Matthew 22:15-22

B. The Attach of the Herodians or the Politicians, and the Victory of the Lord. Matthew 22:15-22

(Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26. The Gospel for the 23d Sunday after Trinity.)

15Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle [ensnare, en trap] him in his talk [with a word, ἐν λόγῳ].12 16And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians,13 saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teaches the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man [one, οὐ—οὐδενός]: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cesar, or not? 18But Jesus perceived [knowing, γνούς] their wick- edness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19Shew me the tribute money [to νόμισμα τοῦ κήνσου], And they brought unto him a penny denary].14 20And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription [the inscription, ἡ ἐπιγραφή]? 21They say unto him, Cesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render15 therefore unto Cesar the things which are Cesar’s [the things of Cæsar to Caesar, τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι]; and unto God the things that are God’s [the things of God to God, τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ]. 22When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Matthew 22:15. Then went the Pharisees.—The Pharisees formed the main element in the deputation of the Sanhedrin, which aimed to annihilate the Lord by a stroke of authority. But their blow He had made to recoil upon themselves. They stood as persons who were stripped of their spiritual authority; while He, by the same words which stripped them, demonstrated His own Messianic power, and remained in the temple as its actual Lord. His authority with the people, which it was sought to impair, was thus strengthened anew. His enemies enter into the fact of their position; yet not with repentance and obedience, but with a hypocritical acknowledgment, that they might again ensnare Him by cunning. This they could compass only by bringing Him into suspicion of the crime, of which they were themselves conscious, of exciting machinations against the Roman government. They wanted a political Messiah: that He would not become. They now sought to involve Him in the appearance of being a political Messiah, in order that they might band Him over to the Roman authorities as an insurrectionary. They would suggest to Him, or impose upon Him, the sedition of their own hearts, that thus they might ruin Him. Thus they went further and further into the most Abandoned course of lying, urged by the exasperation which His last great warning parables had provoked to the uttermost. How great this exasperation was, appears from the fact that it was the Pharisees of the Sanhedrin, the bitterest enemies of Rome, who made this attack, and connected themselves, for the accomplishment of their purpose, with the Herodian political party. And the greatness of their obduracy and blindness appears in this, that after all they actually brought Him to the cross under the charge of being a political Messiah, although He rebuked and repelled every solicitation to utter a seditious word. They hoped to succeed in their temptation, because they were blinded by the spirit of absolutism which regards every departure from its laws and demands as rebellion and revolution.

And took counsel.—It is a counsel of cunning. Their purpose is now to confront Him as private persons, who have much respect for His person; and for this purpose they have a perilous question ready. Hence the new assault upon our Lord assumes the form of a series of distinct party attacks. The Pharisees take the lead with theirs; and theirs was, indeed, the most cunningly devised. The Sadducees then follow, in an attack more direct and outspoken, though equally disguised as to its ultimate purpose. And then come, lastly, the scribes of the Pharisees’ party, and try their strength on His.

Matthew 22:16. Their disciples with the Herodians.—It was part of the cunning of this new attack, that the Pharisees—the most dignified members of the Sanhedrin—who had just officially encountered Jesus, did not now appear before Him in the new character of hypocritical submission. He should by no means know their design. Hence they sent their disciples, young and unknown persons, who were students of the science of expounding Scripture. But for these they had been able to provide an accompaniment of political partisans, Herodians, probably also of the younger sort. They were the high-born academical youth of Jerusalem: an appropriate organ to use in a temptation to theocratical revolution around the temple of Zion. Meyer :“The Herodians were that party of the Jews who were devoted to the royal house of Herod—a party political, not hierarchical, yet not purely Roman; popular royalists, in opposition to the pure principle of the theocracy, but also to the unpopular Roman dominion (against Cæsar), Biding with the powerful Pharisees from policy and according to circumstances. For other and in part very singular interpretations, see Wolf and Köcher in loc.16 The passage in Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 15, 10, refers to other circumstances, comp. Ewald, p. 196. To regard them as adherents of the Roman government generally (and not specifically a faction devoted to the Herodian family), is forbidden by the special name which they bore. It was deep cunning in the hierarchy to unite themselves with this royalist faction; for thus they hoped to embolden Jesus to utter a word which might be interpreted against the census-tribute. Their flattering introduction had this design; and their further plan was to urge a political complaint against Him before the Roman authorities. Comp. Luke 20:20. But, should an affirmative answer upset this scheme, they would at least succeed in placing the Herodians in antagonism to Him.” Rather, they would in this case make Him hateful to the people, in consequence of His unconditional testimony in favor of subjection to the Roman dominion. The Herodians were, after all, anti-theocratic in their sentiments, and could only wear the mask of a patriotic royalism, which might serve as a temptation to the Lord. A third contingency, that Jesus might decline giving any answer, His opponents seem scarcely to have at all contemplated. It may have occurred to their minds, however, that they might possibly use Him yet as a tool in a gigantic rebellion.

