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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Matthew 17:25 - 17:25
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Jesus spake first to him (proephthasen auton ho Iēsous legōn). Here only in the N.T. One example in a papyrus b.c. 161 (Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary). The old idiomatic use of phthanō with the participle survives in this example of prophthanō in Mat 17:25, meaning to anticipate, to get before one in doing a thing. The Koiné uses the infinitive thus with phthanō which has come to mean simply to arrive. Here the anticipation is made plain by the use of prȯ. See Robertson’s Grammar, p. 1120. The “prevent” of the Authorized Version was the original idea of praevenire, to go before, to anticipate. Peter felt obliged to take the matter up with Jesus. But the Master had observed what was going on and spoke to Peter first.
Toll or tribute (telē ē kēnson). Customs or wares collected by the publicans (like phoros, Rom 13:7) and also the capitation tax on persons, indirect and direct taxation. Kēnsos is the Latin census, a registration for the purpose of the appraisement of property like hē apographē in Luk 2:2; Act 5:37. By this parable Jesus as the Son of God claims exemption from the temple tax as the temple of his Father just as royal families do not pay taxes, but get tribute from the foreigners or aliens, subjects in reality.