Taxed

With the exception of years like this one in which April 15 falls outside of the five-day work week, the ides of April is Tax Day, the deadline to file one’s tax return and pay up. The history of taxation follows the history of civilization and naturally finds its way into the histories of Israel and the church. While no one seems to be overjoyed to pay taxes, the will of God regarding them restrain his people from ignoring the edict of the state. And so we pay … and pay … and pay.

Discussion

I. Old Testament History of Taxation

A. Joseph’s Flat Tax

1. the biography of Joseph is a long and complicated one, one that takes him from his family’s land into Egyptian slavery and miraculously leads to a place next to Pharaoh in authority over the entire realm

2. it was Joseph’s dream interpretations that caught the attention of the Egyptian monarch, especially as a great famine approached unbeknownst to anyone else on Earth (Genesis 41:25-32)

a. Joseph’s proposal is certainly an expedient one, for he recommends that Pharaoh impose a flat 20 percent tax upon his subjects in preparation for the coming hardship (Genesis 41:33-36)

b. by means of his miraculous foresight and very fair flat tax, Egypt is saved and becomes the breadbasket of the Middle East

3. of course, what also happens is that the government takes control of everything that the people own, enriching Pharaoh and impressing him with Joseph, but leaving the people dependent (Genesis 47:20-26)

a. the flat tax endured and even Joseph’s estranged family came to find food, thus being not only reunited with their son and brother, but also saved from starvation by divine providence

b. it is hard to accept but the survival of Israel and the blood line of Christ can be attributed to a dream and a tax

B. Presents to the King

1. four centuries later, the Hebrews become a nomadic community with no regular system of bureaucratic taxation to speak of, except that presents were sometimes voluntarily given to more powerful entities in order to buy protection or some other kind of advantage (see Second Kings 16:8, 17:4)

a. Moses, however, to levy a tabernacle tax early in the journey from Egypt to Canaan (Exodus 30:11-16)

b. whenever faithfulness to God was Israel’s order of the day, this tax was acceptable; when Joash decided to repair the tabernacle’s successor structure, the temple, he gathered “from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year” (Second Chronicles 24:5)

2. their patriarch, Abraham, gave to Melchizedek, “a tenth of the spoils” (see Hebrews 7:4, see Genesis 14:20) and Jacob plied his brother Esau with an enormous gift of livestock (see Genesis 32:13-21)

3. from this custom springs forth the giving of mandatory presents to the kings who would rule over Israel (First Samuel 8:10-18)

a. only rebels refused to present Saul with such presents (see First Samuel 10:27), but to Solomon, “they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life” (First Kings 4:21)

b. “Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year” (First Kings 10:25).

4. even then, tax exempt status was coveted, though, for the reward for silencing Goliath was great riches, the king’s daughter’s hand in marriage and “exemption from taxes in Israel” (First Samuel 17:25)

5. few gained such exemption and the lust for building that infected David and his son, Solomon, even more acutely, necessitated more and more taxation and forced labor (see First Kings 4:1-19)

a. it was this taxation and its accompanying forced labor that grew so severe by the end of Solomon’s administration that the people demanded of King Rehoboam a lightening of the “burdensome service” and “heavy yoke” (see First Kings 12:4)

b. Rehoboam, however, promised to tighten the noose and lost the realm in the process

c. just as Samuel prophesied, the monarchy was eating the flesh of its people (see also Micah 3:1-4)

C. Temple Tax

1. the temple tax survived into the first century and during the ministry of Christ (Matthew 17:24-27)

2. Jesus as the son of God and object of the temple had no moral obligation to pay the temple tax, which Peter surmised and the Lord confirmed, yet as an act of expediency, Jesus paid it and Peter’s as well

a. just as the king’s family was exempt from taxation, so the King of kings should have been exempted from this tax, but Jesus knew it was not worth creating the impression that he was above the law or God himself and so he complied

b. the coin in the fish’s mouth was worth the exact amount required for Jesus and Peter

3. although Jesus resented being asked to pay this tax, he did so voluntarily nonetheless, and to avoid ruining his reputation

4. now if we only had that kind of fish swimming in the Trinity!

