מַשְׂאֵת
mas.et (H4864)
tribute
AI Word Study
# Mas'et (משאת): Tribute in Ancient Israel The Hebrew word *mas'et* refers to **tribute**—a payment or obligatory gift imposed by a superior power on a subordinate one. Based on its fifteen occurrences in the biblical text, this term denotes a formal, often burdensome exaction rather than a voluntary offering. The word appears frequently enough in the biblical corpus to indicate it was a recognized and established practice in the ancient Near Eastern context where Israel operated, whether Israel paid tribute to foreign powers or collected it from subject populations. The consistent translation as "tribute" across all biblical occurrences suggests *mas'et* held a specific political and economic meaning distinct from other terms for gifts or offerings. Its presence throughout the biblical narrative reflects the realities of ancient geopolitics, where tributary arrangements were standard mechanisms of power and control. The word's technical precision—always indicating an imposed payment rather than a voluntary donation—demonstrates that biblical Hebrew possessed distinct vocabulary to describe different types of transfers of wealth and resources.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.
Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushers was that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city.
But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and behold, the whole city went up in smoke to the sky.
David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
The king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, “Why haven’t you required of the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses the servant of Yahweh, and of the assembly of Israel, out of Judah and out of Jerusalem, for the Tent of the Testimony?”
They made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness.
Then the king made a great feast for all his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces, and gave gifts according to the king’s bounty.
Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
“Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the middle of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem, for evil looks out from the north with a great destruction.
Now while he had not yet gone back, “Go back then,” he said, “to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wherever it seems right to you to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him food and a present, and let him go.
For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh, “there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the first fruits of your offerings, with all your holy things.
Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
I will remove those who grieve about the appointed feasts from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you.