Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
I. Under the judges, according to the theocratic government contemplated by the law, the only
payments incumbent upon the people as of permanent obligation were the Tithes, the Firstfruits,
the Redemption-money of the first-born, and other offerings as belonging to special occasions. The
payment by each Israelite of the half-shekel as “atonement-money,” for the service of the tabernacle,
on taking the census of the people, (Exodus 30:13) does not appear to have had the character of a
recurring tax, but to have been supplementary to the freewill offerings of (Exodus 25:1-7) levied
for the one purpose of the construction of the sacred tent. In later times, indeed, after the return
from Babylon, there was an annual payment for maintaining the fabric and services of the temple;
but the fact that this begins by of a shekel, (Nehemiah 10:32) shows that till then there was no such
payment recognized as necessary. A little later the third became a half, and under the name of the
didrachma, (Matthew 17:24) was paid by every Jew, in whatever part of the world he might be
living. II. The kingdom, with centralized government and greater magnificence, involved of course,
a larger expenditure, and therefore a heavier taxation, The chief burdens appear to have been— (1)
A tithe of the produce both of the soil and of live stock. (1 Samuel 8:15,17) (2) Forced military
service for a month every year. (1 Samuel 8:12; 1 Kings 9:22; 1 Chronicles 27:1) (3) Gifts to the
king. (1 Samuel 10:27; 16:20; 17:18) (4) Import duties. (1 Kings 10:15) (5) The monopoly of
certain-branches of commerce. (1 Kings 9:28; 22:48; 10:28,29) (6) The appropriation to the king’s
use of the early crop of hay. (Amos 7:1) At times, too, in the history of both the kingdoms there
were special burdens. A tribute of fifty shekels a head had to be paid by Menahem to the Assyrian
king, (2 Kings 16:20) and under his successor Hoshea this assumed the form of an annual tribute.
(2 Kings 17:4) III. Under the Persian empire the taxes paid by the Jews were, in their broad outlines,
the same in kind as those of other subject races. The financial system which gained for Darius
Hystaspes the name of the “shopkeeper king” involved the payment by each satrap of a fixed sum
as the tribute due from his province. In Judea, as in other provinces, the inhabitants had to provide
in kind for the maintenance of the governor’s household, besides a money payment of forty shekels
a day. (Nehemiah 5:14,15) In Ezra 4:13,20; 7:24 We get a formal enumeration of the three great
branches of the revenue. The influence of Ezra secured for the whole ecclesiastical order, from the
priests down to the Nethinim, an immunity from all three (Ezra 7:24) but the burden pressed heavily
on the great body of the people. IV. Under the Egyptian and Syrian kings the taxes paid by the Jews
became yet heavier. The “farming” system of finance was adopted in its worst form. The taxes
were put up to auction. The contract sum for those of Phoenicia, Judea and Samaria had been
estimated at about 8000 talents. An unscrupulous adventurer would bid double that sum, and would
then go down to the province, and by violence and cruelty, like that of Turkish or Hindoo collectors,
squeeze out a large margin of profit for himself. V. The pressure of Roman taxation, if not absolutely
heavier, was probably more galling, as being more thorough and systematic, more distinctively a
mark of bondage. The capture of Jerusalem by Pompey was followed immediately by the imposition
of a tribute, and within a short time the sum thus taken from the resources of the country amounted
to 10,000 talents. When Judea became formally a Roman province, the whole financial system of
the empire came as a natural consequence. The taxes were systematically farmed, and the publicans
appeared as a new curse to the country. The portoria were levied at harbors, piers and the gates of
cities. (Matthew 17:24; Romans 13:7) In addition to this there was the poll-tax paid by every Jew,
and looked upon, for that reason, as the special badge of servitude. United with this, as part of the
same system, there was also, in all probability, a property tax of some kind. In addition to these
general taxes, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were subject to a special house duty about this period.
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William Smith