Master, we know.—A cunning hint,17 that they were ready to pay Him honor as the Messiah. In a sincere spirit Nicodemus said the same thing, John 3:2.

That Thou art true: truthful.—With all their deceit, they actually thought this. The most abandoned falsehood is constrained to acknowledge His pure sincerity.

Thou teachest the way of God in truth.—Hypocritical recognition, (1) of His doctrine, and (2) of His manner of teaching or His orthodoxy. The way of God, in the Jewish scholastic sense; emphatically, the practical instruction which came from God Himself and represents His will; the revelation of God as the standard for human conduct. See Bretschneider, sub ὁδός.

Neither carest Thou for any one.—A cunning temptation to lift Himself, in His proud consciousness, above all respect or care for the Roman authorities. They had indeed found that their power had no effect to intimidate Him in the way of truth. But they might have known that His independence was always connected with the purest submission to the powers that are. Their involuntary acknowledgment shines through their false speech.

Regardest not the person of man.—ΙΙ ρόσωπον is the outward appearance: the representative of an authority. Ο βλέπιες πρόσωπονis essentially the same as Luke’s οὐ λαυβάνεις πρόσωπον, Matthew 22:21, but stronger.

Matthew 22:17. Is it lawful ?—To the Jew. De Wette “According to theocratical principles, which regard ed Jehovah as the only King in Israel.” The theocratical prerogative, however, had not interfered with the representation of Jehovah by human kings in Israel; and the Israelites had paid tribute always to them. In fact, they had in past times paid tribute even to foreign potentates—the Babylonians, Persians, etc. How then, in the face of such precedents, could the question be urged as it was urged on the present occasion ? The explanation is to be found in the fact, that the Jewish fanaticism had increased from generation to generation, and that it was now rapidly approaching the point of culmination which it reached at last in the Jewish war. And the hope of the Messiah was also increasing in strength. Thus, while the payment of tribute to a human king might generally be lawful, it was otherwise with a heathen king, especially Caesar, who threatened to take the place of the Messiah as His dark rival in the rule of the world: this might appear apostasy from the theocracy and the hope of Messiah’s kingdom. In this spirit Judas the Gaulonite (Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 1; Acts 5:37) had refused the census of the Romans; regarding it as the decisive sign of servitude. And certainly the Jews might have been justified in refusing all political homage to the Caesar, if the history of the theocracy had not established a distinction between the religious and the political element, and introduced and accustomed them to such a difference between the Church and the State. But fanaticism ignored this distinction as a temporary abuse, and supposed that with the advent of the Messiah it would disappear; meanwhile it was a disorder that must be cunningly submitted to as a necessity. Christ opposes to their temptation the perfect and clear distinction as it was appointed by God. The question: “Is it lawful?” of itself obscures the supposition of duty; and the question: “Must we, as servants of the theocracy, refuse the tribute ?” meant, in other words: Must we resist the dominion of the Romans, and rise up in rebellion ?

Or not ?—The not lawful they would fain have put in His mouth.

