Daily Verse | 2 Samuel 7:22
“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.”
It’s Tuesday, the second day of Holy Week. Today we’re looking at one of the passages that doesn’t fit the “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” stereotype. It’s fascinating to me that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey, but one of the first things he did was kick over tables and chairs in, of all places, the temple.
Matthew’s account reads:
Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer, but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.'”
What’s going on here?
Note that Jesus focused on two characters: the money changers and those who sold doves. In both cases, the merchants were making money off of those who were using their services. Remember, it was Passover and thousands of Jews from many different countries were participating in the Passover celebration, which was governed by Jewish law as written in what we call the Old Testament.
These Jews brought with them foreign currencies, but Jewish law required the temple tax to be paid in Hebrew coin. The money changers converted the various currencies into the Tyrian shekel that was used to pay the annual temple tax. For doing that, the money changers charged a small fee in the form of a small coin known as a kolbon. So the money changers were using a God-ordained celebration as an occasion to make a profit off of the pilgrims who came in obedience to the Law.
The same was true for those who sold doves. Every Jewish family was required to sacrifice an unblemished lamb during the Passover celebration. However, not every family could afford a lamb. In that case, God allowed a poor family to bring two doves or pigeons in place of the lamb (Leviticus 5:7). Because they had no other way to get the doves or pigeons, they were at the mercy of those who sold the birds. And the bird sellers showed no mercy, charging them exorbitant rates, making it even more difficult for the poor to honor God.
It would be similar to going to watch the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field and purchasing a hot dog and beer for $17.75. It ruins the experience and we all know that the price is “highway robbery.” The only difference is that the Bears’ fan isn’t required to purchase the food like the Jewish traveler was required to make a sacrifice.
In both cases the merchants were exploiting a holy occasion to make money off of those who were required to offer worship through financial and animal sacrifice. The ultimate irony is that the money changers and the dove sellers indulged their greed—their sin—while the Jewish worshipers were making atonement for their sin. That’s why Jesus chastised them as a “den of robbers” in a “house of prayer.”
A final point: “We cannot underestimate the importance of this act. It showed Jesus as having authority to purify and take charge of the temple, a messianic task.” Jesus is no pushover. He takes charge as one with authority, as he had demonstrated throughout his ministry.
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Matthew 7:29
Once again he acts messianic. And that makes a lot of people, especially the religious leaders, very nervous.
[Image: Driving of the Merchants From the Temple by Scarsellino]