Senior Seminar Daily Submission 2

Ben Currin
Senior Seminar: Gospel of John
Dr. Dwaine Greene
Sept. 12, 2002

JESUS DRIVES THE MONEY-LENDERS FROM THE TEMPLE
(John 2:13-25)

“Information and Insights:”

The Passage Itself From The New Revised Standard Version Of The Bible

John 2:13-25----Jesus Cleanses The Temple
13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body.22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
23 When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing.24 But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people25 and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.#

Outline
I) John 2:13-20
A) Takes place during Passover
1) Near the Easter event
a) Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover
b) He was also there to be crucified later on
c) This was during the end of Jesus’ ministry
2) Jesus finds the Temple
a) Not in a state of Worship
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# The New Revised Standard Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

b) Using His Father’s house in an unfit manner
B) Jesus shows anger for the first time in the Bible
1) Jesus gets angry at the people misusing the Temple
2) Jesus has never been angry before in any other passages about His life except for this ordeal with the money-lenders
C) Jesus Drives the Money-lenders out
1) This goes back to point B of the outline
2) He was using His anger to drive them out, so that the Temple would be cleansed
D) Jesus and the Jews
1) The Jews ask Jesus why He did what He just did
a) They were seeking the meaning in relations with signs
2) Jesus’ reply to the Jews
a) “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” b) Jesus was talking about His Crucifixion and Resurrection
3) The Jews were shocked
a) They asked: ““This temple has been under construction for forty- six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”
4) Of course, Jesus was using it as a metaphor for the coming events
II) John 2:21-25
A) Jesus’ metaphor
1) Was remembered by His disciples
2) Was believed and used in the Scriptures as an illustration of Jesus’ Resurrection
B) Jesus and the People of Jerusalem
1) Many believed in His name only for signs alone
2) During Passover
a) Crowds gathered around Jesus seeking miracles only
b) During the Crucifixion they denied Him
C) Jesus Knows everyone
1) Jesus didn’t have to trust anyone
2) He knew everyone
` 3) Only He Himself fully knew Himself

“Explorations and Implications:”
An Outlined Catalog of Secondary Source Material on John 2:13-25
---Dealing with the Terms: “Money-Lender and Market-Place”

I) Source--- MARKET-PLACES, Matt. 20:3; Mark 12:38; Luke 7:32; Acts 16:19, (any open place of public resort in cities or towns where public trials and assemblies were held and goods were exposed for sale. “The market-places or bazaars of the East were, and are at this day, the constant resort of unoccupied people, the idle, the news-mongers.”—(Hackett’s Ill. S. S.—ED.)#
A) Me--- Markets were usually restricted to bazaars and set up in an area near the town square. This source lists some other passages, where the market is found in them. Markets were not suppose to be setup in or even near temples as John 2:13-25 shows. In this way, Jesus was correct in driving out the money-lenders and sellers from His Father’s house.

II) Source--- MONEY-CHANGERS. Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:15. According to Ex. 30:13-15, every Israelite who had reached or passed the age of twenty must pay into the sacred treasury, whenever the nation was numbered, a half-shekel as an offering to Jehovah. The money-changers whom Christ, for their impiety, avarice and fraudulent dealing, expelled from the temple were the dealers who supplied half-shekels, for such a premium as they might be able to exact, to the Jews from all parts of the world who assembled at Jerusalem during the great festivals, and were required to pay their tribute or ransom money in the Hebrew coin.#
A) Me--- In the same source, we find out more about the money-lenders themselves. We see that these money-lenders had some connection to the temple as far as offerings go, but still were unfaithful in their treatment of God and God’s Holy Temple.

III) Source--- 1. He purged the temple, v. 14–17. Observe here,
(1.) The first place we find him in at Jerusalem was the temple, and, it should seem, he did not make any public appearance till he came thither; for his presence and preaching there were that glory of the latter house which was to exceed the glory of the former, Hag. 2:9. It was foretold (Mal. 3:1): I will send my messenger, John Baptist; he never preached in the temple, but the Lord, whom ye seek, he shall suddenly come to his temple, suddenly after the appearing of John Baptist; so that this was the time, and the temple the place, when, and where, the Messiah was to be expected.
(2.) The first work we find him at in the temple was the purging of it; for so it was foretold there (Mal. 3:2, 3): He shall sit as a refiner and purify the sons of Levi. Now was come the time of reformation. Christ came to be the great reformer; and, according to the method of the reforming kings of Judah, he first purged out what was amiss (and that used to be passover-work too, as in Hezekiah’s time, 2 Chr. 30:14, 15, and Josiah’s, 2 Ki. 23:4, etc.), and then taught them to do well. First purge out the old leaven, and then keep the feast. Christ’s design in coming into the world was to reform the world; and he expects that all who come to him should reform their hearts and lives, Gen. 35:2. And this he has taught us by purging the temple. See here,
[1.] What were the corruptions that were to be purged out. He found a market in one of the courts of the temple, that which was called the court of the Gentiles, within the
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#- William Smith; revised and edited by F.N. and M.A. Peloubet, Smith’s Bible dictionary [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997.
# - William Smith; revised and edited by F.N. and M.A. Peloubet, Smith’s Bible dictionary [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997.

