BEMA Episode Link: 126: Trapped by a Question
Episode Length: 44:28
Published Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2019 01:00:00 -0700
Session 3
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings see the religious leadership of both Pharisees and Sadducees attempting to trap Jesus with a series of testing questions, and witness the rabbinical brilliance of Jesus as a Jewish teacher.

Discussion Video for BEMA 126

Trapped by a Question Presentation (PDF)

The Parables by Brad H. Young (cites Flusser extensively)

The Parable of the Good Samaritan — Reed Dent, Campus Christian Fellowship

Transcript for BEMA 126

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

BEMA Episode 126: Trapped by a Question - Study Notes

Title & Source Summary

Episode: 126 - Trapped by a Question
Hosts: Marty Solomon and Brent Billings Focus: Matthew 22:15-46, with parallel passages in Luke 10:25-37 and 2 Chronicles 28

This episode examines three pivotal confrontations between Jesus and the religious leadership during His final week in Jerusalem. The religious authorities—including Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians—attempt to trap Jesus with testing questions on controversial topics: paying tribute to Caesar, the resurrection, and the greatest commandment. The episode showcases Jesus’s rabbinical brilliance as He not only escapes these traps but turns each question back on His questioners, culminating in His own challenge about the Messiah’s identity that silences all opposition.

Key Takeaways

  • The unprecedented cooperation between Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians demonstrates the intensity of their desire to trap and discredit Jesus
  • The “tribute to Caesar” question was not about taxes but about idolatry—the tribute coin required worship of Caesar as divine
  • Jesus’s answer “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” brilliantly aligns with Hillel’s position while explicitly condemning worship of Caesar
  • The debate about the greatest commandment reveals Jesus siding with Hillel’s yoke of love over Shammai’s yoke of obedience
  • The parable of the Good Samaritan pushes love beyond even Hillel’s boundaries, using a remez from 2 Chronicles 28 to make Samaritans the model of neighborly love
  • Jesus demonstrates that the Messiah must be more than merely David’s descendant, hinting at a divine nature that transcends human lineage
  • Orthopraxy (right practice) matters as much as orthodoxy (right belief)—doing the right thing is what makes someone a true neighbor

Main Concepts & Theories

The Tribute Coin Controversy

The Greek word “kensos” (translated as “tribute” in Luke) refers not to general taxes but to a specific tribute coin that served as proof of worship to Caesar. This coin featured Caesar’s image and an inscription proclaiming his divinity (such as “divine son” or “son of divine, most high God”). Purchasing this coin and offering incense at tribute temples—like the one Herod built at Omrit near Caesarea Philippi—was an act of idolatrous worship.

The great Jewish debate centered on whether faithful Jews should participate in this system:

  • Herodians: Embrace Roman culture; worship is just external motions, God knows your heart
  • Sadducees: Don’t anger Rome; political stability is paramount
  • Essenes: Withdraw completely to the desert to avoid compromise
  • Zealots: Anyone who pays tribute deserves death
  • Shammai Pharisees: This is idolatry; obedience demands refusal
  • Hillel Pharisees: God gave authority to Rome (citing Jeremiah on Nebuchadnezzar); buying the coin returns to Caesar what God already gave him

Jesus’s response follows Hillel’s reasoning but goes further by explicitly commanding: “Give Caesar his coin, but don’t you dare give him your worship.” This challenges every group present while escaping the trap.

The Question of Resurrection

The Sadducees’ question about a woman married to seven brothers reveals a fundamental theological divide. Sadducees did not believe in the bodily resurrection that Pharisees taught—they held to a more spiritual concept of afterlife. Their question attempts to show the logical absurdity of bodily resurrection.

Jesus’s response does two things:

  1. Reframes the question by explaining that marriage is not a category that applies in the resurrection
  2. Turns the trap back on them by citing Torah (which Sadducees accepted) where God calls Himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”—implying He is God of the living, thus proving resurrection from their own scriptures
The Greatest Commandment and Yokes

The question “Which is the greatest commandment?” asks about a rabbi’s hermeneutical lens or “yoke”—the interpretive framework through which they read Torah. Understanding “weight” (kavod) helps navigate conflicting commandments, as when Rahab had to choose between protecting foreigners and telling the truth.

Shammai’s yoke: Love God + Keep Sabbath (shorthand for obedience) Hillel’s yoke: Love God + Love your neighbor

Jesus clearly sides with Hillel, making love the weightiest commandment upon which “all the Law and the Prophets hang.”

The Good Samaritan: P’shat and Remez

P’shat (Surface Level): Jewish parables commonly followed a template: Priest (corrupt, does wrong), Levite (stuck in corrupt system, does wrong), Pharisee (does right). Jesus shocks His audience by replacing the Pharisee with a Samaritan—the most hated group in Jewish society.

The “who is my neighbor?” debate had clear boundaries:

  • Shammai: Only fellow Jews
  • Hillel: Jews and even Romans, but NOT Samaritans
  • Jesus: Even Samaritans—and they can be the model of righteousness

Remez (Hint/Allusion): The entire parable alludes to 2 Chronicles 28, where Samaritans defeat Judah in battle. A prophet confronts them about their treatment of prisoners, and Samaritan leaders respond by clothing the naked, giving them food and drink, healing them, putting the weak on donkeys, and returning them to Jericho. Jesus’s parable mirrors this story precisely, showing that Scripture already demonstrated Samaritans caring for Jews at Jericho.

