HEB: תַֽעֲשֶׂ֨ה־ לְךָ֥֣ פֶ֣֙סֶל֙ ׀ וְכָל־ תְּמוּנָ֡֔ה NAS: You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any KJV: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness INT: shall not make an idol any likeness
Original Word: פֶסֶל Part of Speech: Noun Masculine Transliteration: pesel Phonetic Spelling: (peh’-sel) Definition: an idol, image
This commandment is once again brought to our attention by Messiah Jesus/Yeshua in Matthew 22:15-23
In this passage the Pharisees and the Herodians really thought that they had Him trapped when they questioned Him about paying taxes.
Who were the Herodians?
The Herodians (Herodiani) were a sect of Hellenistic Jews. Herodian, one of a party of influential Jewish supporters of the Herodian dynasty (c. 55 bc–c. ad 93), which ruled in all or parts of Palestine and neighbouring areas.
At the time of Yeshua/Jesus, there were certain groups—the Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees—that held positions of authority and power over the people. Other groups were the Sanhedrin, the scribes, and the lawyers. Each of these groups held power in either religious or political matters. The Herodians held political power, and most scholars believe that they were a political party that supported King Herod Antipas, the Roman Empire’s ruler over much of the land of the Jews from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39. The Herodians favored submitting to the Herods, and therefore to Rome, for political expediency. This support of Herod compromised Jewish independence in the minds of the Pharisees, making it difficult for the Herodians and Pharisees to unite and agree on anything. But one thing did unite them—opposing Yeshua/Jesus. Herod himself wanted Him dead (Luke 13:31), and the Pharisees had already hatched plots against Him (John 11:53), so they joined efforts to achieve their common goal.
The first appearance of the Herodians in Scripture is Mark 3:6, “Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.” Messiah had been doing miracles, which caused some of the people to believe in Him for salvation, and that threatened the power and position of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians. The Herodians again joined with the Pharisees to challenge Him, to see if they could trap Him in His words by a trick question, to either discredit Him or to get Him to stop preaching (Matthew 22:16).
Jesus/Yeshua regarded the two groups as in unity against Him and warned His followers against them. “‘Be careful,’ Jesus warned them. ‘Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod’”(Mark 8:15). Yeast in this context is false teaching, the rejection of Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah, and hypocrisy. Many scholars believe that the Herodians looked to Herod as a messiah, a savior of sorts who would put the Jewish land in favor with the Roman Empire and bring blessings to them. His presentation of Himself as the Messiah was a threat to the Herodians’ attempt to make Herod the influential political power in the land.
In the future, the Bible tells us that many will be deceived by the antichrist and will view the antichrist as a “messiah.” He will be a political leader as well as a false religious leader, and he will promise peace and prosperity through his political programs. The Herodians at the time of Jesus/Yeshua were also focused on political goals rather than the eternal goals that Messiah proclaimed. They thought Herod might bring temporary peace politically. But Messiah came to bring us eternal salvation, by dying on the cross to pay for our sins. The lesson we learn from the error of the Herodians is that we are not to trust in man, as they trusted in Herod (Psalm 118:8). We are to put our trust in the Messiah Yeshua/Jesus and let His will be done in our lives and on the earth.
If He said yes, the Jewish leaders would stand against Him for supporting a pagan government and probably bring Him before the Sanhedrin for breaking the law.
Paying tax to a foreign government was considered paying a tithe to the government. This was not forbidden by Mosaic law but it was by the oral traditions of the fathers, which were written down later and became the Talmud. The Talmud was not considered to be inspired but it was authoritative; and to violate the teachings of the tradition of the fathers was a chargeable offence to be heard before the religious court or Sanhedrin.
Had Yeshua/Jesus said no, and agreed with the teachings of the tradition of the fathers, the Roman government would have arrested Him for treason.
For this seemingly no win situation, His response was very wise as well as interesting, when He says render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is Gods’.
Why did this really embarrass the Pharisees and Herodians?
On the surface it sounded like He was basically saying that it was alright to pay the taxes, in other words to pay them with Roman money and not the coins issued by the Temple. We must remember that there were both types of coins in circulation at that time. The temple tax was required of Jewish males over age 20, and the money was used for the upkeep and maintenance of the temple.
In Exodus 30:13–16, God told Moses to collect this tax at the time of the census taken in the wilderness.
In 2 Kings 12:5–17 and Nehemiah 10:32–33, it seems the temple tax was paid annually, not just during a census. This half-shekel tax wasn’t a large sum of money, but roughly equivalent to two days’ wages. According to the tractate Shekalim in the Talmud, the temple tax was collected during one of the these Jewish festivals: Passover, Pentecost, or Tabernacles.
The Temple Tax is also mentioned in the New Testament in Matthew 17:24–27.