mountain of that house. There, First, They sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, for sacrifice; we will suppose, not for common use, but for the convenience of those who came out of the country, and could not bring their sacrifices in kind along with them; see Deu. 14:24–26. This market perhaps had been kept by the pool of Bethesda (ch. 5:2), but was admitted into the temple by the chief priests, for filthy lucre; for, no doubt, the rents for standing there, and fees for searching the beasts sold there, and certifying that they were without blemish, would be a considerable revenue to them. Great corruptions in the church owe their rise to the love of money, 1 Tim. 6:5, 10. Secondly, They changed money, for the convenience of those that were to pay a half-shekel in specie every year, by way of poll, for the service of the tabernacle (Ex. 30:12), and no doubt they got by it.
[2.] What course our Lord took to purge out those corruptions. He had seen these in the temple formerly, when he was in a private station; but never went about to drive them out till now, when he had taken upon him the public character of a prophet. He did not complain to the chief priests, for he knew they countenanced those corruptions. But he himself,
First, Drove out the sheep and oxen, and those that sold them, out of the temple. He never used force to drive any into the temple, but only to drive those out that profaned it. He did not seize the sheep and oxen for himself, did not distrain and impound them, though he found them damage faissant-actual trespassers upon his Father’s ground; he only drove them out, and their owners with them. He made a scourge of small cords, which probably they had led their sheep and oxen with, and thrown them away upon the ground, whence Christ gathered them. Sinners prepare the scourges with which they themselves will be driven out from the temple of the Lord. He did not make a scourge to chastise the offenders (his punishments are of another nature), but only to drive out the cattle; he aimed no further than at reformation. See Rom. 13:3, 4; 2 Co. 10:8.
Secondly, He poured out the changers’ money, to kerma—the small money—the Nummorum Famulus. In pouring out the money, he showed his contempt of it; he threw it to the ground, to the earth as it was. In overthrowing the tables, he showed his displeasure against those that make religion a matter of worldly gain. Money-changers in the temple are the scandal of it. Note, In reformation, it is good to make thorough work; he drove them all out; and not only threw out the money, but, in overturning the tables, threw out the trade too.
Thirdly, He said to them that sold doves (sacrifices for the poor), Take these things hence. The doves, though they took up less room, and were a less nuisance than the oxen and sheep, yet must not be allowed there. The sparrows and swallows were welcome, that were left to God’s providence (Ps. 84:3), but not the doves, that were appropriated to man’s profit. God’s temple must not be made a pigeon-house. But see Christ’s prudence in his zeal. When he drove out the sheep and oxen, the owners might follow them; when he poured out the money, they might gather it up again; but, if he had turned the doves flying, perhaps they could not have been retrieved; therefore to them that sold doves he said, Take these things hence. Note, Discretion must always guide and govern our zeal, that we do nothing unbecoming ourselves, or mischievous to others.
Fourthly, He gave them a good reason for what he did: Make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise. Reason for conviction should accompany force for correction.
a. Here is a reason why they should not profane the temple, because it was the house of God, and not to be made a house of merchandise. Merchandise is a good thing in the exchange, but not in the temple. This was, (a.) to alienate that which was dedicated to the honour of God; it was sacrilege; it was robbing God. (b.) It was to debase that which was solemn and awful, and to make it mean. (c.) It was to disturb and distract those services in which men ought to be most solemn, serious, and intent. It was particularly an affront to the sons of the stranger in their worship to be forced to herd themselves with the sheep and oxen, and to be distracted in their worship by the noise of a market, for this market was kept in the court of the Gentiles. (d.) It was to make the business of religion subservient to a secular interest; for the holiness of the place must advance the market, and promote the sale of their commodities. Those make God’s house a house of merchandise, [a.] Whose minds are filled with cares about worldly business when they are attending on religious exercises, as those, Amos 8:5; Eze. 33:31. [b.] Who perform divine offices for filthy lucre, and sell the gifts of the Holy Ghost, Acts 8:18.
b. Here is a reason why he was concerned to purge it, because it was his Father’s house. And, (a.) Therefore he had authority to purge it, for he was faithful, as a Son over his own house. Heb. 3:5, 6. In calling God his Father, he intimates that he was the Messiah, of whom it was said, He shall build a house for my name, and I will be his Father, 2 Sa. 7:13, 14. (b.) Therefore he had a zeal for the purging of it: "It is my Father’s house, and therefore I cannot bear to see it profaned, and him dishonoured.’’ Note, If God be our Father in heaven, and it be therefore our desire that his name may be sanctified, it cannot but be our grief to see it polluted. Christ’s purging the temple thus may justly be reckoned among his wonderful works. Inter omnia signa quae fecit Dominus, hoc mihi videtur esse mirabilius—Of all Christ’s wonderful works this appears to me the most wonderful.— Hieron. Considering, [a.] That he did it without the assistance of any of his friends; probably it had been no hard matter to have raised the mob, who had a great veneration for the temple, against these profaners of it; but Christ never countenanced any thing that was tumultuous or disorderly. There was one to uphold, but his own arm did it. [b.] That he did it without the resistance of any of his enemies, either the market-people themselves, or the chief priests that gave them their licences, and had the posse templi—temple force, at their command. But the corruption was too plain to be justified; sinners’ own consciences are reformers’ best friends; yet that was not all, there was a divine power put forth herein, a power over the spirits of men; and in this non-resistance of theirs that scripture was fulfilled (Mal. 3:2, 3), Who shall stand when he appeareth?#
A) Me--- Matthew Henry’s commentary is perhaps the best way to get behind the troubling text of John 2:13-25. Henry is commenting on the King James Version of the Bible, hence, some of the archaic language, but even so his comments are well worth the time of looking at. In this commentary, we see how Jesus purges the temple of the money-lenders. Purging is a verb kin to the verb of cleansing, but takes on a more spiritual meaning than the verb, cleansing. Indeed, Jesus was not only ridding the temple of the nuisance of these money-changers and people selling and trading in
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# Henry, Matthew, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Bible, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers) 1997.

