particulars which we had not there.
Luk 20:1-8
In this passage of story nothing is added here to what we had in the other evangelists; but only in the first verse, where we are told,
Luk 20:9-19
Christ spoke this parable against those who were resolved not to own his authority, though the evidence of it was ever so full and convincing; and it comes very seasonably to show that by questioning his authority they forfeited their own. Their disowning the lord of their vineyard was a defeasance of their lease of the vineyard, and giving up of all their title.
Luk 20:20-26
We have here Christ's evading a snare which his enemies laid for him, by proposing a question to him about tribute. We had this passage before, both in Matthew and Mark. Here is,
Luk 20:27-38
This discourse with the Sadducees we had before, just as it is here, only that the description Christ gives of the future state is somewhat more full and large here. Observe here,
Luk 20:39-47
The scribes were students in the law, and expositors of it to the people, men in reputation for wisdom and honour, but the generality of them were enemies to Christ and his gospel. Now here we have some of them attending him, and four things we have in these verses concerning them, which we had before:-
Christ reads them their doom in a few words: These shall receive a more abundant judgment, a double damnation, both for their abuse of the poor widows, whose houses they devoured, and for their abuse of religion, and particularly of prayer, which they had made use of as a pretence for the more plausible and effectual carrying on of their worldly and wicked projects; for dissembled piety is double iniquity.