Matthew 17

Mt 17:1-13.

JESUS

IS

TRANSFIGURED--CONVERSATION ABOUT

ELIAS.

Mr 9:2-13;

Lu 9:28-36).

For the exposition, see on

Lu 9:28-36.

Mt 17:14-23.

HEALING OF A

DEMONIAC

BOY--SECOND

EXPLICIT

ANNOUNCEMENT BY

OUR

LORD OF

HIS

APPROACHING

DEATH AND

RESURRECTION.

Mr 9:14-32;

Lu 9:37-45).

The time of this section is sufficiently denoted by the events which all

the narratives show to have immediately preceded it--the first explicit

announcement of His death, and the transfiguration--both being between

His third and His fourth and last Passover.

Healing of the Demoniac and Lunatic Boy

(Mt 17:14-21).

For the exposition of this portion, see on

Mr 9:14-32.

Second Announcement of His Death

(Mt 17:22, 23).

22. And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them--Mark

(Mr 9:30),

as usual, is very precise here: "And they departed thence"--that is,

from the scene of the last miracle--"and passed through Galilee; and He

would not that any man should know it." So this was not a preaching,

but a private, journey through Galilee. Indeed, His public ministry in

Galilee was now all but concluded. Though He sent out the Seventy after

this to preach and heal, He Himself was little more in public there,

and He was soon to bid it a final adieu. Till this hour arrived, He was

chiefly occupied with the Twelve, preparing them for the coming events.

The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men . . . And they

were exceeding sorry--Though the shock would not be so great as at the

first announcement

(Mt 16:21, 22),

their "sorrow" would not be the less, but probably the greater, the

deeper the intelligence went down into their hearts, and a new wave

dashing upon them by this repetition of the heavy tidings. Accordingly,

Luke

(Lu 9:43, 44),

connecting it with the scene of the miracle just recorded, and the

teaching which arose out of it--or possibly with all His recent

teaching--says our Lord forewarned the Twelve that they would soon

stand in need of all that teaching: "But while they wondered every one

at all things which Jesus did, He said unto His disciples, Let these

sayings sink down into your ears; for the Son of man shall be

delivered," &c.: "Be not carried off your feet by the grandeur you have

lately seen in Me, but remember what I have told you, and now tell you

again, that that Sun in whose beams ye now rejoice is soon to set in

midnight gloom." Remarkable is the antithesis in those words of our

Lord preserved in all the three narratives--"The son of man

shall be betrayed into the hands of men." Luke adds

(Lu 9:45)

that "they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that

they perceived it not"--for the plainest statements, when they

encounter long-continued and obstinate prejudices, are seen through a

distorting and dulling medium--"and were afraid to ask Him"; deterred

partly by the air of lofty sadness with which doubtless these sayings

were uttered, and on which they would be reluctant to break in, and

partly by the fear of laying themselves open to rebuke for their

shallowness and timidity. How artless is all this!

Mt 17:24-27.

THE

TRIBUTE

MONEY.

The time of this section is evidently in immediate succession to that of

the preceding one. The brief but most pregnant incident which it records

is given by Matthew alone--for whom, no doubt, it would have a peculiar

interest, from its relation to his own town and his own familiar lake.

24. 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

Ex 30:13, 14;

2Ch 24:6, 9.

Thus, it will be observed, it was not a civil, but an ecclesiastical

tax. The tax mentioned in

Mt 17:25

was a civil one. The whole teaching of this very remarkable scene

depends upon this distinction.

came to Peter--at whose house Jesus probably resided while at

Capernaum. This explains several things in the narrative.

and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?--The question seems to

imply that the payment of this tax was voluntary, but expected;

or what, in modern phrase, would be called a "voluntary assessment."

25. He saith, yes--that is, "To be sure He does"; as if eager to remove

even the suspicion of the contrary. If Peter knew--as surely he

did--that there was at this time no money in the bag, this reply must be

regarded as a great act of faith in his Master.

And when he was come into the house--Peter's.

Jesus prevented him--anticipated him; according to the old sense of

the word "prevent."

saying, What thinkest thou, Simon?--using his family name for

familiarity.

of whom do the kings of the earth take custom--meaning custom on goods

exported or imported.

or tribute--meaning the poll-tax, payable to the Romans by everyone

whose name was in the census. This, therefore, it will be observed, was

strictly a civil tax.

of their own children, or of strangers--This cannot mean "foreigners,"

from whom sovereigns certainly do not raise taxes, but those who are not

of their own family, that is, their subjects.

26. Peter saith unto him, Of strangers--"of those not their children."

Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free--By "the children"

our Lord cannot here mean Himself and the Twelve together, in some loose

sense of their near relationship to God as their common Father. For

besides that our Lord never once mixes Himself up with His disciples in

speaking of their relation to God, but ever studiously keeps His

relation and theirs apart (see, for example, on the last words of this

chapter)--this would be to teach the right of believers to exemption

from the dues required for sacred services, in the teeth of all that

Paul teaches and that He Himself indicates throughout. He can refer

here, then, only to Himself; using the word "children" evidently in

order to express the general principle observed by sovereigns, who do

not draw taxes from their own children, and thus convey the truth

respecting His own exemption the more strikingly:--namely, "If the

sovereign's own family be exempt, you know the inference in My case"; or

to express it more nakedly than Jesus thought needful and fitting: "This

is a tax for upholding My Father's House. As His Son, then, that tax is

not due by Me--I AM FREE."

27. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend--stumble.

them--all ignorant as they are of My relation to the Lord of the

Temple, and should misconstrue a claim to exemption into indifference to

His honor who dwells in it.

go thou to the sea--Capernaum, it will be remembered, lay on the Sea

of Galilee.

and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when

thou hast opened his mouth, thou shall find a piece of money--a

stater. So it should have been rendered, and not indefinitely, as in our

version, for the coin was an Attic silver coin equal to two of the

afore-mentioned "didrachms" of half a shekel's value, and so, was the

exact sum required for both. Accordingly, the Lord adds,

that take, and give unto them for me and thee--literally, "instead

of Me and thee"; perhaps because the payment was a

redemption of the person paid for

(Ex 30:12)

--in which view Jesus certainly was "free." If the house was Peter's,

this will account for payment being provided on this occasion, not for

all the Twelve, but only for him and His Lord. Observe, our Lord does

not say "for us," but "for Me and thee"; thus distinguishing the

Exempted One and His non-exempted disciple.