{"id":562,"date":"2015-02-04T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=562"},"modified":"2015-02-01T21:40:03","modified_gmt":"2015-02-01T21:40:03","slug":"matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-cultural-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-cultural-commentary.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 9:9-13; The Calling of Matthew (Cultural Commentary)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why all the hatred toward \u201ctax collectors\u201d in Jesus day? Sure, nobody really likes paying taxes, but everybody does it anyway. So why were tax collectors so universally despised?<\/p>\n

Tax collectors in that time were so reviled that their occupation (tel\u014dn\u0113s<\/em> in Greek) became synonymous with the word \u201csinner\u201d (see Matthew 9:10-11). In fact, the simple act of eating a meal with a tax collector like Matthew enraged the religious elite of that day. Why? There were two main reasons:<\/p>\n

1) During the time of Christ, Jewish tax collectors were traitors to the nation of Israel<\/em>. Living in God\u2019s Promised Land under the occupation of the Roman army was onerous to nearly all Jewish people. Tax collectors, though, not only accepted that circumstance, they embraced it, extorting money from their fellow citizens to turn it over to the oppressive Roman government. They were collaborators with the enemy and even worse, aides to godless, unclean Gentiles. Pastor Chuck Swindoll explains, \u201cTax collectors had betrayed their people, rejected their heritage, despised their temple, and renounced their God. Tax collectors had sold themselves to foreigners, which put them on the same level as shameless harlots.\u201d<\/p>\n

2) During the time of Christ, tax collectors were thieves and abusers of people<\/em>. The Roman government used a system of \u201ctax farming\u201d to collect monies from its conquered peoples. An entrepreneur would \u201cbuy\u201d the obligation to pay taxes for a certain region, then would strong-arm people into overpaying their tax obligations to the state. The entrepreneur would pay the monthly quota owed to Rome, and then pocket the rest to amass personal wealth. These tax collectors literally had a license to steal\u2014and they used (abused!) that power freely.<\/p>\n

In that context, it\u2019s hard to say which was more astounding: that Jesus would dare to ask a tax collector (traitor! sinner! thief! abuser!) to be his disciple\u2014or that a reprobate tax collector would actually follow Jesus\u2019 call.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[SLU, 135; ELB, 269]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n

About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why all the hatred toward \u201ctax collectors\u201d in Jesus day? Sure, nobody really likes paying taxes, but everybody does it anyway. So why were tax collectors so universally despised? Tax collectors in that time were so reviled that their occupation (tel\u014dn\u0113s in Greek) became synonymous with the word \u201csinner\u201d (see Matthew 9:10-11). In fact, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[302,235,234],"class_list":["post-562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culturalcommentary","category-matthew","tag-matthew","tag-rome","tag-tax-collectors"],"yoast_head":"\nMatthew 9:9-13; The Calling of Matthew (Cultural Commentary) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-cultural-commentary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 9:9-13; The Calling of Matthew (Cultural Commentary) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why all the hatred toward \u201ctax collectors\u201d in Jesus day? Sure, nobody really likes paying taxes, but everybody does it anyway. So why were tax collectors so universally despised? Tax collectors in that time were so reviled that their occupation (tel\u014dn\u0113s in Greek) became synonymous with the word \u201csinner\u201d (see Matthew 9:10-11). 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Sure, nobody really likes paying taxes, but everybody does it anyway. So why were tax collectors so universally despised? Tax collectors in that time were so reviled that their occupation (tel\u014dn\u0113s in Greek) became synonymous with the word \u201csinner\u201d (see Matthew 9:10-11). 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