Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 17:26

"And when he said, From strangers, Jesus said unto him, Therefore the sons are free." — Matthew 17:26 (ASV)

Of strangers—The answer must be looked at from the Eastern rather than the European theory of taxation. To the Jews, as to other Eastern nations, direct taxation was hateful as a sign of subjugation. It had roused them to revolt under Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:4), and they had stoned the officer in charge of the tribute. They had groaned under it when imposed by the Syrian kings . It was one of their grievances under Herod and his sons (Josephus, Antiquities 17.8.4). Judas of Galilee and his followers had headed an insurrection against it when imposed by the Romans (Acts 5:37).

It was still a contentious point between the Pharisees and Herodians whether any Jew might lawfully pay it, as we see in Matthew 22:17. Peter naturally answered our Lord’s question at once from the popular Galilean perspective.

Then are the children free—These words are commonly interpreted as simply reminding Peter of his confession and pressing home its logical consequence: that He, the Christ, as the Son of God, was not liable to the “tribute” that was the acknowledgment of His Father’s sovereignty. This was doubtless prominent in the answer, but its range is believed to be wider.

1. If this is the only meaning, then the Israelites who paid the rate are spoken of as “aliens” or “foreigners,” in direct opposition to the uniform language of Scripture regarding their filial relation to Jehovah.
2. The plural used not only in this verse but in the one that follows—“lest we should offend them”—and the payment for Peter as well as for Himself, all indicate that we are dealing with a general truth of wide application.

Some light is thrown on the matter by a fact of contemporary history. The very point our Lord decides had been debated between the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Temple-rate question was to them what the Church-rate question has been in modern politics. After a seven-day struggle in the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees carried their point, made it a compulsory payment (which it had not been before), and kept an annual festival to commemorate their victory.

Our Lord, placing the question on its true ground, pronounces judgment against the Pharisees on this as on other points. They were placing the Israelite on the level of a “stranger,” not of a “son.” The true law for “the children of the kingdom” was what St. Paul later proclaimed: not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).