Matthew 22:21

New Testament

19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” So they brought him a denarius. 20 Jesus said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” 21 They replied, “Caesar’s.” He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 Now when they heard this they were stunned, and they left him and went away. 23 The same day Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to him and asked him,

Tosefta Shabbat 17:1

Tosefta
Rabbinic

An inscription which runs under pictures or busts [of rulers] - they do not look at it on the Sabbath. Not only so, but also on an ordinary day they do not look at the busts, since it is said, 'Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods' (Lev. 19:4). A. R. Eleazar b. R. Yose the Galilean says, 'If you see a righteous man go on a journey and you plan to go on that same journey, push up your trip for three days or postpone it for three days on his account, so that you may go on the journey with him. On what account? 'Because angels of peace accompany him'.

 Notes and References

"... On the practice of placing inscriptions at the base of a statue see Henderson, Pliny’s Statue, 33-36. Inscriptions often contained dedications invoking the gods or honoring a person. Scholars from Loewe to Finney have noted the connection between Jesus and the coin (Mark 12:13-17; Matthew 22:15-22; Luke 20:20-26) and Jerusalem Avodah Zarah 31:1, 42b; however, they have not noted the much closer temporal and terminological connections with Tosefta Shabbat 17:1 (eikon, legend, closer in time) ..."

Neis, Rachel The Sense of Sight in Rabbinic Culture: Jewish Ways of Seeing in Late Antiquity (pp. 176-177) Cambridge University Press, 2013

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