14
Kaivsaro" Kaivsari kai; ta; tou` qeou` tw`/ qew`/
." He cleverly spins their trap back onto their
laps while at the same time communicating a brief but profound principle. Giving political
rulers their due is incidental, just as money is of no true value to the righteous.
49
Coins
may have Caesar's image, but all humanity bears the image of God, and since the image
marks them out to be His procession, they ought to give to God all that is His, that is, true
worship and the worshipper heart, soul, and mind.
50
Matthew did not record a counter-
response from the Pharisees; they silently depart, but the listening crowds are
"
ejqauvmasan
" (amazed).
The rhetorical shape of this question regarding taxes and the other three questions
raised in the rest of the Temple discourse resembles the pattern of questioning described
in the Talmud.
51
A pattern of rabbinical "forensic interrogation"
52
was employed for testing
a rabbi's acumen. It was based on twelve questions of four types. One type consisted of
questions of a "scientific nature," that is, which were halachic questions about the
application of the Torah to specific situations. Another type was called haggadaic
questions, which concerned supposed contradictions in the non-halachic parts of
Scripture. Still another type was deemed "nonsense" questions, which were designed to
rattle and ridicule a scholar and his interpretations of the Scriptures. Finally, one type
centered on questions about "principles of conduct," which dealt with theoretical principles
in the Torah, that is, issues larger than questions of a particular textual or "scientific"
nature.
53
When compared to Matthew 22:15-46, the scheme of four types of questions fits
the historical narrative of rhetorical engagement. The Pharisees asked a halachic-
scientific questions: "Is it lawful to . . . ?" (22:17). The Sadducees ask a nonsense
49
Matt 6:19-21, 25-33.
50
Bock, 329.
51
David Daube, The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (New York: Arno Press, 1973), 158-69
and "Rabbinic Methods of Interpretation and Hellenistic Rhetoric," Hebrew Union College Annual 22
(1949):239-64; Bruce Malina and J. Neyrey, Calling Jesus Names: The Social Value of Labels in Matthew
(Sonoma, CA: Polebridge Press, 1988), 73-74.
52
David T. Owen-Ball, "Rabbinic Rhetoric and the Tribute Passage (Mt. 22:15-22; Mk. 12:13-17; Lk.
20:20-26)." Novum Testamentum 35 (1993): 4.
53
Neyrey, 47.