the temple, but He also was trying to purify the people on the temple grounds. Henry points to the Greek word “ to Kerma” which deals with making small change. This pertains to what Smith’s Bible Dictionary said about the money-changer’s job was, which was to provide a half-shekel for people to offer to God. Matthew Henry’s commentary gives a detailed account about how Jesus cleansed the temple. The reason why Jesus drove them out, of course, was because God’s house is a place of worship and not a place of merchandise. The words market-place and bazaar are closely related to what Henry describes as a place of merchandise. New Strong’s Guide To Bible Words defines the word market place as coming from the Greek Term “agora---which is referenced here---MARKETPLACE --58 agoára (3), town-square, market.# However, the list of possible Hebrew and Greek terms, in the same source, for the word merchandise is listed as follows: MERCHANDISE
4267 machaánaq (1), choking, strangling
4627 ma>aáraÆb (4), mercantile goods
4819 markoÆleth (1), mart, market
5504 cachar (4), profit from trade
5505 caÆchar (2), profit from trade
5506 cƒchoÆraÆh (1), traffic
6014 >aÆmar (2), to gather grain into sheaves
7404 rƒkullaÆh (2), peddled trade
1117 goámoás (2), cargo, wares or freight
1711 eámpoária (1), traffic, business trade
1712 eámpoárioán (1), emporium marketplace#
In this sense, Henry’s comparison is a bit un-concise, but is a close enough word comparison. It is interesting to see how the Hebrew term for merchandise can also mean: “to choke up/choking/strangling.” This seems a bit strange considering the irony of how Jesus showed anger towards the money-lenders and the ones selling their wares within the grounds of the temple. In all fairness, it is an imperative manner to point out the fact that this strange relation isn’t to declare that the ones whom invented the language of Hebrew
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#- James Strong, New Strong’s guide to Bible words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1996.
#- James Strong, New Strong’s guide to Bible words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1996.

would know of Jesus’ events which took place in the temple thousands of years later. No, it is just a mere irony and just a coincidence at hand and that is all.
Some Concluding Thoughts And Reflections On John 2:13-25 And Secondary Sources
John 2:13-25 seems to be a troubling passage in the New Testament, because it is a passage that displays Jesus’ anger and isn’t liked much by laypeople just like the parts of the Old Testament that display God as a wrathful and vengeful God, but these passages are true to the character of God just as much as the characteristics of mercy and love. This passage applies to today’s time, because of the many so-called Christian musicians and churches which make a show out of God’s name. There are so many churches out here today that are only focused on pleasing people and drawing in crowds rather than the true focus of the church which is to please God. The story of Jesus purging the temple is important to our lives in that respect as well as the fact that He cleanses and purifies our body’s temple. The passage illustrates the fact that Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead on our own behalf as He stated that He would “raise the temple up in three days.” This passage is one that makes us aware of our remembrance of what Jesus has done for us. In short, these are several reason for the inclusion of this story in John’s passages of the Bible, because he wants to theologically illustrate what humankind should be aware of and the virtues they should strive to take when following Jesus. In this way, this story is also difficult to agree with when using Jesus’ life as the perfect example or model for our own. In the end, secondary sources help us to relate to this story and reflect on it. I think this story is important, because it helps to shape our own character and the church’s character as well. The main reason for it’s importance, however, is to metaphorically illustrate the theological purpose of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection which was to cleanse/purify or purge and forgive us of our sins.