Miraculous temple tax in a fish's mouth
Mt 17:24-27 24 When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, "Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?" 25 He said, "Yes." And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?" 26 When Peter said, "From strangers," Jesus said to him, "Then the sons are exempt. 27 "However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me."
Drachma was Greek / Roman currency. Shekel is Israeli currency. According to http://www.unitconversion.org/weight/drachmas-biblical-greek-to-shekels-biblical-hebrew-conversion.html in those days, one shekel was equivalent to about 3.35 drachmas. Since shekels were not as commonly available as drachmas, people were allowed to pay in drachmas, but since one couldn’t pay a fraction of a drachma, they had to pay two drachmas instead of 1.68 drachmas.
The two-drachma tax mentioned in Mt 17:24-27 loosely refers to the half shekel tax mentioned in Ex 30:11-16. As you can see below, the tax was half a shekel, and so when Jesus paid a shekel, He was paying the exact amount for Him and Peter.
Ex 30:11-16 11 The LORD also spoke to Moses, saying, 12 "When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them. 13 "This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the LORD. 14 "Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the LORD. 15 "The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for yourselves. 16 "You shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves."
When questioned about whether Jesus pays the tax, Peter’s answer, I think, was that Jesus does pay it. Peter didn’t realize what he was saying, which is why Jesus posed the question to him about whether kings expect their sons to pay taxes. You see, God is the King of the universe. Further, He is also the King of Israel. Therefore, it would be rather funny to expect the Son of God to pay the half shekel tax that His Father instituted in His kingdom.
I wouldn’t be surprised if after Jesus returned to heaven, when He mentioned how one day the King’s Son had to pay tax in His own kingdom, there would be much amusement among His listeners.
Rather than make an issue of it, Jesus paid the tax anyway – for Peter and Himself. I wonder though, whether the other disciples had to pay for themselves.
Jesus lived in such an ordinary way that His disciples sometimes forgot that He was the Son of God. We too sometimes take Him for granted, and we forget who He is and our lives lack the reverence He deserves. It should not be that way.
So Peter goes to the sea, throws his hook, and opens the mouth of the first fish he catches, and finds the shekel there. Also, the passage doesn’t explicitly say that was so, I’m hard pressed to think that Jesus’ words failed. Therefore, assuming things worked out exactly like Jesus said, think of the logistics of making it happen…
Someone had to drop a shekel into the sea. A certain fish had to gulp it down but not swallow it. That fish then had to be in the right place at the right time when Peter threw his hook into the sea, and be gullible enough to open its mouth and take Peter’s bait – without swallowing the shekel.
To me, this miracle demonstrates God’s ability to control our financial situation, not merely to the dollar, but to the penny – He has that tight a control of how much money we receive. We have the free will to spend it as we wish, but He decides how much we get to spend.
This miracle was put in the Bible for us to internalize this truth, and therefore it is very important to internalize this.
It is important for many reasons...
1 Tim 6:9-10 9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, and longing for it leads to grief and wandering away from the faith.
Mt 19:23-24 23 And Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 "Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Jesus said it twice so that we may never desire to be rich.
Mt 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
You can’t serve God and money. If you want to serve God you have to despise and hate money.
It is only when you see and believe that God can do miracles to give you the money He thinks you should have that you will live a life that is free from the love of money and the desire to be rich.
When we are dishonest with our finances, we hinder God from blessing us financially and giving us all that He wants to give us. The New Testament doesn’t require us to tithe (and don’t let anyone fool you into believing that it does) but it requires us to be very righteous in money matters, and to love God more than money.
Here is what Jesus had to say…
Mt 6:25-34 25 "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 "And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' 32 "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
So then, don’t worry about how you will make ends meet. Remember the flowers and the sparrows. Keep your conscience clean and your life blameless; if you’ve cheated anyone at any time, repent, and seek forgiveness, and pay them back. Seek God’s kingdom first. Work hard to hone your skills and talents, and keep yourself employable. Be frugal and save. Spend carefully. Don’t spend what you don’t have. Invest wisely. Be careful about trusting others with your money. If you lend, don’t expect the money back. Use your own money for your ministry. Never ask others for money for your ministry, but if they are believers and give it then it may be okay to accept it. Repay unbelievers who give you gifts. Be generous.
If God can hide shekels in the mouth of fish for His sons, and have ravens bring meat to His prophets (1 Ki 17:6) then surely He can provide in abundance for the blameless.
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