Matthew 17:23

Verse 23. They that received the didrachmas, (τα διδραχμα) in value about fifteen-pence of our money. Witham.—A tax, according to some, laid on every person who was twenty years of age, for the service of the temple. See Exod. 30. S. Chrysostom thinks it was paid for the first-born only, whom the Lord would have redeemed for the first-born of the Egyptians, whom he slew. Others think it was a tribute paid to the Romans, as Christ, in verse 24, seems to insinuate, by mentioning the kings of the earth; and the Jews were tributary to them at this time. In verse 24, the evangelist uses the word Κηνσος, taken from the Latin census, or tax.