Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Luke 20:22 - 20:22

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Luke 20:22 - 20:22


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

22. ἔξεστιν ἡμᾶς Καίσαρι φόρον δοῦναι ἢ οὔ; The question was devised with so superlative a craft that it seemed impossible for our Lord to escape. If He said ‘It is lawful,’ the Pharisees hoped at once to undermine His popularity with the multitude. If He said ‘It is not lawful’ (Deu 17:15), the Herodians could at once hand Him over, as a traitor, to the secular power. For ‘tribute’ each Evangelist uses a different word—ἐπικεφάλαιον, ‘poll-tax’ (Mark in D); the Latin κῆνσον ‘census’ (Matt.); and the classical φόρον here and Luk 23:2. It was a capitation-tax, the legality of which was indignantly disputed by scrupulous legalists.

πανουργίαν. A classical word only found in St Paul and St Luke, 2Co 4:2; 2Co 11:3, &c.

[τί με πειράζετε; κ.τ.λ.] Our Lord saw at once that it was a cunning test-question meant only to entrap Him. Not for a moment did these fawning spies deceive Him though

“Neither man nor angel can discern

Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks

Invisible, except to God alone.”

These Pharisees were illustrating the truth that “no form of self-deceit is more hateful than that which veils spite and falsehood under the guise of frankness, and behind the profession of religion.”