The Argument From His Authority (Matt. 9:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/21/2021 9:54 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  The Argument From His Authority

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 9:12-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”

 

            We are looking at the last of the arguments seen in these two verses, and it comes from the section “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”  I suppose that the word righteous in this section can cause problems to some, but Jesus is speaking of those who think that they are righteous, not those who have received the imputed righteous of God through Jesus Christ at their salvation.  “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” writes Paul to the Romans, but not all will come to the knowledge of knowing that they need a Savior, that there is nothing that they can do on their own to receive eternal life, but that once their faith is placed in the Lord Jesus Christ who paid for their sins then they will receive eternal life, but those who do not admit that they are sinners and who say that they don’t have a need of a Savior will not receive this righteous only available in Jesus Christ.

 

            We can also see from this section from Matthew chapter nine that Jesus gladly associated and identified with tax-gatherers and other sinners, as at this time He had called Matthew the dreaded tax-gather and was eating with Matthew’s friends in the house of Matthew, and this is what caused the Pharisees to be so upset because they thought that they were the only “righteous” ones around. 

 

            In some other passages that speak of these incidents we see the words “to repentance” inserted at the end of verse 13.  It is the repentant person who is is sinful and who acknowledges and turns from their sins. 

 

            In MacArthur’s commentary he writes the following “In response to a later similar charge by the Pharisees and scribes that He ‘receives sinners and eats with them’ (Luke 5:12), Jesus gave three illustrations of God’s concern for and forgiveness of the penitent sinner.  Through the stories of the lost sheep and lost coin, He pointed up the truth that ‘there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance’ (v. 7; cf. v. 10).  In the story of the prodigal son, He dramatically illustrates the double-sided truth that God is overjoyed with a humble sinner who repents and is grieved by the self-righteous person (represented by the older brother) who is himself unforgiving of others and even resents God’s forgiveness of them (see specifically vv. 21-32).

 

            “Kaleo (to call) was often used of inviting a guest to one’s home for food and lodging.  The inference here is clear.  Jesus did not come to call the self-righteous to salvation for the same reason He did not call the Pharisees to recline with Him at the dinner of Matthew’s house.” We have already talked about this in the first paragraph of this SD so I won’t go into it again.

            There is another similar story found in Luke’s gospel concerning a Pharisee:  “9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10  "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13  "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14  "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted’” (Luke 18:9-14). 

 

            There are other stories found in the gospels that go along with what we are looking at here but I will only name another’s reference:  Matthew 22:1-10; cf. 21:33-46.

 

            MacArthur concludes this section:  “The Kingdom of God is for the spiritually sick who want to be healed, the spiritual corrupt who want to be cleansed, the spiritually poor who want to be rich, the spiritually hungry who want to be fed, the spiritually dead who want to be made alive.  It is for ungodly outcasts who long to become God’s own beloved children.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to show others through the blogs that I write that at times go onto FB stories to understand the truths that are found in these very verses that we are studying at this time, that is we are all lost and can do nothing about it but come to the cross where Jesus paid it all.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord for the outcome of something that I have been praying for, for a long while now.

 

5/21/2021 10:35 AM

 

 

 

The Argument from Scripture (Matt. 9:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/20/2021 10:16 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  “The Argument From Scripture”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 9:12-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

 

            In our SD for today we will be looking at the second argument against what the Pharisees have said, and that argument is from Scripture.  Notice verse 13 where Jesus says “go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice.’”  In the lesson that I am to teach this Sunday evening that comes from Psalm 50 it has some things in it that certainly go along with what Jesus is asking the Pharisees to search out.  In that 50^th Psalm we see a court scene that has God as the Judge, and the jury.  God it telling the children of Israel that they certainly have the wrong attitude about offering sacrifices to Him.  I will talk more about this later.

 

            The quotation that Jesus gives here is from Hosea 6:6 “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”  Jesus is saying “It is the perfect Word of God and not the flawed words of men that you should be concerned about, and His Word calls you to be merciful and forgiving, not judgmental and condemning.”  (These words come from MacArthur’s commentary speculating about the thought of Jesus, and in my opinion they are very good.)

