This wonderful story is given to us only here in the Book of Matthew, and I am surprised at that. It has practical value for the Christian, so I’m surprised that the Lord hasn’t emphasized it for us. And it ought to be in the Book of John, because it clearly demonstrates the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am calling this message “The Deity of Christ – Practically and Theoretically.”
After their trip to Mt. Hermon, Jesus and the disciples were returning to Capernaum. This was the headquarters for their Galilean ministry. Peter had a home in this community, and it may have been that Christ Jesus lived there with Peter’s family. On this occasion, someone in an official capacity asked Peter if Jesus paid his religious tribute. This refers to something other than what most reads probable expect.
In Exodus 30 when the worship of the Lord was being set up, God commanded that the people of Israel should be numbered. How could the national statisticians count or keep track of the hundreds of thousands of citizens? Well, God proscribed a very easy method, which had more than one practical application. Every countable person was to give a coin – an half a shekel of silver – to the Lord’s treasurer. When the numbering was completed, every thousand shekels meant that there were two thousand male citizens. That money was then used in building the Tabernacle and in other aspect of the worship of Jehovah. Exodus 30 says, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 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. 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. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. 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. 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.” Notice that each coin was considered to represent the life of the one that gave it. It was a ransom for that soul, and in a unique way, it was an atonement – it covered him. There are no scriptures which indicate that this census and collection was to be done on a regular basis. It was, however, done later in the Book of Numbers, just before Israel entered the promised land. And David did it incorrectly once during his reign and the there were severe punishments for their error.
Historical Hebrew writings show that sometime after the captivity, this offering became a yearly affair. It was not obligatory, but it was expected that all good Jews would participate. Theoretically, that money went to the support of the Temple in Jerusalem and the service of the priests, but one might wonder how much of it actually reached its intended purpose. This is the tribute to which Matthew 17:24 refers. Notice that in the next verse, verse 25, that there are the words “custom” and “tribute” once again. These are two different Greek words than the “tribute” of verse 24. The taxes and customs demanded by Rome, were entirely different from the subject of this scripture. And the Greek word translated “tribute” in verse 24 is found no where else in the Bible but here.
With that in mind, let’s consider what this passage teaches about the deity of Christ.
When Peter was accosted about this half shekel, he resolutely affirmed that Jesus complied. Perhaps he had seen Jesus give the year before. I’m not going to accuse Peter of lying or jumping to conclusions. He assumed that Christ would once again contribute, even though the money bag was currently empty. When he turned to enter the house, Christ “prevented” or “anticipated” the upcoming conversation. Someone might argue that Jesus heard the conversation just outside the house. But the believer in me would like to believe that this is another instance of the omniscience of Christ.
“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? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.” Even though Jesus uses words which speak about Roman taxes and duties, the Lord’s lesson was about something else. The kings of the earth may tax their subjects, or in the case of Israel, the people under their dominion, but the families of those kings are almost always exempt from those taxes. But Jesus was not actually speaking about Rome, but about His relationship to the King of Heaven. He was telling Peter that He was not obligated to pay tribute to Himself or to His Heavenly Father. He was not responsible to pay for the worship of Jehovah, because He was the Son of God. “Then are the children free.” And most certainly Christ didn’t need a ransom or any kind of atonement. But – then He went on – “Nevertheless, lest we should offend these people, go and collect the tribute money they are expecting, and we’ll give it to them when you return.”
Not only do we see the omniscience of Christ – one of the attributes of God alone, but we also hear the Lord Jesus declare Himself to be the Son of God. Please don’t try to tell me that the idea of the deity of Christ was something which His disciples later concocted. Jesus implied it, clearly taught, and proved it throughout His ministry.
And then we have the very special proof of Christ’s deity in verse 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.” The only way that this event could be improved in proving the deity of the Lord, would have been if the coin was found in the third or the seventh fish which Peter caught.
I can imagine his excitement after he heard his Master’s commission – he probably ran down to the lake. Did he take one his boats, or had they all been leased out to other fishermen? Did he call for his brother or his fishing partner, John, to go with him? If he had intended to drag his net, I suppose he might have asked for some assistance. But this time he was to angle for the fish – to use a hook – so I think that he went alone. And that may be one reason why no one else recorded the event – perhaps this wasn’t common knowledge. From the beach, or perhaps from a rocky outcrop, Peter cast a line into the sea. What was his bait, or did he need bait at all? Does the Creator of the universe need bait? The Lord prepared this fish, so he might have just ordered it to bite Peter’s naked hook.
