Every adult Jew annually paid a tax or tribute of half a shekel for the Temple. It had to be paid in Jewish coin
(Matt 22:17-19; Mark 12:14-15). Money-changers were necessary, to enable the Jews who came up to
Jerusalem at the feasts to exchange their foreign coin for Jewish money; but as it was forbidden by the law
to carry on such a traffic for emolument (Deut 23:19- 20 ), Y‘shua drove them from the Temple (Matt 21:12;
Mark 11:15).
―It has been calculated that the total taxation, Jewish and Roman together, may have exceeded 40% of an
ordinary man‘s income. An elaborate taxation system demands an elaborate civil service, and it was here
that the grievances were multiplied. The lucrative privilege of tax-collection went to the highest bidder, who
then farmed the work out to smaller fry, and they in turn to others. The top men would be Romans. The lower
ranks, who actually made contact with the people, were Jews. And each had to make his position profitable
to himself. Provided the correct tax was produced, the officials would not worry about how it was collected.
So the officially required tax was swollen by the necessary rake-off at each level of civil service, and the
name ̳tax-collector‘ became in common parlance a synonym for an unscrupulous quisling and extortioner‖.
(R.T. France, I Came to Set the Earth on Fire, Portrait of Christ, p. 20.)
9:10-13 Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
―(10) And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and
sat down with him and his disciples. (11) And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why
eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? (12) But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They
that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. (13) But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will
have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance‖.
This is an important section. Here, a group of legalistic Pharisees is critical of Y‘shua for associating with
those ―publicans‖ (see ―The receipt of custom‖ above) whom they consider to be sinners. Y‘shua responds
by gives these Pharisees a direct command to go ―learn something‖. Later in Matt 12:7, we see Y‘shua will
criticise them again for not doing what He told them to do here.
Y‘shua's instruction to them is a quote from the prophet Isaiah. The context in Isaiah's original message and
that of Y‘shua's is similar. In each case, there were people "going through the motions" of the instructions
YHWH gave in His Torah. What Y‘shua is telling these Pharisees, is that their reliance on performing
YHWH's commands—although absolutely part of their faith—was secondary to what YHWH wants first: a
trusting relationship with Him. In no way does this mean the Torah is not to be followed. Rather, the message
here is that, just as faith without works is dead (James, chapters 1 and 2); the same goes for works without
faith. This is the message YHWH has given his chosen people throughout the Bible:
―But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a
leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away‖. (Isaiah 64:6)
―For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But
he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter;
whose praise is not of men, but of God‖. (Rom 2:28-29)
―For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not
being mixed with faith in them that heard it‖. (Heb 4:2)
If these Pharisees had gone back to learn what Isaiah was talking about, they would have seen that they
were just as much ―in need of a physician" as these other people were. One could say that their legalistic
view of the Torah made them more in need of Y‘shua than the people they were criticising.
It is evident to most that these Pharisees were outwardly performing the commandments of YHWH but
lacked the humility and trust YHWH desired. This caused them to not recognise Y‘shua for who He was.
They made themselves "blind‖.
It should be noted however, that there is a "flip side" to this situation that is prevalent today. Anyone claiming
to "believe in the Messiah‖, but who rejects the Torah as YHWH's instruction, (i.e., "we're not under the Law")
is no better off than these Pharisees. You cannot separate the "Torah in the flesh" from the Torah of
Scripture. Y‘shua said so (Matt 5:17-21, 7:21-29), Paul said so (Rom 2:13, 3:31) and James said so (James,
chapters 1 and 2). John goes so far as to have said that if you claim to know YHWH but don't obey His
commandments (His Torah), you are a liar and the truth is not in you (1 John 2:3-4).
Of course, this message goes against the overwhelming consensus today—just as it did in Y‘shua and
Isaiah's times.