As readers of the Bible, especially of the books of the New Testamentit is important to know who the publicans were in order to better understand all the biblical passages that mention them, therefore, join us in reading the article.
Publicans were tax collectors on behalf of the Romans. This New Testament working class was hated by Jewish society because they were primarily Jewish workers in the service of the Empire.
Publicans were generally people with a very bad reputation. They were known as thieves, greedy and heartless. Pharisees and other religious groups they were their main enemies and those who were with them were considered as contaminated people.
What is the meaning of publican in the Bible?
The word publican in the New Testament translates the Greek curtains and basically means “collector of fees and taxes” or “lessee”.
Actually, since before the year 200 BC, there existed in Rome the «publicani«, which must be differentiated from the tax collectors who are mentioned in the New Testament.
This class of men generally lived in the capital of the empire and was in charge of renting or negotiating contracts with auctions promoted by the Roman government, the rights to collect public revenue from the provinces and regions, upon payment of an amount that had to be transferred. to the public treasury.
So, a Roman publican undertook to enter the public treasury, that is, in publicumand for this reason they received that name.
Why were the tax collectors Jews?
The Roman publicans could sell part of the collection rights that they received in a certain province and entrust the collections to that subcontracting.
Thus, the Roman publicans could sell part of the tax collection rights to subordinate persons, who could be natives of the regions where the fees and taxes had to be collected, in this way, there were a large number of Jewish publicans.
Due to this system, the central contracting parties had little to do with the provinces from which they collected taxes through their employees.
✅ Interesting fact: Even in Rome, these publicans were often identified as belonging to a corrupt and abuse-prone system, in which, in some cases, the government itself had to intervene.
How much did the publicans charge?
In the first century, the Roman Empire collected two types of taxes: direct and indirect.
The direct tax, which fell on land and individuals, was collected by the empire itself through regular agents.
The publicans collected the indirect tax, which was applied to imports and exports, in addition to the collection of taxes according to highway rates, tolls for bridges, ports, etc.
Why were publicans frowned upon?
The men calledpublicans» who appear in the New Testament are especially the collectors subservient to the contractors, and therefore tended to be Jews.
Like the Roman publicans, these tax collectors also had a reputation for extortion and greedy.
Furthermore, since ancient times people have never liked paying taxes, which has always led to tax collectors and their corrupt system being frowned upon by society.
Why were publicans considered traitors?
Publicans in the New Testament were a class extremely hated by the Jews, because in addition to their bad reputation, they were also considered traitors to their own people by willingly serving their oppressors, the Roman Empire.
In addition, they suffered great religious contempt, because their work required contact with indigenous peoples. gentileswhich made them “impure” according to the Jewish rabbis, who taught their students that they should avoid at all costs sitting at the table with them or having any kind of social contact.
It is very probable that most of the publicans mentioned in the New Testament were customs collectors, that is, those who collected fees and taxes at tolls on public roads and bridges, or even at city gates.
What was the main sin of the publicans according to the Bible?
John the Baptist was one of those who denounced the main sin of the tax collectors, when some of them came to him to receive the baptism and they asked him what they should do.
John the Baptist’s response was as follows: “Do not charge more than you should” (Luke 3:12).
Who are the most famous tax collectors in the Bible?
Two publicans received special prominence in the New Testament: Zacchaeus and Levi, also called the apostle Matthew.
Zacchaeus is called “chief publican”, from the Greek “architelonian“, which probably means that he was a subcontractor in charge of collecting the taxes and duties of Jericho, and that he coordinated other collectors under him, perhaps as a kind of supervisor.
While Matthew was the tax collector chosen by the Lord as one of his twelve apostles. The Apostle Matthew was a customs clerk working in Capernaum, probably collecting taxes on the trade route from Damascus to Galilee.
How was Jesus’ relationship with the publicans?
Jesus throughout his 3 and a half years of his ministry had a lot of relationship with this social class, in fact, he was accused several times of being in the company of “tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 9:10; 11:19; 21: 31; Mark 2:15; Luke 5:30; 7:34; 15:1).
The context of many occasions when Jesus taught in parables somehow involved tax collectors, sinners, harlots and, of course, write and Pharisees who judged them.
Even in one of his parables, that of the Pharisee and the publican, Jesus explicitly used the figure of a man who belonged to this working class. This did not mean that Jesus approved of his practices, on the contrary, the sin tax collectors was as abominable as that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:46; 18:17).
Did the publicans receive the gospel of the Lord Jesus?
Although they were very marginalized by society, especially by the most important religious groups, in the Bible several tax collectors received the call of the Lord Jesus to repentance (Matthew 21:31,32; Luke 7:29; 15:1; 18:13, 14).
Jesus identified the needs of the publicans and announced to them the good news of the kingdom of God.
Thus, we can see several examples of this class of people so despised by the people who felt attracted by the teachings of our Lord, who was called “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19).
In the same way, as sinners, all people must receive the gospel of God and repent of their sins to be saved from the wrath to come.
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