Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 17:24

"And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received the half-shekel came to Peter, and said, Doth not your teacher pay the half-shekel?" — Matthew 17:24 (ASV)

“The two-drachma tax” was probably not a civil tax in support of Rome (cf. 22:15–22) but a Jewish “tax” of half a shekel levied on every male Jew between the ages of twenty and fifty in support of the tabernacle (later, the temple) and its services (cf. Exodus 30:11–16). In Jesus’ day two drachmas equaled half a shekel.