In Jesus’ day, the Roman Empire subjugated the nation of Israel as a foreign, imperial power. Consequently, the Romans extracted taxes from the Jewish people. In their historical context, these taxes weren’t similar to modern day taxes, which pay for education, roads, and other public services. These taxes went directly to Rome—the occupying empire dominating Israel. In other words, the Jewish people were paying their oppressors to oppress them!
How did the Romans collect taxes? The Romans formed “joint-stock companies,”[1] where they would buy certain Jewish provinces for periods of five years. These Roman businessmen would employ local Jewish men to collect the taxes from these territories. The tax collectors would then tax imports, exports, bridge-tolls, road-money, town-dues, and much more.[2] The highest bidder would win the territory, and consequently, the tax collectors would skim money off the top for themselves.
What were the methods of the tax collectors? These methods were unethical to say the least. For one, these tax collectors would harass people wherever they could, and they would tax them on the spot. So, even if a different tax collector shook you down from money up the road, you could be taxed again by another collector just hours or minutes later! Second, they would also place an inflated and “fictitious value on property or income”[3] in order to get a higher percentage of tax. Third, they would give loans to people who couldn’t pay the tax, and then charge high interest on this “private debt.”[4]
What options did the Jewish people have? In short, none. These tax collectors were backed by the authority of the Roman Empire, and they were accompanied by Roman soldiers. Furthermore, even if a Jewish person wanted to appeal to a judge for unjust tax collecting, this was of no use, because the judges “were the direct beneficiaries by the revenue.”[5] In other words, even the judges themselves were bribed!
How did the Jewish people treat tax collectors? The only recourse that the Jewish people had was to ostracize these wicked people.
- The Babylonian Talmud placed tax collectors alongside “murderers and robbers” (Baba Qama 113a; Nedarim 3.4).
- The rabbis taught that tax collectors were disqualified witnesses in court, societal outcasts, and utter disgraces to their own family (see Sanhedrin, 25b).
- The rabbis excommunicated tax collectors from the synagogue ( Nedarim 3.4).
- Tax collectors weren’t allowed to exchange their money at the Temple treasury ( Baba Qamma 10.1).
- The rabbis even considered it lawful to lie in almost any conceivable way to avoid paying tax collectors ( Nedarim 27, 28a).
Consequently, no one would take this job, unless they were already a low-life, criminal, or loser…
This is why it is so scandalous to see Jesus pick Matthew (a tax collector!) as one of his closest disciples. It’s hard to compare this to someone today. It would be like Billy Graham hiring a man from a Colombian drug cartel! This was so scandalous that the Jewish skeptic Celsus actually used this as “evidence” against Jesus, because Jesus had scum like Matthew for disciples (Origen, Contra Celsum 1.62; 2.46).
Further Reading
Alfred Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish social life in the days of Christ (London: The Religious Tract Society), Chapter Four.
[1] Alfred Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish social life in the days of Christ (London: The Religious Tract Society), p. 55.
[2] Alfred Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish social life in the days of Christ (London: The Religious Tract Society), p.55.
[3] Alfred Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish social life in the days of Christ (London: The Religious Tract Society), p.56.
[4] Alfred Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish social life in the days of Christ (London: The Religious Tract Society), p.56.
[5] Alfred Edersheim, Sketches of Jewish social life in the days of Christ (London: The Religious Tract Society), p.56.