Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 22:19

"Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a denarius." — Matthew 22:19 (ASV)

Having exposed their folly and hypocrisy, Jesus proceeds to put them publicly to shame. He said to them, “Shew me the tribute money.”

This request on His part, and their compliance with it, would make the whole matter more vivid and impressive to the bystanders. When there is something to see and handle, a lesson becomes the more striking.

Our Lord asked them to show Him a specimen of the coin usually paid for the capitation tax, and they brought to him a penny, a denarius. This coin represented the daily pay of a Roman soldier, and in the parable of the vineyard, it was said to be the daily wage of the laborer.

Had these men guessed the use to which Jesus would put the denarius, they would not have so quickly procured one for Him. They bought their own confusion with that coin. They would never afterwards be able to look upon the tribute money without remembering how they were foiled in their attempt to entangle the hated Nazarene.