Who were the money changers in the Bible?

These were persons who supplied those who came from a distance to Jerusalem, to pay the regular tax to the temple, with a half-shekel, in exchange for any money they might possess. The Lord's language to such, when He drove them out of the temple, seems to imply that they took unfair advantage in the exchanges. Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15.

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 that sold the doves. 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" (verses 12-13). 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 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 the Jewish apostasy as important a role as it does in the apostasy we witness about us. "We can picture to ourselves the scene around the table of an eastern money changer -- the weighing of the coins, deductions for 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." (Edersheim: Life of Christ, Vol. I., 369.) 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.

Jesus had just presented Himself to them as King, so, having arrived in the city, He went straight to the temple, the very centre of their religion, and asserted His kingly power in cleansing it. He had done this at the very beginning of His ministry, as recorded in John 2; He did it again at the end. The trafficking and money-changing in the temple had doubtless sprung out of the kindly 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.

The Jews would doubtless have furnished good reasons for permitting these abominations. Did not the strangers need to change their varied monies? Were not the doves a necessity for the very poorest who could afford no larger sacrifice? But the whole thing had been debased into a money-making concern. The man who came from afar seeking God might easily be repelled when he got to the house by the rascality of those who were connected with it. A terrible state of affairs! The custodians of the house were a pack of thieves, and the Lord told them so. This roused the scribes and priests to fury, and they determined upon His death.

Exactly similar evils have long ago been manifested in Christendom. This is a terrible thing to say, but truth demands that it should be said. Again religion has been turned into a money-making concern, so much so that the would-be seeker after God has often been utterly repelled. This thing may be seen in its most extravagant forms in the great Romish system, but it may be seen elsewhere in a modified way. It is the error of Balaam, and many run after it "greedily," as Jude 11 tells us. Let us see that we carefully avoid it. The house of God on earth today is formed of saints — not dead stones but "living" ones — but we have to learn how we are to behave ourselves in it, and Paul's first letter to Timothy give us the needed instructions. In that letter such words as these are prominent: "Not covetous," "Not greedy of filthy lucre," "Destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness … But godliness with contentment is great gain." If such words as these govern us, we shall be preserved from this snare.

To the cleansing we are first introduced. For many years a traffic in animals for sacrifice had gone on in the Temple court, a convenience undoubtedly for the worshippers who came from a distance, and a source of inordinate gain to those who catered for them. We say inordinate advisedly. For the Lord's words, on the second occasion when He cleansed the Temple, justify this term; and Jer. 7:11 was very likely the passage to which He referred, combining on that occasion in one sentence a quotation from Isa. 56:7 with that from Jer. 7:11.

On both occasions, without a word to any one, or seeking the concurrence of the chief priests, but acting of His own will, He proceeded to effect His purpose. That oxen, sheep, and doves should, under certain conditions, and at certain times, be brought to God's altar was an undeniable fact. But, that they should be found waiting for the offerers' requirements within the court of the Temple, had no authorisation from Divine revelation. Lev. 26:2, "Ye shall reverence My sanctuary," would rather forbid such a practice. The lowing of oxen, the bleating of sheep, the cooing of doves, as heard above the hum of human voices, must have given to the sacred court the aspect of a fair, or market, rather than the holy spot where God was to be worshipped, and which was regarded as His earthly habitation. The tables of the money-changers too, and their trade, were more out of harmony with the sacredness of that place. Man's convenience, and man's temporal gain — these were furthered. But which of the traders, or of the money-changers, cared in all that for the honour of their God?

Now the Lord would teach every one what befitted the Temple court. If the priests were contented to let such trafficking go on, He was not. So, on this occasion, making a scourge of cords, He drove out the oxen and the sheep, clearing the Temple of their presence. He poured out, too, the changers' money, and overthrew their tables. He acted with authority, and no one resisted Him. He spoke, too, with authority to those who sold doves. "Take these things hence," were the words of the eternal Son; "make not My Father's house an house of merchandise." And they carried them away. The sheep and the oxen went forth at His bidding. Were they not His creatures? The money-changers saw their coin strewed on the ground. Those who sold doves carried them away. The court, however crowded it had been, was thus cleared at once. Resistless was His word. No trader, no money-changer, refused compliance. The latter very likely gathered up their scattered coin, but ventured not to set up afresh their tables.

