Luke 20:22

is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Cesar, or no? The question was devised with so superlative a craft that it seemed impossible for our Lord to escape. If He said -It is lawful," the Pharisees hoped at once to undermine His popularity with the multitude. If He said -It is not lawful" (Deuteronomy 17:15), the Herodianscould at once hand Him over, as a traitor, to the secular power. For - tribute"each Evangelist uses a different word epikephalaion, -poll-tax" (Mark in D); the Latin kenson-census" (Matt.); and the classical phoronhere and Luke 23:2. It was a capitation-tax, the legality of which was indignantly disputed by scrupulous legalists.

craftiness panourgian, a classical word only found in St Paul and St Luke, 2Co 4:2; 2 Corinthians 11:3, &c.