The Definition of the word Tribute

Tribute

A tax imposed by a king on his subjects (2 Sam. 20:24; 1 Kings 4:6; Rom. 13:6). In Matt. 17:24-27 the word denotes the temple "rate (the "didrachma," the "half-shekel," as rendered by the" R.V.) which was required to be paid for the support of the temple by every Jew above twenty years of age (Ex. 30:12; 2 "Kings 12:4; 2 Chr. 24:6, 9). It was not a civil but a religious" tax. "In Matt. 22:17, Mark 12:14, Luke 20:22, the word may be interpreted as denoting the capitation tax which the Romans "imposed on the Jewish people. It may, however, be legitimately" regarded as denoting any tax whatever imposed by a foreign power "on the people of Israel. The "tribute money" shown to our Lord" "(Matt. 22:19) was the denarius, bearing Caesar's superscription." It was the tax paid by every Jew to the Romans. (See [645]PENNY.)