 

            MacArthur writes “The fact that the quotation was from Hosea made it all the more pointed.  The story of Gomer’s unfaithfulness to her husband, Hosea, was a living illustration of Israel’s own unfaithfulness to God; and Hosea’s continuing love and forgiveness of Gomer was a picture of the continuing love and forgiveness God offered Israel.  And just as God then desired ‘compassion’ rather than ‘sacrifice,’ He still did.  Without ‘compassion,’ and the rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices of the Pharisees were unacceptable to God.  Without ‘compassion’ they proved themselves to be more ungodly even than the despised tax-gatherers and sinners, who made no pretense of godliness.”

 

            I believe that many people even today misunderstand much about the sacrificial system that the Lord enstated for Israel, as many think that these sacrifices were something that could save people, but that is not the reason why they were instituted by God.  In the book of Hebrews we can see a theme “From Shadows to Substance,” and the sacrificial system along with other things in the OT was a mere shadow what Christ did when He came to earth to become our sacrificial Passover Lamb.  The sacrificial system was divinely instituted and when the prescribed offerings were made to Him in a spirit of humility, penitence, and reverence, they were pleasing to the Lord.  However when offered insincerely and in a spirit of self-righteousness and self-satisfaction, they became instead an abomination.  The rituals and the ceremonies were only as valid as showing real remorse of the worshiper.  The person who sacrificed to God in genuine reverence would serve his fellow man in genuine compassion, but the opposite is true of the one who just did it a ritual, as they could be cold toward God, no matter how orthodox their theology was.

 

            MacArthur concludes "I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. 22  "Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept [them;]And I will not [even] look at the peace offerings of your fatlings (fat cows). 23  "Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. 24  "But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.  (Amos 5:21-24).

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am blessed by the Lord for this section because it goes along with what I will be teaching in our Sunday school class Sunday evening. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to see me through the next few days as there is a lot on my plate at this time.

 

5/20/2021 11:46 AM

PT-1 "The Arguments" (Matt. 9:12-13)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/19/2021 10:35 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  Intro to “The Arguments”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 9:12-13

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”

 

            The highlighted part of verse 13 is the heart of the gospel message. 

 

            In today’s SD we will look briefly at the introduction to this section and then we will look at the first argument “The Argument From Human Logic.”

 

            MacArthur writes this short intro to these verses:  “When Jesus heard this accusatory question, He answered it for the disciples.  His doing so doubtlessly embarrassed the Pharisees and added to their indignation.  The fact that they had approached His disciples suggests that the Pharisees were afraid to confront Jesus Himself and His overhearing and responding to their obvious indictment of His actions was more than a little disconcerting.

            “Although Jesus was fully aware of the Pharisees’ true intent (cf. 9:4) ‘And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?’ He took their question at face value and explained exactly why He had done what He did.  In His brief reply, He gave three arguments in defense of His gospel of forgiveness and reconciliation, the gospel that was reflected in His willingness to eat with the ungodly and immoral tax-gatherers and sinners.”

 

THE ARUGMENT FROM HUMAN LOGIC:

 

            His logic is seen in the statement “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.  Now “if” Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, “you are really as spiritually and morally perfect as you claim to be, you do not need any help from God or other men.  Now if you are indeed spiritually healthy as you claim, you do not need a spiritual physician.  However on the other hand, these tax-gathers and also why you call “these sinners,” the ones that you declare to be “spiritually sick” are the ones who are self-confessing sinners who need God’s way of salvation presented to them.  These are the ones who are seeking the “spiritual physician,” and that is the reason that I am ministering to them.

 

            Now as we look at this from a logical perspective the analogy is very simple.  A physician is expected to go among people who are sick, and so that means a forgiver should be expected to go among those who are sinful, especially those who claim to be sinful, to which Matthew was certainly one of them.  MacArthur writes “What sort of doctor would spend all his time with healthy people and refuse to associate with those who are sick? ‘Are you doctors,’ He implied to the Pharisees, ‘who diagnose but have not desire to cure?  Will you tell a person what his disease is and then refuse to give him medicine for it?’  What an indictment of their self-righteous hard-heartedness!  Those whom they diagnosed as sinful, they were quite willing to let remain sinful.”

