Why did the Jews in Palestine dislike paying taxes so much?
• The first thing is that the tax collectors mentioned in the gospels were not collecting taxes for the Jewish state, but for the Roman Empire. • Their taxes were not going to support a Jewish cause, or Jewish society, or to help the nation of Israel–they were supporting a gentile government and occupation force. • It is very difficult for us to understand how offensive it was to Jewish people to support a gentile empire. • Their intense desire was for Rome to leave them alone, to get their troops out of their country, and to let them govern Israel as they wished. • Jewish law always had been very generous in Jews helping Jews, and in Jewish society taking care of its own. • Consider just the first 11 verses of Deuteronomy 15. Deuteronomy 15:1-11, “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’
