The enemies of Jesus found many grounds for criticising him, but one of the most-used was based upon the company which he kept. Three times1 we are told he defended himself against the charge of consorting with social outcasts, and in view of the comparatively few incidents in the life of Jesus that we know, we can assume that the charge was made on other occasions.
The act of this nature which, however, would give most offence, was probably his call of Matthew, the publican. The publicans, as a class, were socially dead, and probably the most hated of all the people. This hatred arose from their occupation. It was the practice of the Imperial Roman Government to farm out the revenues of subject provinces to influential men resident there. These lessees received no wages, but were expected to contribute a fixed amount annually to the Imperial exchequer. Anything they could extort over the sum specified was theirs; any deficiency they had to make good. These persons did not collect their taxes themselves, but employed agents in the various districts of their province. Already charged with the collection of an extortionate amount, these minions wanted their own pickings too. Their rapacity brought upon them the hatred of the populace, and they were regarded as “licensed robbers”; “wild beasts in human shape”. One writer wrote ironically concerning certain tax-gatherers who allowed a merchant to keep a necklace. “After this,” he said, “will not wolves drop lambs from their mouths, and lions let fawns go free from their teeth to their dams, when even a tax-gatherer has let go such a prize?” Tacitus, the Roman historian, explains how he once saw a monument “To a good publican”.
The hatred which was felt for the local tax-gatherers in the remainder of the Roman Empire was especially hot in Palestine, where the proud Jews abominated Rome, both on patriotic and religious grounds. Assassins, robbers and tax-gatherers were classed together by the Rabbis.
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Author: F. E. Mitchell
Keywords: Matthew, tax collector, tax, taxes, publican, publican and sinner, Matthew tax collector, paying taxes, collecting taxes, head tax, poll tax, St. Matthew, Saint Matthew, Levi, apostle Matthew, Twelve apostles, Apostles, The disciples, The disciples of Jesus, Jesus' disciples, Jesus's disciples, Twelve disciples, 12 disciples
Bible reference(s): Matthew 5:46, Matthew 5:47, Matthew 9:9, Matthew 9:10, Matthew 9:11, Matthew 10:3, Matthew 11:19, Matthew 18:17, Matthew 21:31, Matthew 21:32, Mark 2:14, Mark 2:15, Mark 2:16, Mark 3:18, Luke 2:1, Luke 2:2, Luke 2:3, Luke 2:5, Luke 3:12, Luke 5:27, Luke 5:29, Luke 5:30, Luke 6:15, Luke 7:29, Luke 7:34, Luke 15:1, Luke 18:10, Luke 18:11, Luke 18:13, Luke 19:2, Acts 1:13
Source: “Matthew,” The Testimony, Vol. 8, No. 95, November 1938, p. 443-5.
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