 

            Later on in the gospel of Matthew and in chapter 23:23 we read “"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.” 

 

            We have to wonder how it was that the Pharisees had missed or perhaps had missed God’s wonderful and merciful declarations like the one from Exodus 13:26 which state “I, the Lord, am your healer.”  How is it that they could neglect, and even resent, the healing of those whom God Himself desired to heal?  These ones, that is the Pharisees are the ones who claimed to be well are proving that they are the sickest of all.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Humility is something that the Pharisees never had, and something that I always desire to have.  I have to say living in this human body sometimes makes sinful things easy to do, and lacking humility is one of them from time to time, and it has been my desire since I became a believer not to act like the Pharisees.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am praying for a few more people to come to our extra prayer meeting this evening.

 

5/19/2021 11:03 AM

 

           

The Negative Response (Matt. 9:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/18/2021 11:10 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  “The Negative Response”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 9:11

 

            Message of the verse:  “11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?’”

 

            I suppose that what we are looking at in today’s SD is typical of the Pharisees who have been against what the Messiah has been doing since He came on the scene.  I want to stress that there is a great deal of difference between the Pharisees’ traditions and what was in the Old Testament that they were reading.  At the end of the New Testament we read that those who change what is written will be in grave trouble and that is exactly what the Pharisees were doing as their traditions were more important to them than what the Bible has to say.  Why would one want to change what God has said?  I suppose they do it to make themselves more comfortable knowing that they can’t follow what God has to say so they change it to their own liking.  “"For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20).

 

            I think that perhaps the Pharisees were also upset because Jesus never sat down to eat with them like He did with the people who really needed Him.  MacArthur adds “If He were really a man of God, they reasoned, why had He not given a banquet for them, the exemplars and self-appointed custodians of religious purity?”

 

            As we read this verse we can see that the Pharisees did not confront Jesus head-on but they cornered His disciples.  The question that they asked Jesus disciples was “Why is your Teacher eating with tax collectors and sinners?”  All I can say is that these men surely thought too much of themselves, something that Paul warns of in Romans 12:3 “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”  Now this verse is sandwiched between the very famous first and second verses of Romans 12:1-2 and then the verses that go on to talk about Spiritual gifts. Paul is saying to first of all give yourself to the Lord as a spiritual sacrifice, and then don’t think to highly of yourselves for he then goes on to say that you all have different spiritual gifts which come from the Holy Spirit and that these gifts are just that gifts as you did nothing on your own to earn or receive them so don’t get big-headed about them, and this is exactly what the Pharisees were doing, but they were doing it because they thought on their own that they were better than the ones who were eating with Jesus at this time.

           

            I have to remind you that this is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry that the Pharisees were getting on Him, and it will only get worse as Jesus’ ministry continues.  Now as we look back at what Jesus had been doing, things that Matthew points out were what the Messiah was prophesied to be doing, things that will happen in the Kingdom which is what Matthew’s gospel is talking about, that is the King and His Kingdom.  All the Pharisees would have to do is to look at what Jesus was doing, to check things from the OT to see that what He was doing was what He was suppose to be doing, but even if they would have read about this in the OT they still would have been blinded because of their own egos and traditions.

 

            MacArthur concludes his comments on this section:  “The Pharisees did not think they needed God’s forgiveness and were certain that tax-gatherers and sinners did not deserve it.  Their ‘ministry’ was not to help but to judge, not to restore but to condemn.  They wanted no part of a Man who contrarily, (defiantly) condemned their self-righteousness and offered forgiveness to obvious sinners.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Not to think more highly of myself than I should.  “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”  Sometimes you have to just be reminded that all that you can do for the cause of Christ has been given to you through the work of the Holy Spirit to do from eternity past “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To do the things that God has prepared me to do beforehand so that I will walk in them.

 

5/18/2021 11:38 AM

 

PT-4 "The Possitive Response" (Matt. 9:9-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/17/2021 10:09 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  “PT-4 “The Positive Response”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 9:9-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him. 10 Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.”

