What Does Matthew 17:24 Mean in the King James?
And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The collectors’ question turns a payment into a test of whose identity Peter represents.
THE MEANING
The question reaches you through the place you stand in relation to another: is the teacher you follow meeting what is expected? A demand for payment can carry a second test beneath its words, whether belonging to someone also means being counted under the same obligation.
THE ROOT
τελεῖ
telei
GROWS FROM
τελ
tel
To complete, fulfill, or bring something to its end.
The verb rendered “pay” belongs to a word family centered on completion and reaching an end. The question therefore carries the sense of whether the teacher is fulfilling what is due, as well as whether he is handing over money.
ALSO GROWS
telos: End, outcome, or goal.
τέλος
It shows the family’s sense of something brought to its conclusion, giving “pay” the added shade of completing what is owed.
teleios: Complete or mature.
τέλειος
This branch carries the same idea of completion, revealing a family of words concerned with something brought to its full measure.
THE PATTERN
An ordinary levy can become a public test of whose authority and belonging a person represents.
This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.THE THREAD
Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.The collectors ask whether the teacher pays; this answer shifts attention from the charge to whether those who belong are children or strangers. The question turns on belonging, not only on the coin.
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