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The Temple tax (מחצית השקל, lit. ' half shekel ') was a tax paid by Israelites and Levites which went towards the upkeep of the Jewish Temple, as reported in the New Testament. [1] Traditionally, Kohanim (Jewish priests) were exempt from the tax.
The fiscus Iudaicus or fiscus Judaicus (Latin for 'Jewish tax') was a tax imposed on Jews in the Roman Empire after the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in AD 70. [2] The fiscus Iudaicus replaced the traditional half-shekel Temple tax which had been paid annually by Jews for the maintenance of the Temple in Jerusalem.
The tax was imposed after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE in place of the levy (or Tithe) payable by Jews towards the upkeep of the Temple. The amount levied was two denarii , equivalent to the half of a shekel that observant Jews had previously paid for the upkeep of the Temple of Jerusalem.
The exceptional purity helps explain why the Jerusalem Temple priests specifically required Tyrian shekels for Temple tax payments. The money-changers referenced in the New Testament Gospels ( Matt. 21:12 and parallels) provided Tyrian shekels in exchange for Roman currency when this was required.
Its main subject is the half-shekel tax that ancient Jews paid every year to make possible the maintenance and proper functioning of the Temple in Jerusalem. There is no Gemara about the treatise in the Babylonian Talmud, but there is one in the Jerusalem Talmud, and the latter is often printed in the editions of the Babylonian Talmud. [1] [2]
Jesus' reluctance to pay the temple tax is consistent with his teachings regarding the physical temple. The Gospels record five times when he either says, "dismantle this temple, and in three days I will rebuild it," or is quoted as saying this. Jesus may have said this to emphasize a spiritual temple over the physical temple.
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After the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, Jews, particularly those exiled to Egypt, refused to pay the still-extant "temple tax" to Rome (which it was using to maintain pagan temples); Rome responded by destroying Jewish temples. [1]: 34–35