Tribute

From BibleEncyclopedia.Net

A tax imposed by a king on his subjects (2Sa_20:24; 1Ki_4:6; Rom_13:6).

In Mat_17:24-27 the word denotes the temple rate (the “didrachma,” the “half-shekel,” as rendered by the R.V.) which was required to be paid for the support of the temple by every Jew above twenty years of age (Exo_30:12; 2Ki_12:4; 2Ch_24:6, 2Ch_24:9). It was not a civil but a religious tax.

In Mat_22:17, Mar_12:14, Luk_20:22, the word may be interpreted as denoting the capitation tax which the Romans imposed on the Jewish people. It may, however, be legitimately regarded as denoting any tax whatever imposed by a foreign power on the people of Israel. The “tribute money” shown to our Lord (Mat_22:19) was the denarius, bearing Caesar's superscription. It was the tax paid by every Jew to the Romans. (See Penny.)

trib´ūt (מס, maṣ, “tribute,” really meaning “forced laborers,” “labor gang” (1Ki_4:6; 1Ki_9:15, 1Ki_9:21); also “forced service,” “serfdom”; possibly “forced payment” is meant in Est_10:1; the idea contained in the modern word is better given by מדּה, middāh (Ezr_6:8; Neh_5:4)):

Words used only of the duty levied for Yahweh on acquired spoils are מכס, mekheṣ, “assessment” (Num_31:28, Num_31:37, Num_31:38, Num_31:39, Num_31:40, Num_31:41), בּלו, belō, “excise” (Ezr_4:13, Ezr_4:10; Neh_7:24), משּׂא, massā', “burden” (2Ch_17:11), and ענשׁ, ‛ōnesh, “fine” or “indemnity” (2Ki_23:33; compare Pro_19:19). The translation “tribute” for מסּת, miṣṣath, in Deu_16:10 is wrong (compare the Revised Version margin). κῆνσος, kḗnsos (Mat_22:17; Mar_12:14) = “census,” while φόρος, phóros (Luk_20:22; Luk_23:2; Rom_13:6, Rom_13:7), signifies an annual tax on persons, houses, lands, both being direct taxes. The phóroi were paid by agriculturists, payment being made partly in kind, partly in money, and are contrasted with the télē of the publicans, while kēnsos is strictly a poll tax. The amount of tribute required as a poll tax by the Romans was the δίδραχμον, dídrachmon (Mat_17:24), the King James Version “tribute,” the Revised Version (British and American) “half-shekel.” The στατήρ, statḗr (Mat_17:27), was a tetradrachm, “one shekel,” or pay for two. After the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews were required to pay this poll tax toward the support of the worship of Jupiter Capitolinus. Different kinds of personal taxes were raised by the Romans:

(1) an income tax,

(2) the poll tax.

The latter must be paid by women and slaves as well as by free men, only children and aged people being exempted. The payment exacted began with the 14th year in the case of men and the 12th in the case of women, the obligation remaining in force up to the 65th year in the case of both. For purposes of assessment, each person was permitted to put his own statement on record. After public notice had been given by the government, every citizen was expected to respond without personal visitation by an official (see Luk_2:1 ff). On the basis of the records thus voluntarily made, the tax collectors would enforce the payment of the tribute.

See also Tax; Taxing.