Lectionary Calendar
Monday, December 9th, 2024
the Second Week of Advent
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Bible Dictionaries
Tribute, Toll, Taxing

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Tribes of Israel
Next Entry
Trinity
Resource Toolbox

TRIBUTE, TOLL, TAXING

1. In OT the subject is obscure. The word most frequently rendered ‘tribute’ is mas , which denotes a body of forced labourers ( 2 Samuel 20:24 , 1 Kings 9:21 etc.; see RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), and then later ‘forced service’ the feudal corvée . Solomon had a regular system of levying provisions for the maintenance of the royal establishment ( 1 Kings 4:7-19 ), and labourers for the execution of his vast building schemes ( 1 Kings 5:13 ff., 1 Kings 9:15 ), and also exacted toll from the caravans of merchants that passed through his kingdom ( 1 Kings 10:15 ). After the fail of the Jewish State, tribute was imposed on the land by its foreign masters ( 2 Kings 23:33 , Ezra 4:13 etc.). In the last-mentioned passage (cf. Ezra 4:20 , Ezra 7:24 ) we read of ‘tribute, custom, or toll,’ but have no information as to the precise meanings of the terms and the distinctions between them. Cf. Trade and Commerce, § 3 .

2. In NT ‘tribute’ represents 3 Gr. words. (1) phoros is properly a land tax; (2) kçnsos (originally a property register), a capitation or poll tax. Both were direct Imperial taxes payable by the Jews as Roman subjects; the former in kind, the latter in Roman money. In NT, however, the distinction is not carefully observed (cf. Matthew 22:17 , Luke 20:22 ). For the ‘tribute money’ of Matthew 22:19 see Money, § 7 ( b ). (3) didrachmon ( Matthew 17:24 , RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘ the half-shekel ’) was the sum paid by every male Israelite to meet the cost of the daily services in the Temple. See Money, § 7 ( d ). Toil ( telos , AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘custom’; telônion place of toll ,’ AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘ receipt of custom ’) must be carefully distinguished from tribute (cf. Matthew 17:25 , Romans 13:7 ). It was not a direct tax like (1) and (2), but an impost on the value of exported goods. For details see artt. Custom (s), Publican. Taxing ( apographç , RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘enrolment,’ Luke 2:2 , Acts 5:37 ) denotes a registration with a view to taxation for Imperial purposes. See Quirinius.

J. C. Lambert.

Bibliography Information
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Tribute, Toll, Taxing'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​hdb/​t/tribute-toll-taxing.html. 1909.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile