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DIECAST Collectible
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| 870027 |
IMEX Railway Express Agency - International CO190 Box Truck (1:87, Green) 870027 |
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| 870160 |
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| 870170 |
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| 63102PS |
Jada Toys Dub City - Cadillac Escalade SUV (2002, 1:18 Scale Diecast Model, Purple) 63102 |
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| 63112B5 |
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| 63162SM |
Jada Toys Dub City - Dodge Ram Pick-up (2003, 1:18 Scale Diecast Model, Silver) 63162 |
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| 63184MB |
Jada Toys Import Racer! - Toyota Celica (1:18 Scale Diecast Model, Black) 63184M |
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| 63112MR5 |
Jada Toys Dub City - Chevy Silverado Pickup (2002, 1:18 Scale Diecast Model, Red) 63112MR5 |
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| 92025BU |
Jada
Toys Bigtime Muscle - Chevy Corvette ZR1 (2009, 1:18 Scale Diecast Model,
Jetstream Blue) 92025 |
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| 92025R |
Jada
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Victory Red) 92025 |
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| 5039D |
Kinsmart - Dodge Viper GTS-R Hard Top (1:36, Asstd.) 5039D |
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| 5095D |
Kinsmart - Mercedes Benz SLK-Class Hard Top (1:32, Asstd.) 5095D |
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| 5317D |
Kinsmart - Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Hard Top (1:36, Asstd.) 5317D |
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| R2198/999D |
Mattel
Disney Pixar - 3-Car Gift Pack Assortment (1:64, Asstd.)
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| P2073/999A |
Mattel
Hot Wheels - R/C Sports Car (9.5", Asstd.) P2073/999A |
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| 2101D |
Mail
Truck (4.5") 2101D |
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| 6080D |
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Aircraft (4.75", Asstd.) 6080D |
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| 9661D |
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| 9665D |
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| 9669D |
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| 9761MD |
Military
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| 9801/2D |
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| 9811D |
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| 9911D |
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| 9921/4D |
Fire
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| 9961/4D |
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| 9985/4D |
Police
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| 9998D |
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| 8882/3D |
Super
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God and the Art of Toy and Diecast Marketing
Render unto God the things that are God's (part 2 of 2)
By Lu Su
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" -Matthew 22: 15-20
Here we see that some religious and political folk approached Jesus and asked him a moral question. "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" It's such a simple question. A simple "yes" or "no" would suffice, but a simple "yes" or "no" would be problematic. Jesus knew that the question was a snare designed to trap the answerer. But how was this question a trap? Allow me to give you the historical back drop of the events. You'll see how this seemingly innocuous question was actually a lethal one.
In 64 BC, Rome had conquered the entire region. All conquered territories had to pay a tribute to Rome. That's how things worked in the ancient world. If you got conquered, you had to pay up. And I still think this kind of thinking still carries forward today. I had a house mate that strongly felt that after we helped the Kuwaitis conquered their land back from the Iraqis in 1991, the Kuwaitis now owe us. And my house mate Tom made some suggestion that restitution (tribute) should be paid back to the American people in either cash or oil.
In 6 BC, Augustus Caesar makes a decree and institutes a census for the entire Roman empire. Back then, the primary reason to conduct a census was to figure out how much "tribute" you could wring out from all your conquered people. So the head of each household had to return to his home town to register. Back then, and I suppose even today, one's wealth was tied to the land you (or your family) owned. It was the Jewish custom that land inheritance was divvied out by tribe and family. Joseph was of the family of David, and thus went to register where his family had their land inheritance. These two peasants Joseph and a very pregnant Mary, who both happen to be descendents of King David, leave Nazareth for Bethlehem.
Since they could not afford an airline ticket, which would have only made it a 70 mile journey by plane (or by a really huge crow), they made the 3 to 5 day journey on foot. Bethlehem also happens to be the birth place of their famous ancestor King David, hence the city is often referred to as the City of David. As the story goes, Mary gives birth to Jesus while they are in Bethlehem. This event alone fulfills numerous Biblical prophecies, which I won't get into now.
About 2016 years ago, a wondrous and unique event occurs. This event was even bigger than the Big Bang. Around 6 BC, God incarnates. God becomes a man. God becomes fully human, while at the same time being fully God. This is really mind blowing stuff. From my study of world religions, only Christianity makes this incredible and almost unbelievable claim. God enters our three dimensional plus time world as a human. I want to be clear here. Christianity does NOT claim that God just had the appearance of being human. Jesus was not God with some type of human-like shell around him. Jesus was both God and man at the same time. So if you were to take a pin and stick it into Jesus' arm, he would show annoyance, bleed and would be in pain. What is bizarre to me is that God would willing choose to make himself vulnerable. And he went all the way by coming into the world as a baby.
I've encountered numerous people that will often make some type of argument stating that God is unknowable. I'll hear stuff like, "God is so beyond us!" (and people will drag out the 'so' in that sentence). Or, "How is it possible that we can know anything about God?" One person even gave me the analogy of what ants are to people, people are to God. And thus it was questionable if we could even fathom who God is or what he is like. My response is, "What if God became a man and used our own language to communicate Truth, tell us what the Kingdom of God was like, and showed us what love was?"
Okay, back to Caesar. Around 6 or 7 AD (while Jesus is 12 or 13 years of age) a new census tax was imposed. Note this was on top of the tribute tax that was collected. Now, just for the honor of being a subject of the Roman empire, this head tax was collected for every person counted. The fee was one denarius. This particular tax irked the Jews more than any other tax, not so much because of the amount, but because this tax was related to the census; Jews at that time understood that the very act of taking a census was evil; and now paying a tax associated with this evil was like condoning it. To get a better understanding of opposition to the census, read 2 Samuel 24. This is the recorded event where King David conducts a census, it's considered evil, and things go very poorly for Israel immediately.