Matthew 22:18. Hypocrites.—Bengel: “Jesus verum se eis ostendit ut dixerant, Matthew 22:16.”

Matthew 22:19. The tribute money.—The coin in which the tribute is paid. Ubicunque numisma regis alicujus obtinet, illic incolæ regem istum pro domino agnoscunt. Maimon. in Gezelah, v. 18.

Matthew 22:20-21. Whose is this image?—The Lord’s answer gains infinitely in emphasis when we connect it with the action in which He clothes it Bearing this coin in their hands, they were obliged to appear before Him as the subjects of Cæsar, and themselves read the decision of their own question in the. word “Cæsar.” But the truth of the answer consists in this, that every one has subjected himself to the actual obligations of a State who has entered into its rights, as symbolized by its currency. Or, he who acknowledges the ruler’s right of coining, acknowledges also his right to tribute; he who takes the coin from Cæsar, must give it back to him again. Thus Jesus makes the payment of tribute a duty of virtual obligation. The coin is already Cæsar’s. But the word is τὰΚαίσαρος, the things of Cæsar, and it includes therefore all the obligations to the State. But this obedience must ever be conditioned by obedience to God, to whom all must pay the trib.ute of τὰτοῦ Θεοῦ, the things of God. And here we must not think merely of any particular tribute—the temple tribute (the usual interpretation), or repentance (Ebrard)—but of all religious obligations. Erasmus: Give to God that which has the image and inscription of God, the soul (quod Dei habet inscriptionem et imaginem, i.e,, animum).

Matthew 22:21. And unto God the things that are God’s.—The word was not only a precept, but also a correction; since they denied to the father Himself, in the person of Jesus, the honor due to Him. And so also the word: “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s,” might have spared them the Jewish war, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the downfall of their nation.

[The answer of our Saviour in Matthew 22:21 is perhaps the wisest answer ever given to any question, certainly the wisest which could possibly be made in this case, and we need not wonder that the enemies who elicited it, “marvelled and left Him.” It establishes the rights, regulates the duties, and distinguishes the jurisdiction of the spiritual and temporal powers and their subjects. It contains the fundamental principle and guide for the settlement of the vexed question of Church and State, which has created so much trouble and persecution in the history of Christianity. If men would always strictly adhere to this rule, there never would be a hostile collision between the two powers, which are both of divine origin and authority, the one for the temporal, the other for the eternal welfare of man, and which ought to be kept distinct and independent in their respective spheres without mixture and confusion, and yet without antagonism, but in friendly relation in View of their common origin in God, and their common end and completion in the βασιλεία τῆς δόξης,, where God shall be all in all.—P. S.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The temptation of Christ to revolution, through the students and aristocracy of Jerusalem, as the instruments of His enemies.2. The Messiah Himself divides here the theocracy, which was both Church and State, into Church and State as two distinct parts: He consigns the kingdom of this world to Caesar, while He limits and conditions it by the kingdom of God.3. Render unto Cæsar that which is Cæsar’s.—Here the duty of obedience is deduced from the fact of the existing dominion. Cæsar had the coin, therefore it should be given to him; Cæsar had the power, therefore he should be obeyed. De Wette distinguishes in a futile way between the principles of conscience, of right, and of power and prudence. Prudence is also matter of conscience. To revolt against authority, is contrary to conscience. Political obligations have entered in, as matter of fact, wherever people have settled themselves in the enjoyment of political rights. Hence the passages, Romans 13:1; 1 Timothy 2:1; 1 Peter 2:13; 1 Peter 2:17, belong here. On the distinction between legitimate and unrighteous dominion, this text says nothing. But it does say that he who has accepted the protection of an actual government, has entered into its political constitution, and acknowledged thereby its rights. The legitimist feeling of devotion to an oppressed power must maintain its propriety by banishment and suffering with it. It can co-exist with the new bond of subjection only as a wish, a sentiment, a longing for deliverance. Enjoying the protection of the exist power, it must submit to the obligations which thence arise. But the antithesis, “Unto God that which is God’s,” is self characterized as the higher or absolute principle, which is the condition of the former. Comp Acts 4:19 [which contains the right of disobedience to the temporal power, where it clearly contradicts the laws of God.—P. S.].

