Matthew 22:17

What thinkest thou? These spies wanted Jesus definitely to commit Himself, one way or the other. Should He approve of paying tribute to Rome, they thought to present this as evidence that He was against the law of God, which the Pharisees claimed forbade the payment of taxes to a foreign power. Thus He would forfeit His popular acclaim as the Messiah. Should Jesus forbid the payment of taxes, He would be represented to the Roman authorities as a traitor and a revolutionary. Either way, the Pharisees expected to gain. But Jesus disappointed them by refusing to go along with either one or the other of the two propositions of the dilemma. It was not a matter of either this or that, He replied, but of both.

Is it lawful? That is, in harmony with the principles of Jewish law. The Pharisees held that it was not, the Herodians the opposite. The question really involved the problem as to whether a man could be a good Jew and yet submit to Roman authority.

Tribute. Gr. kensos, (see on ch. 17:25). This was probably the Roman poll tax, levied in those territories directly under Roman jurisdiction. The payment of the tribute was particularly galling to the Jews, not because it was unduly burdensome, but because it was a symbol of submission to a foreign power and a bitter reminder of their lost liberties. The politically explosive question that confronted Jesus involved the problem, “Shall we submit to Rome or shall we fight for our independence?”