From Cana He went to Capernaum, His mother and brethren being with Him, as well as His disciples, and stayed briefly there. It was here that Peter, Andrew, James and John lived (Mark 1:21-29). But as the Passover drew near He went up to Jerusalem. The Passover had been called in Leviticus 23:4-5 “a feast of Jehovah,” but it had degenerated into merely “the Passover of the Jews.” The holy character of the temple itself was desecrated by the greed of men. They may piously affirm that they had brought the oxen, sheep and doves there as a convenience for those desiring to offer sacrifices, and that money changing was for the convenience of those who had come from other countries; but the bald truth was that money-making was their object. The place for this was in the business markets. These creatures of sacrifice of course all really speak of Christ: the ox, of His devoted service toward God; the sheep, of His submission to God; the dove, of His purity before God. How revolting then that these should be sold for monetary profit!

The Lord does not hesitate in using a scourge to drive the oxen and sheep out, nor to pour out the change of the money-changers, nor to overturn their tables, and to command the sellers of doves to take them away. He claims His Father's house for His Father, where men's merchandising is to have no place.

This illustrates how the kindly provisions of the law could be and were corrupted to serve man's covetous ends. There was instruction on this point in Deuteronomy 14:22-26, and they might plead that they were only doing what the law allowed. The law told them to bring their money and purchase what they needed, but did not countenance the covetous practices they had introduced, turning the house of God into a money-making centre. The same thing in principle can be seen in our day; such as Romish shrines with shops attached where the devotees buy candles and other paraphernalia at high prices!

274 Now that He is owned prophet and king (His priesthood was to be accomplished elsewhere), the hand of Jehovah displays itself clearly. It was not then the testimony which failed in the heart of the people. The Lord exercises His authority in purifying the temple, profaned by the trading which took place there, and which provided for the wants of those who had need of animals for their sacrifices. This traffic brought in with it another, that of money-changers. They had made the house of God a den of thieves. Matthew only cites the passage. It was the house of His Father, but such is not the point of view presented here. He is the King, Emmanuel; also His power is manifested in grace; He heals the blind and the lame.

(Vv. 15-19). Having come into the city Jesus went into the temple, only to find how great had been the corruption of the House of God in the hands of men. That House through which God approaches men, and man can approach God, had become corrupted in the hands of religious professors into a means of indulging their greed. What the leaders in Israel did, it is possible for the leaders in the Christian assembly to do, but for the grace of God. In after years, the Apostle Paul warns us against the intrusion into the Christian circle of men of corrupt minds that "suppose gain to be the end of piety" (1 Tim. 6:5). Again the Apostle Peter, who presents the Church as the House of God, exhorts leaders to beware of attempting to feed the flock of God for "filthy lucre" (1 Peter 5:2). He also warns us, in his second epistle, that the time will come when men will arise in the Christian circle who "through covetousness" will "make merchandise" of believers. Thus we learn that the flesh never alters. The covetousness that corrupted the House of God at Jerusalem, has intruded with its corrupting influence into the spiritual House of God. So the time has come "that judgment must begin at the House of God." (1 Peter 4:7).

There are two words for Temple in the Greek New Testament. Hieron embraces the whole of the Temple area, 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). This word occurs 71 times. The other word, naos, has an exclusive meaning, designating the inner sanctuary of the Temple, the Holy Place where the priests ministered, the Holiest of all to which the High Priest alone had access on the great Day of Atonement. This word occurs 45 times. These two words are carefully distinguished in Scripture. For instance we read of Peter and John going into the Temple [hieron] to pray (Acts 3:3). They were Galileans, and not priests, so therefore the wider word was used. When our Lord cried on the cross those triumphant words, “IT IS FINISHED,” which have brought peace to the hearts of millions, “the veil of the Temple [naos] was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Matt. 27:51), thus showing that the way into the holiest was made manifest. It is very reassuring to see the care Scripture takes to present these shades of meaning. No uninspired writings would exhibit this care.