4. Money represents the palpable earthly side of government and civil relations. He who, in the impress of the coin, is acknowledged as the ruler over the money of the land, is thereby marked out as the ruler of the land. In a certain sense, therefore, the money circulation is a permanent symbol of political subjection and mark of allegiance.18 But, over against the external and visible dominion of Cæsar over tho civil life, there is the immediate dominion of God over the internal and unseen life. These two dominions are not indeed coordinate; the latter is supreme over the former; but it has a pre-eminence which admits of a certain appearance of division between the power of Cæsar and the power of God. But the impress of God is upon the spirit; therefore the life of the soul must be given to God. By the requirement: “Give unto God the things that are God’s,” Christ certainly, as Gerlach remarks, pointed out to them the way in which they might become really free again; yet not in any such sense as would encourage them to hope for a return of the old theocracy. Obedience to God will make Christendom free from the violence of secular power, and ready for admission into the perfect kingdom of God.

5. The right distinction between that which is God’s and that which is Cæsar’s, must lead to the true unity of life; while the confusion of these two must lead to division, lie, and hypocrisy. The Jewish hierarchy, in their superstition, made some scruple whether they should pay Cæsar his tribute; and then they threw their own Messiah to him, whose golden fidelity displayed most gloriously the image of God.6. Langii opus Bibl.: We may easily imagine how ashamed these conceited young men must have felt when they departed: wicked as they were they could not but feel that they and their teachers must have nothing but confusion to expect from their encounters with Christ.

7. The peculiar case where the magistrate confounds political and spiritual subjugation, and exerts tyranny over conscience, as Antiochus Epiphanes did and many others, is here not taken into account, inasmuch as the Roman government at the time of Christ tolerated and respected the rights of conscience, and for some time even protected the Christians (though not Christ Himself) against the fanaticism of the Jews.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The temptation of our Lord to pronounce a watchword of rebellion: 1. The cunning attempt of the enemies; 2. the instruments; 3. the issue.—The political temptations of Christians: 1. To refuse tribute (insurrection and rebellion); 2. to sacrifice the conscience (servility).19—Christ supreme victor over all the cunning and all the violence of His enemies.—The counsel of the ungodly, Psalms 2:0.; their snares, Proverbs 29:5.—Canning, the ancient fellow of violence, especially in the government of the hierarchy.—Christ’s victory over cunning is the victory of God’s kingdom over cunning.—The contest of the Lord with the cunning of His foes tended to the glorification of His Wisdom 1. They take counsel: He is thoroughly prepared. 2. They would entangle Him: He seeks to deliver them out of their own snare. 3. They praise Him in order to His destruction: He rebukes them, in order to arouse and save them. 4. They would fain involve Him in their own wicked designs: He punishes them in His righteousness. 5. They wish to judge Him as guilty: He dismisses them as Judge.—The covenant of the hierarchs and Herodians in order to overwhelm Christ.—The various decisions of Christ touching money.—The salutary distinction of Christ between Church and State.—The decision of Christ upon the rights of Cæsar: 1. They are rights which are derived from God; 2. they are co-ordinate to the spiritual rights of the church; 3. they are subordinate to the rights of God.—The weight of the clause, “And to God that which is God’s.”—Only he who rightly distinguishes between religious and civil duties will know how to connect them aright.—The hypocritical blending of religion and policy: 1. By withholding the dues to the civil government, under pretext of saving the rights of God; 2. by sacrificing the most sacred rights of God and His church to the secular power.—The enemies of the Lord gather strength from every new humiliation to harden themselves afresh.—The three kinds of assault which His enemies make upon the cause of Christ: 1. With violence; 2. with cunning; 3. with cunning and violence combined.

