Why Was There a COIN in the Fish's Mouth? The Hebrew Word Behind Matthew 17

Why did Jesus tell Peter to find a coin in the fish's mouth, in the story of Peter and the temple tax in Matthew 17:27? The tax Peter was asked about goes back to one Hebrew word in Exodus 30, kofer, a ransom for the soul, and once you see it, this small miracle in Capernaum reads very differently. In this Bible study we start at Peter's door, where the collectors ask whether his master pays, and Peter answers with a single word: yes. We look at the Greek word didrachma, the double drachma, which appears in only one verse of the New Testament and shows that this was not Caesar's tribute but the half shekel paid to the house of God. From there we go back to Exodus chapter 30, where the half shekel is called a ransom for the soul, the Hebrew word kofer, and we see how that ransom silver became the foundation sockets of the tabernacle. You will learn how the temple tax worked in the time of Jesus from the Mishnah tractate Shekalim, why some priests claimed they were exempt, and what the old King James word "prevented" really means in verse 25. We walk through Jesus' question about kings and their sons, why he paid a tax he did not owe, and why he paid it "lest we should offend them." Then we come to the coin itself: a silver stater worth exactly 4 drachmas, enough for two men, given in Jesus' own words "for me and thee," and how that one coin points ahead to the ransom for many in Matthew chapter 20, verse 28. 00:00 Why a coin in a fish 01:22 The collectors at Capernaum 02:44 The double drachma 04:12 A ransom for the soul 06:16 The temple tax in Jesus' day 08:13 Jesus went before Peter 10:24 Peter's yes at the door 12:35 Lest we offend them 15:02 One hook, one fish 17:19 The silver stater of Tyre 19:25 A ransom for many 25:48 What Peter teaches us Sources: The King James Version (1611); Mishnah, tractate Shekalim (including the words of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai); Josephus, Antiquities 18 and The Jewish War 7; the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q159); the Septuagint. Did you ever notice that the coin covered Peter as well as Jesus? Tell us in the comments what stood out to you in this passage, and subscribe for more studies that open the original words behind the stories you already know.