"It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer,
but ye have made it a den of robbers."
(Matthew 21:12-13.)
(1874)
Carl Bloch
(1834-1890)
Danish painter
Image courtesy/Fine Art America
The first errand of the King in His city is the temple. "And Jesus entered into the
temple of God, and cast out all that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew
the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves."
(Matthew 21:12)
This is the second time that the Lord acted in cleansing the temple.
*The first is recorded in the Gospel of John and took place at the beginning of His ministry.
There it is the zeal for God's house, but here, He acts in all His Kingly authority.
How great and awful must have been the defilement of God's temple in those days.
Money changers were undoubtedly in the foreground, for money played then in the days
of Jewish apostasy as important a role as it does in the apostasy we witness about us.
In "The Life and Times of Jesus The Messiah" Austrian Jewish-Christian author
Alfred Edersheim writes: "We can picture to overselves the scene around the table of
an eastern money changer--the weighing of the coins, deductions for the loss of weight,
arguing, disputing, bargaining, and we realize the terrible truthfulness of our Lord's
charge that they had made the Father's house a mart and a place of traffic."
And besides the money changers were those who bought and sold. All that which was
required for the meat and drink offering was for sale by the Temple authorities. With the
sale, much speculation was connected; covetousness, as Jewish talmudical writings prove,
was the ruling passion in this blasphemous traffic. And the most awful fact was that the
priesthood, especially the high-priestly family, earned riches from it. The Bazaars and
the Temple markets were controlled and owned by the *sons of Annas.
Into this scene of desecration He enters.
No whip of cords in His hands; the King does not need it.
The tables are turned over in wild confusion; the coins roll over the pavement,
while the sacrificial animals and birds are driven out, perhaps in a wild stampede,
followed by their owners and the officials of the temple.
And what He uses is His own Word:
"It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer,
but ye have made it a den of robbers."
(Matthew 21:12-13.)
But a more refreshing scene follows. The temple is cleansed. The noise and
confusion is at an end. Nothing is said of the return of these evil occupants.
But instead of them, there came the blind and lame to Him in the temple
and he healed them. The vacancy was filled by the crowd of the poor,
stricken, suffering ones, who were delivered of their pains and diseases.
A blessed and glorious foreshadowing of what will be when He comes again,
and when, by His life-giving, healing touch, He will cure "all diseases"
and make perfectly whole. And still another thing happens.
"And when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders which He wrought,
and the children crying in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!"
they were indignant and said to Him, 'Hearest thou what these say?'
And Jesus says to them, "Yes. Have ye never read, 'Out of the mouth
of babies and sucklings Thou hast perfect praise?"
(Matthew 21:15-16)
The children sang their Hosanna to Him, the Son of David, and our Lord refers
the murmuring, accusing chief priests and scribes to the eighth Psalm:
"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength
because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightiest still the enemy and the avenger."
(Psalm 8:2 )
The meaning of that Psalm is clearly established by the Second Chapter of Hebrews.
"Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet."
(Hebrews 2:8)
It is Jesus, the Son of Man, who is seen here in His dominion over the earth. When at last
He has all things under His feet, there will be silencing of the enemy by perfect praise.
The praise of the children foreshadows the praise He will receive when He comes again.
-Gaebelein's Annotated Bible
Did The Cleansing Of The Temple Occur Twice?
The accounts of Jesus driving out the merchants and money changers
from the temple appears in (John 2:13-17) and in the Synoptic Gospels
(Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19: 45-46). In John's Gospel,
the event appears early in Jesus' public ministry, whereas in the
Synoptic Gospels, it appears close to the final week of His earthly
mission. The difference in timing raises a question: Were there
two distinct cleansing or is there only one cleansing
differently placed by John?
John's Gospel records: "Now the Passover of the Jews was near,
so Jesus went up from Jerusalem. In the temple courts He found men
selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their
tables. So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple
courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money
changers and overturned their tables. To those selling doves He said,
"Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father's house into
a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written:
"Zeal for Your house will consume Me."
(John 2:13-17)
The apparent difference in timing between John's account and
the parallel accounts recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
does not present an irreconcilable conflict.
.
Readers can legitimately embrace the possibility of two separate cleansings-
one in the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry and one near the end.
John may have placed his account of the single cleansing at the
beginning of his gospel to highlight the Lord's identity and mission.
The overarching message of each gospel perspective is clear to the careful reader.
Jesus is the promised Messiah who zealously guards the sanctity of true worship.
"God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
(John 4:24 )
*Sons of Annas- Annas was the patriarch of an immensely powerful family of Jewish
priests who dominated Jerusalem. He played a significant role in the execution of
Jesus, and in the persecution of the early followers of Christ. He was the father of
five sons, the most notable being Eleazar ben Ananas. He was also the father-in-law
of Joseph Caiaphas, the official Roman-appointed high priest during the
time of Jesus' arrest, trial, and execution.
Information source: Bible Hub
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