Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TRIBUTE

A tax or levy imposed by a sovereign, usually upon a conquered people. It involved monetary tax or servitude, or both. Tribute (Heb. mas; Gk. phóros, kḗnsos) might be paid to foreign kings, kings of Israel, or to the ultimate king, Yahweh.

Issachar is said to be a tribe under tribute (Gen. 49:15; Heb. ʿōḇēḏ; NRSV “forced labor”). There is no indication that Issachar’s “tribute” involved a monetary obligation; in this instance servitude is probably intended, either to a foreign power or their own countrymen. Although Solomon seems to have used primarily foreigners for his building projects (1 Kgs. 9:20-21 = 2 Chr. 8:7-8), at one point he was using 30 thousand Israelites (1 Kgs. 5:13-14).

The Israelites paid monetary tribute to Moab (Judg. 3:15-18), but later David extracted tribute from Moab (2 Sam. 8:2) and Syria (v. 6). Solomon received tribute and service from “all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, even to the border of Egypt” (1 Kgs. 4:21[MT 5:1]). The Philistines brought silver as tribute to Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 17:11), but Jehoahaz was forced to pay tribute to Egypt (2 Kgs. 23:33). The tribute the postexilic Jews were required to pay to the Persian Empire was an issue in opposition to the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra 4:13, 20; 6:8; cf. Neh. 5:4); temple personnel were exempt (7:24). Tribute to Yahweh included spoils of war (Num. 31:28, 37-38, 40) and freewill offerings of whatever Yahweh had given (Deut. 16:10).

Most references to tribute in the NT regard the propriety of paying monetary tribute to Caesar (Matt. 22:17, 19; Mark 12:14; Luke 20:22; cf. 23:2; Rom. 13:6-7). Jesus paid tribute in the form of the temple tax (Matt. 17:24-25).

Joe E. Lunceford

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TRIBUTE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)