Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 22:15-17

"Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might ensnare him in [his] talk. And they send to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any one: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?" — Matthew 22:15-17 (ASV)

(15–16a) After Jesus spoke the three parables of warning to the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees went out from the temple courts where Jesus was preaching (21:23), were joined by the Herodians (see comment on Mk 12:13), and “laid plans to trap him in his words.” “Trap” reveals the motive: this is no dispassionate inquiry into a proper attitude to the Roman overlord. Paying the poll tax was the most obvious sign of submission to Rome. Zealots claimed the poll tax was a God-dishonoring badge of slavery to the pagans. The trap, then, put Jesus into the position where he would either alienate a major part of the population or else lay himself open to a charge of treason.

(16b–17) The title “Teacher” (GK 1437) and the long preamble reflect flattery and pressure for Jesus to speak. If he does not reply after such an introduction, then he is not a man of integrity and is swayed by people. The question “Is it right?” is theological, as all legal questions inevitably were to a first-century Jew.

By NT times “Caesar,” the family name of Julius Caesar, had become a title (cf. Lk 2:1; 3:1; Acts 17:7). The emperor at this time was Tiberius. The wording of the question, with its deft “or not,” demands a yes or a no.