that the half-shekel was a tax levied upon every male Jew of twenty years and upwards, and that it was destined for the maintenance of the Temple.

An ancient precedent for this tax is found in Exodus, XXX. 11-13: "And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying. When thou takest the census of the children of Israel, according to those that are numbered of them, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them, that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them. This shall they give, every one that passeth over unto them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the Sanctuary: (the shekel is twenty gerahs) half a shekel for an offering to the Lord."

Though there is preserved no written commandment that this tax should be a law in Israel, it appears from II. Chron. XXIV. 6, that the precedent set by Moses was supposed to be kept up in Israel. In the religious decadence that had settled upon Israel, the law respecting this tax had fallen into desuetude. Jehoiada is blamed for not having required of the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses. King Joash made a proclamation to bring in for the Lord the tax that Moses, the servant of the Lord, laid upon Israel in the wilderness.

In the Book of Nehemiah, X. 32, we read that in the reorganization the Jews charged themselves with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of God. Whether this was a modification of the tax of Moses or an extra offering is not clear, but Josephus, in Antiquities of the Jews, XVII. IX. 1, declares that every Jew by the custom of his country, offers unto God a half-shekel.

The half-shekel contained two drachmas, and was equivalent to about thirty cents of the money of the United States. Of course, the purchasing power of money was much greater then than now.

It is quite certain that it was concerning this tax that St. Peter was questioned. There was much looseness in the observance of these ordinances in the days of Christ. There was no civil authority to enforce them. The state of religion under the scribes and Pharisees was decadent. Hence, we

believe, that these tax collectors with difficulty collected the half-shekel from only a few.

We believe, also, that this demand on Peter was instigated by a desire to entrap Jesus. The half-shekel was a Mosaic ordinance, and they who collected the tax probably hoped that the non-observance of this ordinance might be used to discredit the cause of Jesus with the people.

Peter answers promptly that the Master would pay the half-shekel. He has been blamed by some for this promptness, as though he had made a rash promise. We cannot see any rashness in his conduct. The honor of the Master was at stake. By a cunning device the Pharisees had forced the representative of Jesus to declare himself concerning the halfshekel. Peter had been reared in a knowledge of the Jewish law. He himself considered it the duty of a pious Jew to pay the half-shekel, and he knew that his Master observed every just law.

Jesus is harbored, Jesus makes known By this Jesus gives confirms Peter's faith

Peter returns to the house in which but before he had said aught of the affair, his full knowledge of the whole affair. evidence of his omniscience, and thus in his divine character.

From the fact that no mention is made of the Apostles in the demand for the half-shekel, we are more and more convinced that they who demanded it hoped thereby to move Jesus to set aside a Mosaic ordinance. They would thereby have an occasion to arouse the people against him.

The address of Jesus to Peter is a declaration of his divine Sonship. The sons of the kings of the earth have certain exemptions from the common law governing the king's subjects. No king collects a toll or tribute from his own sons. Now the half-shekel was the toll or tribute of God for the maintenance of his worship. Wherefore Jesus, being the consubstantial Son of God, was exempt from such tax. If Jesus had made no clearer declaration of his Divinity, this would suffice to prove it. That mighty saving truth runs through all the Saviour's words and deeds. At times it is dimly revealed, and again it is proclaimed by the voice of God from

Heaven. It is the ultimate meaning of everything in the life of Jesus. It is the cornerstone of faith and salvation.

But the world did not know then who Jesus was. The tax-collectors could not then receive the argument addressed to Peter; and therefore, lest men might be caused to stumble by Jesus' non-observance of the Mosaic ordinance, Jesus works a miracle, and thus provides for the payment of the half-shekel for himself and for Peter.

When it was a question of the traditions and ordinances of the Pharisees, Jesus showed no such consideration. He broke them, and openly called attention to the fact that he did break them. For these traditions of the Pharisees were dishonest and absurd. But in the present case there is a question of a just and necessary law, and hence he carefully fulfills it.

It is an instructive fact that Jesus and his chief lieutenant were so poor that they had not wherewith to pay this small sum of money.

itself, we simply

We can not tell

When we come to look at the miracle bow our heads and adore the power of God. how it was done, and we can not tell how the universe was created, or how the heavenly bodies move in their orbits. We can not comprehend infinity, and Jesus power is infinite. In his infinite wisdom, he chose to make use of his divine power in this particular way to meet that need.

MATT. XVIII. 1-14

I. Ἐν ἐκείνῃ δὲ τῇ ὥρᾳ προσἦλθον οἱ μαθηταὶ τῷ Ἰησοῦ, λέγοντες: Τίς ἄρα μείζων ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν;

2. Καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος παιδίον, ἔστησεν αὐτὸ ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν.

MARK IX. 33-50

33. Καὶ ἦλθον εἰς Καφαρναούμ, καὶ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ γενόμενος, ἐπηρώτα αὐτοὺς: Τί ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ διελογίζεσθε;

34. Οἱ δὲ ἐσιώπων: πρὸς ἀλ λήλους γὰρ διελέχθησαν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τὶς μείζων.

35. Καὶ καθίσας ἐφώνησεν τοὺς δώδεκα, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς: Εἴ τις θέλει πρῶτος εἶναι, ἔσται πάντων ἔσχατος, καὶ πάντων διάκονος.

36. Καὶ λαβὼν παιδίον, ἔστη σεν αὐτὸ ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν: καὶ ἐναγκαλισάμενος αὐτὸ, εἶπεν αὐτοῖς.