II. New Testament History of Taxation

A. Census

1. every ten years, Americans participate in a national census, which not only counts our citizens, but also determines the allocation of congressional seats and the redistribution of tax collections

2. in the Roman empire of the Lord’s time, censuses were also conducted with taxes in mind and the taxes were quite heavy

3. during Christ’s childhood, a man named Judas of Galilee tried to lead the Jews in a revolt against Caesar’s taxation and a bloody uprising followed (Acts 5:37)

B. Tribute to Caesar

1. it was not only the heaviness of the taxation that rubbed the Jews raw, but also the fact that their hard-earned drachmas were being sent to Rome to enrich a hated occupational government; the people chafed at the notion of paying tribute to such a heathen and buying the very weapons that kept them under his thumb, but they paid it for the most part

2. this was the issue of the early first century in Judea and one that fired the passions of the Zealots and divided the Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians from one another

3. it also provided the critics of Jesus what they thought would be the horns of a dilemma (Mark 12:13-17)

a. they hoped their insincere flattery would throw him off guard and entice him to take an extreme position, which he might utter privately, but never publicly

b. he saw through their guile, however, and gave the perfect answer–as the money bore the inscription and image of Caesar, it was nothing to trade it with him

C. Rendering to God’s Governmental Ministers

1. and this is the attitude that survives in the apostles’ doctrine as well (Romans 13:1-7)

2. Christians pay taxes to Caesar, Austin, Washington, D.C., London, Paris and Berlin, for government is God’s minister attending to civil order among mankind–protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty, whether by grants or fines or even capital punishment

3. but shouldn’t there be an exemption from paying taxes to an immoral authority?

a. Americans pay taxes to a government that supports many things Christians find objectionable, including some abortions, excessive welfare programs and even wars

b. but if Jesus and the apostles could conscientiously pay taxes to Rome, paying them to Austin or Washington is nothing in comparison

D. Tax Collectors

1. still, so unpopular was Roman taxation and the Jewish citizens who were employed in its collection that tax collectors, or publicans, became synonyms for wickedness, ostracism and greed

2. in the sermon on the mount, Jesus challenged his disciples to love their enemies, for even tax collectors love those who love them (see Matthew 5:47-48)

3. even tax collectors rise to the lowest levels of humanity, but the amazing thing about Christ’s ministry was that tax collectors were drawn into it, along with prostitutes and other notorious sinners, rather than the religious establishment among the denominations and the Sanhedrin (Matthew 9:9-13)

a. Matthew joins the band of apostles alongside of Simon the Zealot, a man like Judas of Galilee, part of a party that tried to terrorize the Romans and their Jewish stewards, proving that faith can rise above politics

b. indeed, taxation is still a thorny subject in America, to a great degree determining party affiliations and even friendships, but faith in Christ can rise above every opinion

4. the tax collectors had been strangely attracted to the ministry of the gospel even before Jesus entered it (Luke 3:7-13)

a. Jesus used them to rebuke others, saying, “tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him” (Matthew 21:31-32)

b. Jesus was recognized as a friend of tax collectors and sinners (see Luke 7:34) but really he was their spiritual physician, something that the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees needed just as much, except they were too blind to realize it (Luke 18:9-17)

5. “And when all the people heard [Jesus], even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John” (Luke 7:29).

a. greed was practically a prerequisite for tax collecting in that day, because there was so much graft and intimidation as the publicans levied tariffs on everything that moved

b. Matthew was a small-time publican, but Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector (Luke 19:1-10)

Conclusion

April 15 is America’s deadline. Pay or else! We have an obligation to render unto our Caesar that is both moral and legal, and no amount of constitutional criticism or analysis of the government expenditures will alter that.

1. What tax rate did Joseph recommend?
2. What was the result for the government?
3. How were presents for the king like a tax?
4. Describe the temple tax Jesus paid.
5. Where did Jesus stand on paying Roman taxes?
6. What is the implication for paying our taxes?
7. How did Jesus reach out to tax collectors?