The Temple Tax – Sons & Servants

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S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN

11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.

14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.

15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.   Exodus 30.11-16

We have on record an encounter between God and Moses. I want you to be sure that God is the one giving the instructions in this portion of scripture. This is part of the law that God gave to Moses for Israel. It was the law of redemption for men whether rich or poor they were to give exactly the same amount – half a shekel as an atonement for their souls. There are many lessons that can be drawn from this instruction.
This was religiously kept by Israel throughout the generations. We have an account of how the ordinance was kept in the days of Jesus’ earth-walk.

24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?

25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?

26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.

27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee     Matt 17:24

This is a most interesting passage. It is interesting for many reasons. Firstly I want you to notice that the subject matter was the collection of temple tax. This temple tax we have shown above did not start in the days of Peter and the Lord Jesus.
God appeared to Moses and from the conversation that transpired there was no loophole for any adult male Jew.
When the temple tax collectors (auditors more like) came to Peter concerning the spiritual tax compliance status of his master they were supported by the whole weight of the Mosaic law. The truth is that Peter was aware that the Lord Jesus paid the temple tax as demanded by the law of Moses but he did not know why. Likely Peter assumed that the Lord Jesus also paid it as a ransom for his soul – but appearances can be so deceptive and he was in for a shocker!

The Lord Jesus in paying this tax brought out some interesting thoughts that would never have crossed the mind of any Jew. We can glean some important points from the conversation that the Lord Jesus had with Peter. The conversation that Jesus had with Peter was unveiling of the heart of God. It was the very heart of the conversation that God had with Moses when he was giving the law of the temple tax to Moses.

Did the temple tax collectors expect the Lord Jesus to pay the temple tax? Yes they did.
Were they right in requesting this of the Lord Jesus? Yes they were, for it was demanded by the Mosaic law.
Did the other Jewish men pay the temple tax? Yes they had to pay the temple tax for this was an atonement for their souls.
Did every Jew pay the temple tax? No, not at all. Only adult men were commanded to.
Why did they need to pay the temple tax? Because they needed an atonement for their souls.
Did Jesus need to pay the temple tax? Actually he did not!
Did Jesus pay the temple tax? Yes he did.
Why did Jesus pay the temple tax?
This is where is gets interesting. In paying, the Lord Jesus poses some questions to Peter for Peter’s consideration.
The Lord Jesus brought out the fact that this was some form of spiritual taxation. He basically shows that spiritual taxation can be understood by observing the mechanics of secular taxation. In the days of Jesus kings were the highest form of government so they were the ones receiving taxes at that point in human history.
There were three parties implied in Jesus’ line of reasoning – There are kings who receive tax. Then we have the subjects that are taxed. We also have the officials of the kings that collect the tax.

The Lord Jesus brings out the well known secular fact that the members of the household of the king do not pay tax. In simple terms then the Lord Jesus shows that the kings require all non-family members to pay taxes. Following the logic of Jesus then the whole issue is not firstly about taxation but about family. If the king sees you as family his officials do not receive tax from you, if however the king does not consider you to be family he sends his officials after you to collect tax. Paying (or not paying) the spiritual tax was proof of not belonging (or belonging) to the king’s family.

The children of the King are therefore free from spiritual taxation. When the Lord Jesus said this he did not have Peter in mind for Peter was a sinner – Jesus is the child of the king. What God commanded Moses was not binding upon the Lord Jesus but binding on Peter as well as Moses. Through the eyes of revelation knowledge one could see that the Lord Jesus was not breaking the law by not paying the temple tax but would in fact be upholding the original lesson that God was teaching through the instrument of the temple tax.
We are going to see shortly that both men are going to pay their temple taxe but for totally different reasons.
This what the Lord Jesus meant when he said  …. Then are the children free

According to the Lord Jesus the whole matter can be reduced to this – The children of Israel pay the temple tax because they were not in the king’s family. The Jew, by paying the temple tax affirms that he is aware that he was not a child of God.

John brings out the fact that Jesus, in his earth walk, was the only begotten son of God. Therefore according to the divine logic Jesus was God’s child and thus free from the temple tax commandment that was binding on all Jews.
Jesus was another type of Jew – He was son of God while all other male Jews were simply sons of Abraham who was in need of a ransom himself. Peter should pay the temple tax but not Jesus. However the tax collectors required both Jesus and Peter to pay. They were spiritually ignorant when they required this of the Lord Jesus but spot on when they required it of Peter.

The conversation that the Lord Jesus had with Peter unveils the whole heart of the matter. Jesus had exposed Peter to the thinking behind the temple tax as it existed in the mind of God originally. The temple tax was proof that the whole nation needed a ransom and the temple tax served as that ransom until Jesus came on the scene. Every Jew should have known this, but this truth was lost on the whole nation as they got bogged down with the legalistic observance of the commandments of the Mosaic law.

We are still left with the question – why did the Lord Jesus pay the temple tax?
The answer is in Mt 17:27 – Jesus paid the temple tax so as not to offend the tax collectors. He did not pay it as a ransom for his soul for his soul needed no such ransom. If the Lord Jesus had not paid the temple tax, he would have been 100% accurate but would have confused both the tax collectors and the whole religious system in no small measure. in order to help them keep their sanity he instructed Peter on how to obtain the tax money for both of them.

I should point out again that the tax in question is religious and not secular in nature. When it came to secular tax Jesus said to give to Caesar what is Caesars (Mt 22:21)

You notice that the fish that Peter caught had the money that Peter and Jesus should give as temple tax.

There are some people, christians mostly, who are unaware that only earthly governments are authorised to print money and that all other money “sources” are counterfeit.  We know therefore that God is always legit and did not print the roman coin for he is not a fraudster. The roman coin in the mouth of that fish was minted by Caesar thus bore Caesar’s image. The coin in the mouth of the fish came from some minting press in the Roman world. God miraculously caused a fish to locate coins that had dropped into water. This coin was not minted in heaven.

There are still many christians today who fail to see the point that a believer does not live by or under the Mosaic law. The  Mosaic law does not exist for him nor was he the intended recipient of the law. The Mosaic law has sinners in mind not sons. A son freely acts. a sinner needs stringent rules.

Those Jews paid the temple tax so that as a merciful provision from God under that system the tax provides a ransom for their souls. Sons, who are members of the family of the king, are free from the tax-provides-ransom commandment.

…to be continued (Happy new year in advance!)