After Jesus/Yeshua and His disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked,“Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” The leaders may have been attempting to prove Yeshua/Jesus’ disloyalty to the temple or His violation of the Law. Peter affirmed that Jesus/Yeshua did pay the temple tax.
Yes, he does,” he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Messiah was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked.
“From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” Peter replied that kings collect from others because their children are exempt. Yeshua/Jesus’ point was that, since the
Temple was His Father’s House, He was exempt.
Why should the Son of God pay a tax to His own Father?
Even though Yeshua/Jesus, as the Son of God, and His disciples were exempt from paying the temple tax, they would pay it in order to not offend the Jewish leaders Matthew 17:27.“But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us. and you will find a shekel.
Yeshua/Jesus then instructs Peter to throw out a fishing line, which would result in a catch. When Peter opened the fish’s mouth, he found a coin that happened to be the correct amount for the temple tax for them both.
Messiah used the question about the temple tax to teach a lesson. True Christians are free, but they must sometimes relinquish their rights in order to uphold their witness and not cause others to stumble. True freedom is not serving ourselves but others. Galatians 5:13.
Going back to Messiah’s reply to the Pharisees and the Herodians, we have no doubt heard many sermons on how clever this response was but was it ever explained why it was so clever? On the surface it seems like His enemies had Him right where they wanted Him.
Messiah Yeshua/Jesus calls them hypocrites in verse18.
Why did He call them hypocrites?
Jewish literature contains information about the second commandment that may explain in more detail and offer a possible answer to this question to help us to understand.
We saw at the start of the post that the second Commandment in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-2 says that you shall not make any graven image.
The word for make in Hebrew is ashah
this is followed by the word leka which means you.
Ashah leka has the idea of:
taking something to ourselves.
We are not to take for ourselves any graven image.
As already noted this word for
graven image is pesel
which means
to carve out or fashion something that is seen.
This carving or engraving may be of wood or metal.
We are not to take upon ourselves anything that is fashioned or to take on the representation or the mun/temunah, which is a likeness or physical manifestation of anything in the heavens above or the below or in the sea.
Original Word:מִין Transliteration: min Phonetic Spelling: (meen)
‘Show Me the coin of the tribute.’ And they presented to Him a denarius. Matthhew 22:19.
Obviously the Jews were aware that a metal coin had an image engraved upon it. If that image was in the likeness of someone who was considered a god, which Caesar was in those days, then to process or to even carry such a coin was in violation of the second commandment. With this in mind when Messiah Jesus asked the Pharisee to produce a coin he pulled out a coin with Caesars likeness on it. These particular coins were called the tribute coin. It has the picture or image of Caesar Augustus Tiberius and the inscription Caesar Augustus Tiberius son of the divine Augustus.
To any Jew this was blasphemous as it claimed that Caesar Augustus Tiberius was a god. Because carrying this coin was in violation of the second commandment, Yeshua/Jesus used their own oral traditions to point out their hypocrisy. In his over zealous attempt to prove Yeshua/Jesus wrong the Pharisee may have overlooked the fact that he was admitting to idolatry by having such a coin in his pocket. The teaching they followed and understood was that to carry such a coin meant that he worshipped that god so by possessing that coin he was declaring that he worshiped a Roman god which was also Roman money.
Their attempts to trip Messiah up were exposed and He reversed their trap back on them. However during this exchange, Messiah put this commandment into its proper perspective.
Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s is not simply a reference to paying taxes with Roman currency, it was speaking of worship. The reason this Pharisee had Roman coins was probably because he was involved in business deals with the Romans which was not against the law, however Jesus/Yeshua knew his heart and what was not alright was that in his heart, money was his god.
Similar to the story of the rich young ruler. This Pharisee had broken the second commandment to make money, the Lord God King and creator of the universe was not first and foremost in his life, money was.
What Messiah was pointing out was that they were accusing Him of breaking oral law, traditions of the fathers, which was not Torah, when they were breaking the second commandment by having such a coin in their possession.
This was what He was referring to as being hypocritical and we must remember that Messiah knew their thoughts Matthew 9:4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?
And Jesus knew their thoughts, Matthew 12:25-30
Luke 5:22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?
John 2:25 No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.
The question we should ask ourselves is:
are there any graven images in our possession?
As we approach the ‘Christmas season’, our thoughts turn to gifts and lighting decorations and maybe less towards the greatest gift ever given, Who became the Light of the world. Let’s make certain our Heavenly Father /Messiah are first and foremost in our thoughts and the direction of our lives and that we are not carrying any pesels or coins of hypocrisy.
Though not one of the 7 festivals Moedim/ Appointed Times of the Lord, Chanukah began last evening and concludes 15th December.
As we light the lights of Chanukah let’s focus on Messiah, the light shining into this dark world and allow His Spirit in us to draw the lost to His saving grace.
Whether lighting the lights or not, Happy Hanukkah to every reader!
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
Not sure ..you can be…
SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute,
SAY IT RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.
