“From others,” Peter answered. “Then the sons are exempt,” Jesus said to him.
We have here an account of Christ's paying tribute. I. Observe how it was demanded, Mat 17:24. Christ was now at Capernaum, his headquarters, where he mostly resided; he did not keep from thence, to decline being called upon for his dues, but rather came thither, to be ready to pay them. 1.
Commenting on Matthew 17:24-27
Peter saith unto him,.... The Vulgate Latin reads, "and he said": and so the Ethiopic, and Munster's Hebrew Gospel; but without doubt Peter is meant, and rightly expressed; whose answer to Christ's question is, of strangers: meaning not foreigners, or such who formerly belonged to other nations, but were now taken captive, and brought into subjection; but their own native subjects, so called, in distinction...
THE TRIBUTE MONEY. (Mat 17:24-27) And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money--the double drachma; a sum equal to two Attic drachmas, and corresponding to the Jewish "half-shekel," payable, towards the maintenance of the temple and its services, by every male Jew of twenty years old and upward. For the origin of this annual tax, see Exo 30:13-14; Ch2 24:6, Ch2 24:9.
Commenting on Matthew 17:24-27