The longer I think about it, the more I feel that the ancient Romans could in many ways be compared to the Nazis of World War II. The Roman military was a ruthless occupier of a people who hated them. These foreign rulers used the cruelest possible means to keep order and punish anyone who challenged their authority and power. A Jew who led an uprising against the local puppet government would be mercilessly crucified at some busy crossroads as a lesson to all.
In this repressive environment, Jewish citizens like Zacchaeus bought the right to raise taxes from their fellow citizens. The Roman rulers used a method called tax farming in which they would get Jewish citizens to collect a set sum of taxes for an area, and everything that was obtained over that amount was kept by the tax collector. With the Roman government behind them, publicans (a Latin word for tax collector) were known for unfair taxation in Israel. We read in Luke 3:12,13, "Then some of the tax collectors who were under conviction and wanted to be baptized asked him, ‘Preacher, what do you want us to do?' John [the Baptist] answered and said, ‘Stop collecting more taxes from people than you are supposed to."
This story in Luke 19 certainly takes on a different meaning if you were to imagine that the Nazis were ruling your country and the richest man in town collected taxes for the enemy. Such a person was Zacchaeus and other publicans mentioned in the New Testament. Luke 19:2, " And behold there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was chief among the publicans, and he was rich." Further, in Luke 19 we read of Zacchaeus climbing a tree to see, because he was short in stature. We can only guess his height, but it is generally believed that the average man of that time was about 5'5" tall. Add to that the thought that Zacchaeus was probably dressed in a $1000 business suit! The little man in the tree would have been quite a spectacle.
Tax collectors were considered as turncoats who had sold out to the Romans. They collected a poll tax which galled the Jews because it underscored their enslavement to the Romans and they also received land tax which the Jew considered an offense to God, the real owner of everything. Zacchaeus and his assistants could require occasional taxes such as road taxes, axle taxes and bridge taxes. It is reported that they could actually take a person's possessions and then loan him his own things at exorbitant rates.
Publicans were not permitted to serve as judges or witnesses and were generally regarded as criminals. They were considered as sinners, ineligible for the rewards of the descendants of Abraham. However, Jesus takes this idea to task and says of the repentant tax collector, "This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham." Luke 19:9.
Zacchaeus seems to have been the chief tax collector for the Judean frontier city of Jericho which was the port of entry for all traffic crossing the river Jordan from the east. The river ford five miles east of Jericho is said to have been one of the three important points between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea at which the river could be crossed, even in the high water times of springtime.
Jericho, one of the oldest cities in the world, was know as the city of palms because of its sub-tropical environment. King Herod the Great kept a winter palace there to be near the hot springs. This ancient tourist city must have been about a full day's journey from Jerusalem (18 miles) since all of it was uphill.

Blessings in your study of God's Word!

Marvin Hunt

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Blessings!
Marvin Hunt

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