Starke:—Canstein: Wicked hearts are only more wicked and malicious by faithful warning.—The two kinds of serpents, the crooked and Um straight (Isaiah 27:1; first cunning, then might).—Zeisius: When Christ is to be opposed, Herod and Pilate soon become one.—Hypocrites and Bars have honey on their lips, and gall in their hearts, Psalms 55:21.—Quesnel: The praise of ungodly men is full of snares.—Zeisius: No attack and no cunning of any avail against the Lord.—He who has God’s word and truth on his side is sure to carry off the victory.—Osiander: He who would put to shame God’s servants will himself be put to shame.—The cunning which would entrap wisdom is itself caught.

Lisco:—Christ shows here that it is not His purpose to effect any change in earthly political relations (that is, in a political and earthly way).

Heubner:—The Truth, Christ, stands hero in the presence of falsehood.—It is the vocation of the pious to have to move among those who continually pervert their words.—The Christian’s bearing toward the various political parties in the world.—What they did in cunning and malice, we should do in earnest sincerity: ask Christ’s advice in all cases of doubt and conflict of duties.—The Christian living under a wicked government must submit in all things that do not molest his conscience.—The voice of the gospel on the duties of subjects.—The Christian should recommend his religion by his civil and political honesty.—Christ’s dignity in the answer to these questions concerning the duties of subjects and rulers.

Reinhard:—The right of subjects to judge the rule and commands of their governors.—T. W. Wolf:—How little the Lord is served by false praise.—Rambach:—The most pious Christian is the best citizen.

Footnotes:

[12] Matthew 22:15—[̔́Ο πως αὐτὸν παγιδεύσωσιν (from παγίς, a snare, a trap) ἐνλόγῳ, Lange: um ihn (mit List) zu fangen in einem Aunspruch; Ewald: durch sin Wort. The word here refers to the artful question in Matthew 22:17, to which, they thought, He must either answer yes or no, and In either ease fatally compromise Himself. Meyer: ἐνλόγῳ, in ciner Rede, d. h., in cinem Auespruche, welchen er ihun wûrde. Dieser ist als Fatte oder Schlings (παγις) gedacht” In Cod. Sinait. the words: ἐν λόγῳ, are omitted.—P. S.]

[13] Matthew 22:16.—[Dr. Lange inserts after Herodians In small type: “Politicians, adherents of the Roman party of the Herodian house,”—P. S.]

[14] Matthew 22:19.—[Δηνάριον. See the Critical Notes on Matthew 18:28 and Matthew 20:2.—P. S.]

[15] Matthew 22:21.—[̓Α πόδοτε, reddite, render as a due, not: δότε, date, as a gift. Comp. Romans 8:7 : ἀπόδοτε οῦ̔ν πᾶσι τὰς ὀφειλάς, Render unto all their dues. Tertullian (De idol. 15): "Reddite imaginem Cœsari quae in nummo est, el imaginem Dei Deo quœ in homine est.”—P. S.]

[16][The Edinb trsl. reads here: “For some remarkable hint, see Woif,”—mistaking probably the sehr sonderbare deutungen of the original or wunderbare Andeutungen. Mistakes of this kind, whether of carelessness or ignorance of the German language, and ail sorts of arbitrary omissions and changes, occur on every page, yes almost in very sentence of this and several preceding chapters, and make the revision a more tedious and disagreeable task than a new translation.—P. S.]

[17][A cunning and malignant captatio benevolentiœ, as Meyer calls it.—P. S.]

[18][Comp. Quesnel. in loc.: “The image of princes stamped on their coin denotes that temporal things belong all to their grovernance; and the image of God imprinted on the null of man teaches that whatever use he makes either of himself or of the creatures, ought to be referred to God. . . . Princes [Rulers] being more the images of God than other men, ought aim to render to God whatever they receive from men, by directing it all to His glory.”—P. S.]

[19][The preceding sentences in the Homiletical and the concluding paragraphs of the Doctrinal sections, nearly half a column, are omitted entire in the Edinb. trsl., and the Homiletical Hints which follow are either omitted or arbitrarily abridged.—P. S.]