 

            One of the things that Matthew did was typical of what new believers do, and that is to begin to tell others of the wonderful experience that they have had understanding that their sins were forgiven and that they now have a new life in Jesus Christ.  I certainly can relate to this as the same happened to me when I became a new believer in Jesus Christ back in January of 1974, and actually I am still ready to “always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15).  Now we have mentioned that Matthew was a very humble person and as we look at what verse ten is talking about in Mark 2:15 and Luke 5:29 we can see that this dinner party was set up by Matthew bringing many of his “sinful” friends to the dinner so that they too would be able to see and hear Jesus. This gathering no doubt included the local gabbai of Capernaum and perhaps even some fellow mokhes that perhaps came from neighboring towns.  The “sinners” doubtlessly included robbers, murderers, drunkards, and prostitutes, and probably other irreligious and ungodly people too.  This dinner party brought in the riffraff of the area and must have been intrigued and touched by the prospect of being able to dine with Jesus who as we have mentioned made His home there so people would have heard about His great miracles.

 

            MacArthur adds “It was probably because of this banquet that Jesus first gained the reputation among His opponents as “a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners’ (Matt. 11:19; cf. Luke 15:2).  Most religious Jews, and especially the proud and self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, could not conceive of any Jew socializing with such a group of ‘sinners’ unless he were one of their own kind.

 

            “The Jews of Jesus’ day used the term hamartoloi (‘sinners’) almost as a technical term for people who had no concern or respect either for the Mosaic law or rabbinic people.  Yet it was some of these that ‘Jesus and His disciples’ joined at the banquet in Matthew’s house.”

 

            The story of Matthew’s conversion is very similar to that of Zaccheus’ conversion as both of these men were despised “sinful” tax collectors.  Zaccheus’ story is found in Luke 19 which was right near the end of our Lord’s ministry, while Matthew’s conversion was near the beginning of our Lord’s ministry.  Jesus is truly a friend of sinners for as mentioned everyone on this planet is a sinner, born that way and act that way.

 

            MacArthur concludes this rather long section from his commentary by writing “We are not told what the group of ‘tax-gatherers and sinners’ though of Jesus either before or after the meal, but their response to Him was at least positive enough to eat with Him and listen to Him.  The main point of the incident, however—and what most offended the Pharisees—was not that the tax-gatherers and sinners’ were willing to associate with Jesus but that Jesus was willing to associate with them.”

 

            Lord willing we will move from the positive response to the negative response in our next SD that will cover verse eleven of this ninth chapter of Matthew.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  ““always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15).

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  ““always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15).

 

5/17/2021 10:35 AM

 

PT-3 "The Positive Response" (Matt. 9:9-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/16/2021 11:00 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-3 “The Positive Response”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 9:9-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him. 10 Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.”

 

            We have been talking about tax-collectors and we have been looking at the different Greek words that Edersheim says these men were.  First “gabbai”, and then “mokhes” and then the great “mokhes” and the small “mokhes,” of which Matthew obviously was, as he was the one who stood in the tax-collectors booth collecting money from the Jews, the Jews that hated him.  I have to believe that the Spirit of God had been working in the life of Matthew before Jesus came to him that day and said “follow Me!”  MacArthur writes “It was clear to early readers of Matthew’s gospel, as it was clear to those who witnessed this amazing encounter, that Jesus extended His forgiveness even to the outcasts of society.”  Remember how Jesus told the man on the stretcher that his sins were forgiven, but we don’t know exactly what sins he had committed in order to be forgiven by Jesus, of course other than being born a sinner and probably sin was what got him into trouble that caused him to be on that mat for 38 years.  However Matthew’s sins were far more evident than that man’s were at least in the eyes of the Jews. 

 

            I want to say that the call that Jesus gave to Matthew was similar to the call that the Holy Spirit gives to all sinners to follow Jesus as their Savior and Lord, as it is what we call an effectual call, a call that no person can say no to.  I remember that call that the Spirit of God gave to me those many years ago, and looking back on it makes it easier for me to understand more about it than when I was going through it, and that is because I know more about it.  Another thing that I believe is that Matthew was well aquainted with the ministry of Jesus just because Jesus had made His headquarters there in the very town that Matthew was working at. 

