The previous parable increased the opposition to Jesus, but since the religious leaders cannot yet arrest him, they try to entrap him. Their praise for Jesus’s integrity is lavish but insincere and hypocritical. Paying taxes to Caesar (20:20–26) was a volatile issue in first-century Palestine. Some Jews thought that the payment of such a tax necessarily involved compromise of their religion. Moreover, the image of the emperor on the coin was thought to be a violation of …