After the census tax was imposed on the Jews, there were strong and violent protests. Understandably, many Jews considered this tax a kin to committing sin and many refused to pay this tax. An uprising starts. This leader of this rebellion is Judas of Galilee. He leads a violent resistance against the denarius tax. Judas of Galilee was also one of the founding members of this sect called the Zealots, who believed in the use of violence to rid Roman occupation. His band more or less engaged in gorilla warfare against Roman soldiers. Ambushing the invading party whenever they had the opportunity. Rome didn't care for this. If word got out that payment of the denarius tax was optional, this idea could spread to other territories. Rome sends in its troops. Out numbered and out gunned, this small rebellion led by Judas of Galilee was brutally crushed. Judas was killed and later both of his two sons were caught and crucified.
With no cable, internet or American Idol, news of this nature would have been big news. Furthermore Rome would have put their propaganda machine in full gear to spread the news. If you don't pay your taxes, you'll end up like Judas of Galilee and his merry band.
The liberation of Kuwait was about 20 years ago, which to me didn't seem that long. But now just 10 years after this rebellion, the same question is given to another leader "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" Had Jesus had answered, "No, it is not right to pay taxes to Caesar." A quick cell phone call to the authorities with the Herodians as eye-witnesses, Jesus would have been arrested before he could leave the temple courts. "We've got another leader from Galilee who is telling the people not to pay their taxes."
"But answering "Yes", has its own set of problems. On a deeper level, this question was a challenge to the authority of new Kingdom Jesus was ushering in. The question was tantamount in asking Jesus whose the King here? Should we listen to you or Caesar?
Just a couple of days before the question, Jesus had entered Jerusalem riding on a colt.
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"
The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee." -Matthew 21:8-11
Matthew the Gospel writer who was with Jesus at the time comments:
This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
"Say to the Daughter of Zion,
'See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' -Matthew 21:4-5
Matthew didn't make this up. Matthew is a Jew who knows his Scripture and is quoting Zechariah 9:9. Back then and even today, many Jews, Christians, and Christian Jews continue to hold on to this promise from God. This promise was spoken by the prophet Nathan to King David.
'The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever -2 Samuel 7: 11-13
Now Jesus who constantly preached about the Kingdom of God was renowned for his miracles, deeds, and happens to be from the linage of King David comes riding into the capital city on a colt. Expectations are very high. Let's look at Jesus' response to the question.
Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?
The denarius was a Roman silver coin that is often known as the "penny" of the Bible because of the King James Version translation using that word for it. The denarius was about the size of a present-day U.S. dime. The denarius was the most common Roman coin during the human lifetime of Jesus Christ and it amounted to a day's pay for workers and Roman troops.
There were a few different versions of the Roman denarius. Every Caesar minted their own coin. But it was highly likely that a coin like the one shown above was brought to Jesus. Tiberius Caesar who was the emperor at the time of Jesus' ministry, Tiberius minted more coins than any of his predecessor, and this coin was in wide circulation at that time.
Jesus specifically asks, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" Let's take a second to investigate this. The portrait is image of Tiberius Caesar. The Latin inscription reads Augustus Ti(berius) Caesar Divi Aug(usti) F(ilius) ["Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus"]. If you remember your history, Augustus was Tiberius' father. Augustus, as well as most of the Caesars, claimed to be divine. This coin says Tiberius is the son of God (divine Augustus).
On the reverse side of the coin, you have the inscription Pontif Maxim. This is from the title of Pontifex Maximus, which literally means "Greatest Bridge-maker". This title was given to the high priest of the Ancient Roman College of Pontiffs and was the most important position to the ancient Roman religion. Priest back then (and some still believe today) served to mediate between God and man -like a bridge. Now it is important that you realize that priests are human beings. And more specifically, the title Pontif Maxim was reserved for the highest priest. Note that the priest must be human and male.
Houston, we have a problem. Will the real son of God and high priest please stand up? Jesus claims to be divine by claiming that he is the son of God. And because Jesus was also a man, he could serve as our high priest -our mediator and bridge to God.
"Caesar's," they replied.
Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
Jesus skillfully avoids answering the question on taxes, but points us to something far more important. I know many people will use this reply to argue that Jesus is pro paying taxes to Caesar. I don't see that here. Jesus only says to give to Caesar what is his; so if you happened to have borrowed Caesar's toga or hedge clippers, Jesus wants you to give it back.
When you take into account this whole story, the most important line is to "Give to God what is God's." But don't let your mind stop here. If I tell you to, "Give to God what is God's.", a most reasonable question to ask is "What's God's?"
Jesus held up a coin and basically asked us "Whose image stamped onto this coin?" Then Jesus tells us to return it to its rightful owner. So whose image has been stamped on you?
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." -Genesis 1:26
The Bible claims that God's image has been impressed on you. "Render unto God the things that are God's." Render means more than to "Give". When you say "give" there is no specific direction; but when you say, "render" it means to give but it is direction oriented and also means "give back" or "return".
So in conclusion, render unto God the things that are God's. What belongs to God? You do. Return.
Sources:
"Antiquities of the Jews" by Josephus in Jewish Wars
"Pontifex Maximus" by N. S. Gill, About.com: Ancient/Classic History
