Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.
All Commentaries on Matthew 22:15 Go To Matthew 22
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Then went the Pharisees . . . entangle, &c. For entangle, the Greek has παγιδεÏσωσιν, i.e, ensnare; for παγίδες are snares. And so the Syriac has prepare gins like bird-catchers. The Pharisees put captious questions to Christ with the design that whatever way He might answer, He should incur blame; and that so they might, as it were, entrap Him in His answer, and that He might be open to the charge of treason against either human or Divine Majesty. "They laid a plot by means of a dilemma," says S. Augustine (l. I, contra Crescen. c17), that whichever He should choose of its two horns, He might be caught. If He answered that it was lawful, He would he a traitor to the people of God; but if He said it was not lawful, He would be punished as an enemy to Cæsar.
With the Herodians; Syr. with those who were of the house of Herod.
The Herodians were a Jewish sect, who favoured the Roman Csar, and the payment of tribute to him. They were named from the first Herod of Ascalon, the infanticide, who was entirely devoted to Csar, inasmuch as he had been made king of Judea by Augustus Csar and the Roman Senate. So S. Jerome, Origen, and others. S. Epiphanius (lib. I, hres20) and S. Jerome (Dialogo cont. Luciferanos) add that these Herodians were Jewish sectaries, or heretics, who held that Herod of Ascalon was the Messiah or Christ promised by the prophets, because they saw that in him the sceptre had failed from Judah. Herod eagerly encouraged these flatterers. And the reason why he slew the infants at Bethlehem was that he might kill Christ, that no one but himself might be accounted Christ. For the same reason, he built a most magnificent temple for the Jews, vieing with that of Song of Solomon , as Josephus shows (Lib. Ant15 , c14). Listen to S. Jerome briefly enumerating the Jewish sects, "I say nothing about the Jewish heretics, who, before the coming of Christ, made light of the law delivered to them. There was Dositheus, prince of the Samaritans, who rejected the prophets. There were the Sadducees, sprung from his root, who went on to deny the resurrection of the flesh. There were the Pharisees, divided from the rest of the Jews on account of certain superfluous observances. There were the Herodians, who took Herod for their king instead of Christ." Theophylact, Euthymius, and Philastrius say the same, with the exception, that for Herod of Ascalon, they substituted his Song of Solomon , Herod Antipas, who put John the Baptist to death. But they are mistaken in their assertion that Herod Antipas was ever regarded by the Jews as Messiah.
The Pharisees, therefore, who took the opposite side, namely, that Herod was not the Messiah, and that tribute ought not to be paid to the Roman Csar, who put themselves forward as vindicators of the law of Moses and of Jewish liberty, suborned these Herodians to go together with their own disciples to Jesus, as to a prophet and teacher, and proposed this question to Him concerning giving tribute to Csar. This they did with the crafty design that if Christ should assert that tribute ought to be given to Csar, He would incur the hostility of the Jewish populace; if, on the other hand, He should say that it was not to be paid, He might fall under the anger of Csar and the Romans , who would condemn Him to death as being guilty of sedition.
Master; Heb. Rabbi. Rabbi means not only a doctor of the law, such as are the Rabbins, but a potentate and a prince, endowed with authority.
We know . . . the way of God, i.e, the law of God For the law is the way by which we go to God, and to His grace and glory. For the law teaches what is pleasing to God, what He wills us to do, that we may be justified and blessed by Him.
And carest not, &c. Thou fearest neither the anger of Herod nor the power of Csar, so as to be afraid to give a true answer, and deliver your opinion in behalf of your countrymen, even though you should expose yourself to the hostility of Herod and Csar; even as John the Baptist, when he rebuked Herod"s adultery, did not shrink from incurring his anger. For they trusted that Christ would pronounce in favour of the Jews, as being faithful against Csar, an unbeliever. So S. Chrysostom, "By means of flattery they hope to urge Him on to boldness, that He might say something against the existing institutions, and the existing state of things;" "that He might come into collision with Csar on a charge of rebellion."
For Thou regardest not the person; Syr. the face, &c. To look whether it be the face of a rich man and a prince, or a poor man and a plebeian, so that Thou shouldest flatter and defend a prince, and condemn a poor man. Rather wilt Thou, as it were, shut Thine eyes, and give sentence in favour of truth and justice, and say, Cæsar is My friend, but truth is a greater friend." The Gr. πζόσωπον signifies both person and face.
Tell us therefore . . . tribute; Syr. capitation-tax, because each head or each person was assessed. The Jews, as God"s faithful people, held aloof from the Gentiles, as idolaters. And many of them thought that it was not lawful for them to acknowledge Csar as their lord, and pay him tribute; because God alone was their Master, to whom they paid tithes and tribute. By Csar, Tiberius Csar, the successor of Augustus, is meant.
The occasion of this question being propounded to Christ, was as follows. About this time one Judas, of Galilee, had taught that it was not lawful for the Jews to be in subjection to the Romans , and pay them taxes. Now Christ and the Apostles were regarded as Galilans; and the Jews professed to look upon them as upholders of this teaching of Judas the Galilan, as being their countryman. And for this reason they frequently repudiated this error of theirs. Hear S. Jerome (in cap3 , ad Tit. ver. I), "I think," says Hebrews , "this precept was given by the Apostle, because at that time the teaching of Judas the Galilan was still in vogue, and had many followers. Among their other tenets, they held it probable that, according to the law, no one ought to be called lord, except God only; and that those who paid tithes to the Temple ought not to render tribute to Csar. This sect increased to so great an extent as to influence a great part of the Pharisees as well as the rest of the people, so that they referred this question about the lawfulness of paying tribute to Csar to our Lord, who answered prudently and cautiously, Render, &c. S. Paul"s teaching is in agreement with this answer, in that he bids believers be in subjection to princes and powers."
When Jesus knew, &c. It is as though He said, "You pretend to be friends, and to desire to maintain a good conscience, that you may know what you ought to do in this case truly and justly, according to the law of God, when all the while you are My enemies, and are thirsting for My blood." "The prime virtue," says S. Jerome, "in one who gives an answer is to know the mind of him who asks the question."
