TRIBUTE
a tax imposed by a king on his subjects (2-Sam 20:24; 1-Kings 4:6; Rom. 13:6). In Matt. 17:24 the word denotes the temple rate (the "didrachma," the "half-shekel," as rendered by the R.V.) which was required to be paid for the support of the temple by every Jew above twenty years of age (Exo 30:12; 2-Kings 12:4; 2-Chr 24:6, 2-Chr 24: 9). It was not a civil but a religious tax. In Matt. 22:17, Ma......