 

            MacArthur writes “Because of his modesty, Matthew does not mention the fact, but Luke tells us that the moment Jesus called him, Matthew ‘left everything behind, and rose and began to follow Him’ (Luke 5:28).  That simple call by Jesus was more than enough reason for Matthew to turn his back on everything he was and possessed.  Because of his position as an agent of Rome, he knew that once he forsook his post he would never be able to return to it.  He knew the cost and willingly paid it.  Of all the disciples, Matthew doubtlessly made the greatest sacrifice of material possessions; yet he himself makes no mention of it.  He felt with Paul that ‘whatever things we gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ’ (Phil. 3:7).

 

            “When a person is truly converted, he cannot leave his old life fast enough.  His old habits, standards, and practices no longer appeal to him and he gladly longs to leave them behind.  Edersheim says of Matthew, ‘He said not a word, for his soul was in the speechless surprise of unexpected grace.’  Far from being depressed about what he left behind, his heart overflowed with joy.  He lost a career but gained a destiny, lost his material possessions but gained a spiritual fortune, lost his temporal security but gained eternal life.”

 

            We will end with a quotation from Amy Carmichael whose poem says the following

 

“I hear Him call, ‘Come, follow’;

That was all!

My gold grew dim.

My heart went after Him.

I rose and followed,

That was all.

Would you not follow,

If you heard Him call?”

 

            I can truly understand about leaving the old life, although it came in slower stages, but in my heart it came very fast.

 

5/16/2021 11:23 PM

 

           

PT-2 "The Positive Response" (Matt. 9:9-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/15/2021 10:27 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  PT-2 “The Positive Response”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 9:9-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him. 10 Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.”

 

            Tax collectors in Jesus’ day were hated people as we have talked about.  Many of them would accept bribes from the wealthy to reduce and falsify their taxes and would then exact proportionately from the middle and lower classes, and this made them even more hated.  The tax-collectors of Jesus’ day became wealthy, another reason why they were hated.

 

            We know that the Jews of Jesus’ day were living in land that was not controlled by them, but by the Romans, and this caused many problems for them.  When it came to taxes they felt that the only taxes they should pay was what was spoken of in the Law of Moses and that the taxes imposed on them from Rome were unholy, and this also caused much trouble.

 

            Now we get into the part of this SD that I promised that we would get to yesterday and that is that I want to give various quotes from John MacArthur’s commentary where he speaks of the noted Jewish scholar Alfred Edersheim.  “Edersheim reports that a Jewish publican was barred from the synagogue and was forbidden to have any religious or social contact with his fellow Jews.  He was ranked with the unclean animals, which a devout Jew would not so much as touch.  He was in the class of swine, and because he was held to be a traitor and a congenital liar, he was ranked with robbers and murders and was forbidden to give testimony in any Jewish court.”

 

            We go on with more comments from Edersheim who “states that there were two categories of publican.  The first, whom the Jews called gabbai, collected general taxes, which included those on land and other property, those on income, and those referred to as poll, or registration, taxes.  The basic land tax (the amount paid to Rome) was a tenth of one’s grain and a fifth of one’s fruit and wine.  Income tax amounted to 1 percent of one’s earnings, and the amount of the poll tax varied.

 

            “The second type of tax collector was called a mokhes, who collected a wide variety of use taxes—taxes similar to our import duties, tollway fees, boat docking fees, business license fees, and the like.  The mokhes had almost unlimited latitude in their taxing powers and could attach a tax to virtually any article or activity.  They could, for instance, levy a tax on a person’s boat; on the fish he caught with it, and on the dock where he unloaded it.  They could tax a traveler’s donkey, his slaves and servants, and his goods.  They had authority to open private letters to see if a taxable business of some sort might be related to the correspondence.

 

            “There were two kinds of mokhes.  One kind, called the treat mokhes, hired other men to collect taxes for them, and by virtue of partial anonymity, protected at least some of their reputation among their fellow countrymen.  The other kind, called small mokhes, did their own assessing and collecting and therefore were in constant contact with members of the community as well as with all travelers who passed their way.  The gabbai were despised, the great mokhes were more despised, and the small mokhes were despised most.”   Now you by this time have probably all figured out what class Matthew was in and we will look more in detail about him in our next SD.

 

5/15/2021 10:51 AM