And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.
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