As the story runs, Jesus says to Peter: “Go and catch a fish. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a shekel. Take it, and go and pay the Temple tax for me and for you.”
What is going on here? To begin we have to go back to Exodus 30, because this is where the Temple tax has its origins. Reading Exodus 30:12-13, God instructs Moses to “take a census of the Israelites to count them; each one must pay the LORD a ransom for his soul at the time he is counted. . .they shall give half a shekel, every one that passes among them that are numbered.” It’s this phrase “his soul” that we must zoom in on. In Hebrew, the word for soul is nefesh. Nefesh is spelled with three letters: nun, peh, shin.
In this particular verse, the Hebrew word is conjugated differently because it says “his soul.” This adds the letter vav to the end of the word, making nefesh “naf’shov,” spelled nun, peh, shin, vav.
Look in any textbook about the Hebrew language and you will see that each Hebrew letter represents something. Taking into account what the letters represent, this word––nun peh shin vav––tells a story. The first letter (the letter nun) means fish. And when he caught the fish, Peter was to open its mouth. The second letter (the letter peh) means mouth! And what was Peter supposed to find in its mouth? A shekel. The first Hebrew letter of shekel is the letter shin. (It makes the “sh” sound.) And how was he to catch the fish? With a hook! The last letter (the letter vav) means hook!
This is either God hinting at an event that would take place thousands of years later, or it’s Jesus designing a miracle that would illustrate the letters of this word in this verse of the Torah. Or both. I go for both. What an amazing thing!
Now certain rabbis have asked, why does God require a half shekel? Why doesn’t He request a whole coin of a lesser value? Like, why not a whole beka? Why does it have to be a half of something?
They’ll say one of the reasons is because none of us are in this alone. We have to be partnered with others. So if I’m giving a half shekel, that means someone else is giving the other half. The one whole shekel brings two people together. The lesson is all of us individually are halves of a whole. And service to God requires others. We need to be in community with others in order to fulfill His commandments.
As true as this is, Jesus is adding a special emphasis. Jesus instructs Peter, “...take this coin and give it to them for me and for you.” Why is this so insightful? Because the coin was paying the Temple tax, and the Temple tax kept His Father’s house functioning. Still today, in service to God, there are things required of us that we must give. But for everything we give, Jesus comes alongside and gives the other half. He completes the whole. Conversely, everything we do without Him is halfway incomplete. Therefore Jesus says to each one of us, “Here’s what you do––when you give, what you give is half for me, half for you. And together, we will accomplish this task.”
Of note, Jesus does not catch the fish for Peter. Jesus gives the instruction. It is then Peter’s responsibility to go and catch the fish to get the coin. God will provide the fish, and God will miraculously set the coin in the fish’s mouth, but nevertheless, Peter has to bait the line, cast the hook, catch the fish and reel it in to get what needs to be given. The action is Peter’s. That is Peter’s half. Jesus will cover the other half. And it’s in this way that the task is accomplished together. Our faith and action––coupled with Jesus’ instruction and provision––keeps our Father’s house on earth functioning.
