Bible Dictionaries
Didrachma

Holman Bible Dictionary

A Greek coin worth two drachmas or a Jewish half shekel, the amount of the Temple tax paid by every male Jew above age 19 (Matthew 17:24 ). After the Temple's destruction in A.D. 70, the Roman government apparently continued to collect the Temple tax, possibly to support a Roman temple. The first readers of Matthew's Gospel would have understood the Temple tax in the Roman context.