"Show me the coin [used for paying the taxes]. [Note: This coin was equivalent to one day of a farm laborer's pay, or about $60-$84 in 1994]. Whose image and inscription are on this coin?" And they answered Him, "Caesar's."

He replied, "Then pay to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and pay to God the things that belong to God."

So, He said, "A certain distinguished gentleman went to a distant country to receive a royal appointment [i.e., as king over a territory] and then return. [Note: This is the only parable of Jesus' that correlates with a known incident; that of Herod's son Archelaus going to Rome to receive from Caesar Augustus an appointment to rule over Judea, Samaria and Idumaea in

Now it happened in those days that a decree was sent out from Caesar Augustus [the Emperor of the Roman Empire] requiring [people from] the whole empire to be registered [i.e., for taxation purposes].

Now it was the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was ruler of Galilee, his brother Philip was ruler of the regions of Ituraea and Trachonitus [Note: These two men were sons of Herod the Great (See Matt. 2:1) and ruled over provinces east of the Jordan River] and Lysanias was ruler of Abilene [Note: This was a province just north of the two previously mentioned ones].

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"

They began bringing accusations against Him, saying, "We discovered this man misleading the people of our nation and telling them not to pay taxes to Caesar, and claiming that he himself was the Messiah, a king!"

So, He left the synagogue and entered Simon's [i.e., Peter's] house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was [in bed] stricken with a high fever. And they [i.e., Andrew, James and John, besides Peter. See Mark 1:29] begged Him [to do something] for her.

But even Moses showed that dead people would be raised in the incident about the bush [Ex. 3:6], where he called the Lord, 'Abraham's God, and Isaac's God, and Jacob's God.'