This is, in some respects, a most puzzling incident. It seemed out of keeping and congruity with the spirit of the gospel. On what other occasion did Jesus work a miracle merely for his own benefit? He who would not turn the stones into bread, does he now use his divine power to get a paltry piece of silver? We remember, besides, that Jesus and his disciples usually or always [196] had a sum of money on hand. Judas carried the bag of the little company. That the funds were wholly out at that time is not to be supposed. The reason for this peculiar miracle lies deeper, and, when it is seen, not only relieves the strangeness of the situation, but also holds a good lesson.

      They that gathered up the half shekel came to Peter and asked: "Does your Master pay the tax?" Peter, knowing well that Jesus would do all that was right, answered at once in the affirmative. So he came to Jesus about it.

      It is necessary now to consider what kind of tax this was. It was not a tax paid to a civil government--neither to Cæsar, nor to Herod, nor to any other civil authority. It was the poll tax of the Jew which God had commanded in the law--"the atonement money" for their souls. And since all souls were alike before God, none more valuable in itself than another (for he is no respecter of persons), he ordered that "the rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls." (Ex. 30:11-16.) It was God's tax, then, which he levied "as a ransom" from Israel, just as the kings of the earth on pain of war and death required tribute from the nations they had subdued unto themselves.

      The sequel is easy. Jesus spoke to Peter first, saying, "What thinkest thou, Simon? the kings of the earth, from whom do they receive toll or tribute? from their sons, or from strangers? And when he said, From strangers, Jesus said unto him, Therefore the sons are [197] free. But, lest we cause them to stumble . . . give unto them for me and thee." God, so Jesus argued, acted in this matter just as earthly kings do. He takes tribute, not of his own sons, but of strangers. The fact that he required such a tax from Israel shows that they are not sons of his kingdom in the real sense (for except one be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God), but strangers. Of the strangers God required the tax. But the sons were free. Now Jesus was a Son, and through him his disciples also were sons. They were exempt from that toll and tribute. Jesus was in no wise obligated to pay it. Nevertheless, to avoid giving them an occasion of stumbling, lest he might seem to them to hold the laws of God lightly, he bade Peter go pay them. But in a peculiar way--with the money found in the fish's mouth. The hand of God was made manifest here. It was really not Jesus paying the tax, but God paying it for him in a miracle, to vindicate Christ's sonship and consequent exemption from the duty of paying the tribute, the "atonement money for his soul."

[TAG 196-198]