The Hebrews acknowledged none for sovereign over them but God
alone; whence Josephus calls their government a theocracy, or divine
government. They acknowledged the sovereign dominion of God by a
tribute, or capitation tax, of half a shekel a head, which every
Israelite paid yearly, Exod. xxx, 13. Our Saviour, in the Gospel, thus
reasons with St. Peter: “What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings
of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of
strangers?” Matt. xvii, 25, meaning, that as he was the Son of God, he
ought to be exempt from this capitation tax. We do not find that either
the kings or the judges of the Hebrews, when they were themselves Jews,
demanded any tribute of them. Solomon, at the beginning of his reign, 1
Kings xi, 22, 33; 2 Chron. viii, 9, compelled the Canaanites, who were
left in the country, to pay him tribute, and to perform the drudgery of
the public works he had undertaken. As to the children of Israel, he
would not suffer one of them to be employed upon them, but made them his
soldiers, ministers, and chief officers, to command his armies, his
chariots, and his horsemen. Yet, afterward, toward the end of his reign,
he imposed a tribute upon them, and made them work at the public
buildings, 1 Kings v, 13, 14; ix, 15; xi, 27; which much alienated their
minds from him, and sowed the seeds of that discontent which afterward
appeared in an open revolt, by the rebellion of Jeroboam, the son of
Nebat; who was at first indeed obliged to take shelter in Egypt. But
afterward the defection became general, by the total revolt of the ten
tribes. Hence it was, that the Israelites said to Rehoboam the son of
Solomon, “Thy father made our yoke grievous; now therefore, make thou
the grievous service of thy father, and the heavy yoke which he put upon
us, lighter, and we will serve thee,” 1 Kings xii, 4. It is needless to
observe, that the Israelites were frequently subdued by foreign princes,
who laid great taxes and tribute upon them, to which fear and necessity
compelled them to submit. Yet in the latter times, that is, after
Archelaus had been banished to Vienne in France, in the sixth year of
the vulgar era, and after Judea was reduced to a province, Augustus sent
Quirinius into this country to take a new poll of the people, and to
make a new estimate of their substance, that he might thereby regulate
the tribute that every one was to pay to the Romans. Then Judas,
surnamed the Galilean, formed a sedition, and made an insurrection, to
oppose the levying of this tribute. See in St. Matthew xxii, 16, 17, &c,
the answer that Jesus Christ returned to the Pharisee, who came with an
insidious design of tempting him, and asked him, whether or not it was
lawful to pay tribute to Cæsar? and in John viii, 33, where the Jews
boast of having never been slaves to any body, of being a free nation,
that acknowledged God only for master and sovereign.
alone; whence Josephus calls their government a theocracy, or divine
government. They acknowledged the sovereign dominion of God by a
tribute, or capitation tax, of half a shekel a head, which every
Israelite paid yearly, Exod. xxx, 13. Our Saviour, in the Gospel, thus
reasons with St. Peter: “What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings
of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of
strangers?” Matt. xvii, 25, meaning, that as he was the Son of God, he
ought to be exempt from this capitation tax. We do not find that either
the kings or the judges of the Hebrews, when they were themselves Jews,
demanded any tribute of them. Solomon, at the beginning of his reign, 1
Kings xi, 22, 33; 2 Chron. viii, 9, compelled the Canaanites, who were
left in the country, to pay him tribute, and to perform the drudgery of
the public works he had undertaken. As to the children of Israel, he
would not suffer one of them to be employed upon them, but made them his
soldiers, ministers, and chief officers, to command his armies, his
chariots, and his horsemen. Yet, afterward, toward the end of his reign,
he imposed a tribute upon them, and made them work at the public
buildings, 1 Kings v, 13, 14; ix, 15; xi, 27; which much alienated their
minds from him, and sowed the seeds of that discontent which afterward
appeared in an open revolt, by the rebellion of Jeroboam, the son of
Nebat; who was at first indeed obliged to take shelter in Egypt. But
afterward the defection became general, by the total revolt of the ten
tribes. Hence it was, that the Israelites said to Rehoboam the son of
Solomon, “Thy father made our yoke grievous; now therefore, make thou
the grievous service of thy father, and the heavy yoke which he put upon
us, lighter, and we will serve thee,” 1 Kings xii, 4. It is needless to
observe, that the Israelites were frequently subdued by foreign princes,
who laid great taxes and tribute upon them, to which fear and necessity
compelled them to submit. Yet in the latter times, that is, after
Archelaus had been banished to Vienne in France, in the sixth year of
the vulgar era, and after Judea was reduced to a province, Augustus sent
Quirinius into this country to take a new poll of the people, and to
make a new estimate of their substance, that he might thereby regulate
the tribute that every one was to pay to the Romans. Then Judas,
surnamed the Galilean, formed a sedition, and made an insurrection, to
oppose the levying of this tribute. See in St. Matthew xxii, 16, 17, &c,
the answer that Jesus Christ returned to the Pharisee, who came with an
insidious design of tempting him, and asked him, whether or not it was
lawful to pay tribute to Cæsar? and in John viii, 33, where the Jews
boast of having never been slaves to any body, of being a free nation,
that acknowledged God only for master and sovereign.