22 Is it lawful to us to give tribute to Caesar or not?'
thou dost certainly set over thee a king on whom Jehovah doth fix; from the midst of thy brethren thou dost set over thee a king; thou art not able to set over thee a stranger, who is not thy brother.
`Now, be it known to the king, that if this city be builded, and the walls finished, toll, tribute, and custom they do not give; and at length `to' the kings it doth cause loss.
and by me a decree hath been made, and they sought, and have found that this city from the days of old against kings is lifting up itself, and rebellion and sedition is made in it, and mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, even rulers over all beyond the river, and toll, tribute, and custom is given to them. `Now, make ye a decree to cause these men to cease, and this city is not builded, till by me a decree is made. And beware ye of negligence in doing this; why doth the hurt become great to the loss of the kings?'
`From the days of our fathers we `are' in great guilt unto this day, and in our iniquities we have been given -- we, our kings, our priests -- into the hand of the kings of the lands, with sword, with captivity, and with spoiling, and with shame of face, as `at' this day.
And there are who are saying, `We have borrowed money for the tribute of the king, `on' our fields, and our vineyards;
And when he came into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, `What thinkest thou, Simon? the kings of the earth -- from whom do they receive custom or poll-tax? from their sons or from the strangers?'
tell us, therefore, what dost thou think? is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?' And Jesus having known their wickedness, said, `Why me do ye tempt, hypocrites? show me the tribute-coin?' and they brought to him a denary; and he saith to them, `Whose `is' this image and the inscription?' they say to him, `Caesar's;' then saith he to them, `Render therefore the things of Caesar to Caesar, and the things of God to God;'
and they having come, say to him, `Teacher, we have known that thou art true, and thou art not caring for any one, for thou dost not look to the face of men, but in truth the way of God dost teach; is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? may we give, or may we not give?' And he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, `Why me do ye tempt? bring me a denary, that I may see;' and they brought, and he saith to them, `Whose `is' this image, and the inscription?' and they said to him, `Caesar's;' and Jesus answering said to them, `Give back the things of Caesar to Caesar, and the things of God to God;' and they did wonder 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.