When the ex-fisherman brought up his catch – his first fish – there in its mouth was “a piece of money.” Now, I am not an numismatist – a coin collector or coin expert– all I can do is repeat what I have read. As I said, the “tribute” requested by the man at Peter’s door is a word used only in this one verse. It is “didrachmon” (did’-rakh-mon). But the coin which was in the fish’s mouth was a “stater” (stat-air’). James Strong defines “stater” as “a coin – in the New Testament a silver stater equal to four Attic or two Alexandrian drachmas, a Jewish shekel.” The three experts which I consulted all said that the “didrachmon” was the Jewish half shekel. But the “stater” was a full shekel. And Jesus said to Peter, “that take, and give unto them for me and thee.”
I confess to being at a loss to add anything more to this marvelous story. All that I can do is point and say, “look at the omniscience of Christ. – look at the authority that he has over the fish of the sea. – look at His ability to meet the temporal needs of His people.” What is your need, child of God? Is it health; is it direction; is it a solution to a family problem; is it about a societal problem? Christ Jesus is greater than any problem than you might imagine. Just as He can have fish spit prophets out onto dry land, He can have fish spit out money. Maybe we should all go fishing tomorrow.
In this scripture, first we have the Lord’s own theological or theoretical argument for His deity. And then we see that deity in a most practical way. How can we not bow before this King of the universe and worship Him?
There is another lesson for us in these verses – “Lest we should offend.”
One of these days, probably quite soon, you and I are going to stand before our Saviour to be judged. “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” That judgment will have nothing to do with our salvation; it will be entirely about how we have lived our lives. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
I am not sure that I know every aspect of this upcoming judgment. But I do know that every born again person will be welcomed into Heaven, but many of them “will be saved, yet so as by fire.” It’s not my intention to delve into every aspect of what I think will be involved in that judgment. I’ll just stick with what the Lord teaches here – offences. I believe that you and I will suffer loss for the ways and areas in which we have offended others – both the unsaved and the saved; both the mature saint of God and the babe in Christ. Judging from the myopic view that I have of my own life, I’d say that we have ALL offended others. How many have there been? How often? How severely? Have we done our best to apologize and to correct the affront that we have created? How many people are not in this church today, because you have offended them – I have offended them?
Don’t think to yourself that sometimes your offence was justified. Don’t say to yourself that a few of them were actually offended at God’s Word. Don’t pretend that it was God who offended them, when in fact it was you. If we had been more gracious as we talked to them about the Bible perhaps, we might not have offended. Perhaps if we had smiled instead of scowled, they wouldn’t have become so upset. Was it the Bible or your mean-spirited attitude which drove them away? Was it your pompous, know-it-all spirit? Did you behave like a Pharisee, condemning them without cause, or without gracious teaching them?
How many Christians have offended the lost by their sins, or their borderline way of life? How many people have been offended by Christian cigarette smoke or Christian tobacco chewing? I’m talking about the Christians vices, not the unsaved man’s. Most lost people know that Christians should not do such things. Have you ever been called a religious or ethnic bigot; do you deserve that title? How many will be ashamed when standing before the judgment seat of Christ – because they have shamed their Lord through their wicked music, video games and worldly entertainment? You might be surprised to learn how many lost people think that everyone should dress-up when they come into the house of God. Have you offended someone by dressing worse than they would? I have heard horrible words coming out of the mouths of church members. I have been offended by those words, and I’m sure that the Lord was offended. How many non-Christians have been offended by your language, your jokes, the subjects of your conversation, and refused to consider Christ or this church because your few loose lips?
You say, “Well they shouldn’t have been offended,” and sometimes, to some degree, you may be right. But I point out that Christ throws the responsibility into our laps, not theirs. The Lord Jesus was under no obligation to pay this temple tribute, but He did – “lest He offend.”
It might be good to think back over people whom we have offended. It might be good to go to those people, swallowing our pride, and confessing our foolishness. I guarantee that it will be better to correct those situations now before we get to the Bema Judgment of Christ. If the Lord Jesus didn’t want to offend, what should be our attitude towards offense?