indago

August 20, 2009, 01:12 PM #6066274 / #1

Vinnie wrote:It is written, in the book of Matthew, in the Bible, that the Pharisees conspired to trap Jesus in his words. In the King James version of the Bible, authorized by King James I of England in 1611, it is declared that the Pharisees had asked Jesus:

Tell us therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? -- Matthew 22:17 --

Tribute, as described in the Oxford-English Dictionary, is:

A tax or impost paid by one prince or state to another in acknowledgement of submission or as the price of peace, security, and protection; rent or homage paid in money or an equivalent by a subject to his sovereign or a vassal to his lord.

Isaac Asimov, in his book Asimov's Guide to the Bible (or via: amazon.co.uk), wrote of the incident:

It grew increasingly clear to the Temple authorities that Jesus' claims would not easily be quashed. Galelean backwoodsman or not, he had a quick wit and a fund of ready quotations. Yet he had to be stopped just the same before Messianic fervor produced dangerous unrest all across the city. If Jesus' doctrinal views could not be used against him, what about his political views? If Jesus could be forced to say something politically subversive, instead of merely doctrinally heretical, the Romans could be called in. Roman soldiers could act at once without having to stop to exchange Old Testament quotations. ...It seemed certain to those now questioning Jesus that anyone claiming to be the Messiah would have to hold out hopes for the overthrow of the Roman Empire and for the establishment of the ideal Jewish state. It was exactly this that the populace expected of a Messiah. A question that was bound, it seemed, to force Jesus either to advocate rebellion or to give up all Messianic pretenses was now fired at him.

The question was, as stated, whether or not it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar. Mr. Asimov explained:

"Caesar", of course, was the title given to the Roman Emperor. It harked back to Julius Caesar, who had been assassinated in 44 B.C., but whose grandnephew became Rome's first Emperor, fifteen years later.

Mr. Asimov went on to explain:

The coins used in paying tribute had the figure of Caesar on them. That made those coins unfit to be handled by Jews anyway, strictly speaking. The first of the Ten Commandments forbade the making of any representations of any living thing and Jewish monarchs, such as the various Herods, were usually careful to avoid stirring up the orthodox by putting their own portraits upon their coins. The idolatrous coin, which it was sinful for Jews to handle, might just as well be given to the man whose portrait was there.

Jesus asked for a coin in which the tribute was paid, and was handed a silver coin. He asked whose head appeared upon the coin, and whose inscription. They answered "Caesar's". He then told them, as noted in the King James version of the Bible:

Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's... -- Matthew 22:21 --