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 that sold the doves.
Jesus has just ridden into Jerusalem as her King, to the shouts of the crowds. His first act is not at the palace but in the temple courts, where He clears out a market.
The order matters. The King the crowds have just hailed heads for the heart of the nation's religion.
The first errand of the King in His city is the temple… This is the second time that the Lord acted in cleansing the temple. The first is recorded in the Gospel of John 2:13, 17, and it took place at the beginning of His ministry. There it is zeal for God's house, but here He acts in all His kingly authority. The defilement of God's temple in those days must have been great and terrible. The most terrible fact was that the priests, and especially the high priest's family, grew rich from it.
Israel's best kings had cleaned up the nation's worship before Him.
This had been one of the functions that belonged properly to royal authority alone. We find the best kings of Judah reforming the religion of the people in their day. Hezekiah and Josiah are examples. Here the Lord takes up the same action by that same royal authority.
The Greek word used here does not mean the inner sanctuary. It covers the whole complex, including the outer courts where the market stood.
There are two words for Temple in the Greek New Testament. Hieron covers the whole of the Temple area. It takes in the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of the Jews, the place where they bought and sold the animals for sacrifice, the place where the money-changers had their seat (Matt. 21:12)… The other word, naos, has a narrow meaning. It is the inner sanctuary, the Holy Place where the priests ministered, the Holiest of all, which the High Priest alone entered on the great Day of Atonement.
The money-changers met a real need — and, it seems, profited unfairly from it.
These were people who served those coming to Jerusalem from far away to pay the regular temple tax. They gave them a half-shekel in exchange for whatever money they had. When He drove them out of the temple, the Lord's words seem to imply that they took unfair advantage in the exchanges.
One man overturns the tables of an established trade, and the traders leave.
They knew Him only as the prophet of Nazareth. It was astonishing that He should enter their temple so boldly and drive out everyone who was defiling it. But they do not turn on Him. The power of the God of the temple was there, and they flee. Their consciences no doubt echoed the Lord's words, that they had made His house a den of thieves.
Commentators note two cleansings. The difference shows in what Jesus calls the building.
The Lord cleansed the Temple twice. Only John records the first. Only Matthew, Mark and Luke record the second. On the first occasion He acted as in the Father's house; on the second, as in His own. "My Father's house" He called it in John. "My house" He called it in Matthew… When challenged the first time He at once gave the Jews a sign. When challenged the last time He refused.
Matthew sets this act beside the withering of the fig tree.
Next follows the cursing of the fig-tree (12-26), woven together with the purging of the temple. The two are indeed one — two sides of the same act. He must cleanse His house, and to do this, a religion that bears no fruit must wither.
Within days His words about the building change.
He calls it "my house" there, only to show how completely man had failed in the responsibility God gave him in divine things. What God designed as a place of prayer, man had made a den of thieves… Two days later He said, "See, your house is left to you desolate." Now it is not "my house," but "your house."
The trade grew out of something the law itself allowed. That makes it worse, not lighter.
The trading and money-changing in the temple had no doubt grown out of a kind provision of the law, recorded in Deuteronomy 14:24-26. Godless men had taken advantage of this provision to turn the temple precincts into a den of thieves. God intended His temple to be the house where men drew near to Him with their requests. Its guardians had turned it into a place where men were swindled, and so the name of God was maligned. To defile or corrupt the temple of God is a sin of tremendous gravity. 1 Corinthians 3:17 shows this, in its application to God's present temple.
- King — The crowds hail Him as King, and His first act is to cleanse the temple. Israel's best kings did the same by royal authority.
- House — In John He clears His Father's house. Here He clears His own. Two days later He calls it "your house," left desolate.
- Court — The word for temple here covers the whole area. That includes the outer courts, where traders sold animals and, it seems, changed money unfairly.
- Authority — No one resists Him. Their consciences knew the God of the temple was standing in it.
- Warning — The fig tree withers beside the cleansing. Religion without fruit must wither, and corrupting God's house is a grave sin.
And he says to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but *ye* have made it a den of robbers.
Jesus walks into the temple courts and clears out the traders. Then He defends what He did with one line of Scripture. That line raises the question of the whole scene: whose house is this, and what have its keepers made of it?
The Lord cleared the temple twice. One writer sets the two accounts side by side:
We have said that the Lord cleansed the temple twice. John here, and he alone, tells us of the first. Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46 agree in telling us, and they only, of the second. On the first occasion He acted as in the Father's house; on the second, as in His own. "My Father's house" He called it in John. "My house" He calls it in Matthew. Further, when challenged on the first occasion, He at once gave the Jews a sign. When challenged the last time, He refused to grant their request. The first time, His presence as God's messenger was new to the city, so He gave them a sign. The second time, they already had proof after proof of His divine mission.
One writer pictures the scene and names the one thing He uses:
No whip of cords is in His hands; the King does not need it. The tables go over in wild confusion. The coins roll across the pavement, and out go the animals and birds brought for sacrifice... And what He uses is His own Word. "It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you make it a den of robbers." It was His house, as well as His Father's... The words "My house shall be called a house of prayer" are found in Isaiah 56:7. "For all peoples," which is in Isaiah, the Lord does not quote. That temple was not meant to be a house "for all peoples"; the temple in Isaiah 56:7 is the millennial temple.
God did not name His house after sacrifice. One writer hangs the whole charge on that:
God's house was a house of prayer; that was its moral character, not of sacrifice. God did not name His house after sacrifice, though sacrifice was carried on there. He named it in grace, for those who had need. Where His presence and His ear were, there was a house of prayer. There every need was told to God, and He was the Keeper of all grief and all need. And they had made it a den of thieves. Note it is the sin against the gracious character of God that the Lord notes as the sin against the temple of God. His charge is very general: "you make it." All evil that is allowed and gone along with is shared guilt on everyone, for the heart permits it and agrees with it.
A reference work traces the word for "robbers" through its other uses:
The Greek word (lēstēs) means 'robber, bandit.' The Lord uses it of those who bought and sold in the temple... When the Lord was arrested He asked if they had come out as against a robber. The two criminals crucified with the Lord were also men of this character.
Another writer traces where the trade came from:
The trading and money-changing in the temple had no doubt grown out of the kind arrangements of the law, which Deuteronomy 14:24-26 records. Ungodly men had taken advantage of this provision to turn the temple precincts into a den of thieves. God intended His temple to be the house where men drew near to Him with their requests. Its custodians had turned it into a place where men were swindled, and so the name of God was maligned. To defile or corrupt the temple of God is a sin of tremendous gravity. 1 Corinthians 3:17 shows this, in its application to God's present temple.
He still says My house here. Two days later the pronoun changes, and one writer marks the moment:
Quoting an Old Testament scripture (Isaiah 56:7), He calls it "My house" there. He does so only to show how completely man had failed in his responsibility about divine things. What God designed as a place of prayer, man had made a den of thieves... Two days afterwards He said, "See, your house is left to you desolate" — not "My house" now, but "your house." As for the house where God was supposed to be, He has to say, It is "desolate" — He is not there.
- His house. In John's account He cleansed it as His Father's house; here He calls it My house and acts as the One who owns it.
- His word. No whip this time. The King clears the courts with His own Word.
- His character. "House of prayer" means God hears need. Making it a market sinned against His grace, not just against a building.
- His verdict. "You make it" is a charge laid on all — evil tolerated becomes shared guilt.
- His departure. Days later "My house" becomes "your house... desolate." The pronoun tells you He has left.