Jesus Pays the Tribute Money.

  26 And when he said, From strangers, Jesus said unto him, Therefore the sons are free.

  27 But, lest we cause them to stumble [lest we be totally misunderstood, and be thought to teach that men should not pay this tribute to God], go thou to the sea [of Galilee], and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a shekel: that take, and give unto them for me and thee. [Jesus paid the tribute in such a manner as to show that the whole realm of nature was tributary to him, and that he was indeed the Son of the great King. Some have thought that our Lord's beneficence, in paying Peter's tax also, was an evidence that Peter, too, was exempt from tribute. But the conclusion is not well drawn. Had this been intended, Jesus would have said "for us," and would not have used the words "for me and thee," which distinguished between the exempted Son and the unexempted subject. Though afterward Peter might possibly have claimed exemption as a child of God by adoption, he was not yet free from this duty to pay this tax-- John 1:12 .]