Discovery BoxMatthew 12:38 
Context12:38 Then some of the experts in the law 1 along with some Pharisees 2 answered him, 3 “Teacher, we want to see a sign 4 from you.”
Matthew 17:24
Context17:24 After 5 they arrived in Capernaum, 6 the collectors of the temple tax 7 came to Peter and said, “Your teacher pays the double drachma tax, doesn’t he?”
Matthew 22:24
Context22:24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children 8 for his brother.’ 9
1 tn Or “Then some of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
2 tn Grk “and Pharisees.” The word “some” before “Pharisees” has been supplied for clarification.
sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
3 tn Grk “answered him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant, but the syntax of the sentence was changed to conform to English style.
4 sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.
5 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
6 map For location see Map1 D2; Map2 C3; Map3 B2.
7 tn Grk “Collectors of the double drachma.” This is a case of metonymy, where the coin formerly used to pay the tax (the double drachma coin, or δίδραχμον [didracmon]) was put for the tax itself (cf. BDAG 241 s.v.). Even though this coin was no longer in circulation in NT times and other coins were used to pay the tax, the name for the coin was still used to refer to the tax itself.
sn The temple tax refers to the half-shekel tax paid annually by male Jews to support the temple (Exod 30:13-16).
8 tn Grk “and raise up seed,” an idiom for fathering children (L&N 23.59).
9 sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.