Drash (Application): Two possible centers to the chiasm in 2 Chronicles 28:

  1. The three Samaritan names—emphasizing that those who act righteously are the true neighbors
  2. “Aren’t you also guilty?”—showing that Jews are just as sinful as any Samaritan, requiring recognition of common humanity
The Messiah Question

Jesus’s final question to the Pharisees creates an interpretive puzzle: If the Messiah is David’s son (descendant), why does David call him “Lord” in Psalm 110? This suggests the Messiah must be more than merely a human descendant of David—potentially a claim to divinity or transcendent nature.

Examples & Applications

Modern Allegiance and Idolatry

Just as first-century Jews faced the question of whether to worship Caesar, modern believers must examine what empires, systems, or ideologies demand their ultimate allegiance. The tribute coin question challenges us to consider: What receives our worship? What gets the devotion that belongs only to God? Nation, political party, economic system, social status—all may demand the worship we owe to God alone.

Rahab’s Choice and Moral Weight

When Rahab hid the Israelite spies, she violated the commandment against lying to fulfill the weightier command to protect the foreigner. She intuitively grasped kavod (weight) and ended up in the Hall of Faith (Hebrews 11). This demonstrates that rules can conflict, and discerning which commandment carries more weight in a given situation is essential to fulfilling Torah rather than abolishing it.

The WWII Analogy

Like Rahab, those who hid Jews from Nazis faced the same dilemma: lie or allow murder. Understanding the weight of commandments means protecting life takes precedence over technical honesty when the two conflict.

Orthopraxy Over Orthodoxy

The priest and Levite in the Good Samaritan parable likely had correct theology but failed in practice. They had good reasons for passing by (maintaining ritual purity for temple service), yet the Samaritan—who had “wrong” theology—demonstrated true neighborly love. This challenges religious communities to examine whether correct doctrine translates into correct action.

Pushing Beyond Comfortable Boundaries

Jesus pushes Hillel’s already progressive love ethic further by making a Samaritan the hero. This challenges listeners to identify who their “Samaritans” are—the people they consider beyond the pale of God’s love—and recognize their full humanity and capacity for righteousness.

Potential Areas for Further Exploration

  1. Tribute Temples and Archaeological Evidence: Study the archaeological remains at Omrit and other Herodian tribute temples to understand the physical context of Caesar worship

  2. Jeremiah and Nebuchadnezzar: Examine how Hillel used Jeremiah’s prophecies about Nebuchadnezzar to argue for submission to earthly authorities appointed by God

  3. Chiastic Structure in Scripture: Learn to identify chiasms in biblical texts and understand how they reveal the central message of a passage

  4. Resurrection Theology: Compare Pharisaic, Sadducean, Essene, and early Christian views of resurrection and afterlife

  5. Psalm 110 and Messianic Interpretation: Study how Psalm 110 was interpreted in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity regarding the Messiah’s identity

  6. Hillel and Shammai Debates: Investigate the eight great debates between these rabbinic schools and how they shaped first-century Judaism

  7. The Seven Noahide Laws: Explore how Jewish thought understood obligations for Gentiles and how this might relate to loving non-Jewish neighbors

  8. Greg Dronen’s Chiasm Discovery: Research scholarly work on 2 Chronicles 28’s chiastic structure and its relationship to the Good Samaritan parable

  9. David Flusser’s Work on Parables: Seek out academic resources on rabbinic parable templates and their use in Jesus’s teaching

  10. Reed Dent’s Sermon: Listen to the referenced sermon from CCF at Truman State for additional application of the Good Samaritan passage

Comprehension Questions

  1. Why was the question about paying tribute to Caesar not primarily about money but about idolatry? What made the tribute coin particularly problematic for faithful Jews?

  2. How does Jesus’s answer “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” simultaneously align with Hillel’s position and challenge every group present, including the Herodians, Sadducees, and both Shammai and Hillel Pharisees?

  3. What is the significance of the rabbinical “yoke” or hermeneutical lens, and how does Jesus’s identification of the greatest commandment reveal His alignment with Hillel over Shammai?

  4. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, what was the expected third character in the typical Jewish parable template (priest, Levite, ___), and why would Jesus’s substitution of a Samaritan have shocked His audience?

  5. How does the remez to 2 Chronicles 28 demonstrate that Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan was not an original story but a brilliant retelling of an Old Testament account? What are the key parallels between the two narratives?

Personalized Summary

This episode reveals Jesus as a master of rabbinical debate, demonstrating extraordinary wisdom in navigating the theological and political minefields of first-century Judaism. The religious authorities attempt to trap Him with questions designed to force Him into compromising positions, but Jesus consistently turns their traps back on them while advancing His teaching on love, justice, and the kingdom of God.

The tribute coin confrontation shows Jesus refusing both zealous violence and compromising idolatry, instead advocating a position that honors God’s sovereignty while acknowledging temporal authorities—without ever giving them the worship due to God alone. This challenges modern believers to examine what receives their ultimate allegiance and devotion.

The Good Samaritan parable pushes the boundaries of love beyond anything even progressive Hillel would have endorsed, making the most hated outsider the model of righteousness. By connecting His parable to 2 Chronicles 28 through remez, Jesus demonstrates that Scripture itself already testified to Samaritan compassion. The message is clear: right practice (orthopraxy) matters as much as right belief (orthodoxy), and true neighborly love recognizes the full humanity of even those we despise most.

Finally, Jesus’s question about the Messiah being both David’s son and David’s Lord creates an interpretive puzzle that hints at the Messiah’s transcendent, possibly divine nature. This silences all opposition and demonstrates that Jesus is not merely answering questions but fundamentally challenging and expanding His audience’s understanding of God’s kingdom, love, and the coming redemption. The episode reminds us that following Jesus requires both theological precision and radical, boundary-breaking love that extends to the most unlikely recipients.

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