Cleansing the Temple, Matthew 21:12

On this particular day that we are studying, as dawn came to Jerusalem, I would imagine that the businessmen who had their areas of business at the temple mount awoke early and busied themselves to get ready for what was one of the most significant days in their business calendar. It was the 10^th of Nisan, which was the day that was set aside in the book of Exodus when the people would come to the temple and select their sacrificial lamb that would be offered on the 14^th of Nisan as their Passover lamb.

Josephus tells us that some quarter of a million lambs (he says around 267,000) were sacrificed each year at Passover. That is an enormous number, and if one lamb was sacrificed for every ten people in a family that would suggest somewhere around 2.6-million people who would descend upon Jerusalem during Passover week.

The people would have to purchase lambs from these dealers inside the temple. They are referred to in the passage as moneychangers but there is more to it than that. This was big business and this was one of the biggest times of the year. We are told by some authorities that if you had the franchise on one of these booths you might make between two and three million dollars a year. This was the result of the fraudulent practices that they had inside of the temple.

So as they awoke that morning they were looking forward to one of the most lucrative times of the year. Little did they imagine what would transpire.

On that day, the 10^th of Nisan, we are told that something else took place. This day we are going to see that the temple was cleansed. There is significance in that, and not only for that time; there is an analogy for us in the Christian life.

Matthew 21:12 ^NASB “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.”

We have to observe the terminology here. We have the word “temple” used here, and there are two words in the Greek language so translated. The first is the word HIERON, and the second is the word NAOS. HIERON is a broader term, a term that includes the entire temple precinct, all of the building that were on the top of the temple mount, including the courtyards, the court of the Gentiles, the court of the women, the court of the priests. The word NAOS just describes the center building, the temple itself, the holy place and the holy of holies.

Scripture makes some important distinctions here. Jesus, when He is cleansing the temple (as well as at the beginning of His ministry in John chapter one) He isn't going into the NAOS; He is cleaning up the outer courtyard where there are the various abuses.

By the time of Christ Herod had expanded the second temple. In the first period of the second temple it was known as Zerubbabel's temple, and it was somewhat modest compared to Solomon's temple because on their return from the exile they didn't have many resources or as much money. Herod, who loved to build, decided to redo the temple and make it a showpiece for the entire world.

The area of the moneychangers was very large, a huge complex covering 35 acres. Jesus is going to, by Himself, on the force of His own personality, seize control of this area. That is profound. He is going to take over, and He doesn't face any opposition in doing it. Many of the priests and rabbis at the time recognized the corruption and tried to do something about it, but they couldn't because there was basically a Mafia-type situation going on in Israel at the time. Everything that happened on the temple mount was controlled by Annas who had been the high priest from AD 6 until 16. And he was like the Godfather. He controlled access, who got the franchises, who lost the franchises; he controlled everything.

At this point in time the son-in-law of Annas, Joseph Caiaphas, was the high priest (from AD 18-36). He was the high priest at the time that Jesus was arrested and also brought before him. To show the power of Annas, Jesus was taken to Annas first before He was taken to Caiaphas. Annas really controlled everything.

Verse 21 tells us that Jesus drove out all those who bought and sold who were buying and selling in the temple. That indicates a somewhat violent action. He is not throwing a temper tantrum, He very calmly is walking through this enormous area flipping over their tables, tearing down their stalls, and this took some time. He probably spent an hour or two tearing things down and physically running these people out of the area.

John described what had happened earlier in 2:15-17 ^NASB “And He made a scourge of cords, and drove {them} all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables ...” This isn't the meek and mild Jesus of the liberals. He is physically tough, and it is in His humanity. He is not doing this out of His deity. He has a presence of authority and power that flows from His integrity where He meets no opposition.

“... and to those who were selling the doves He said, 'Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business'.” Notice that He doesn't release the doves. That is important because those were the sacrifices for the poor people. He just tells them to take them away. “His disciples remembered that it was written, 'ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME'.”

Matthew 21:12 is a cleansing of the outer temple, not the inner temple. An implication of that is that when we get into the New Testament we see in 1 Corinthians 3:16 that our body is the temple of God. The Greek word there is NAOS, the word for the holy of holies in the holy building. That tells us that we are set apart positionally as God's adopted children, we are priests unto God, and we are set apart in a way no other believer in history was set apart because we are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit who makes us in the inner man a temple, a dwelling place like the holy of holies. That is not what is being cleaned up. Being cleaned up is what is on the outside.

This is an illustration of the importance of cleansing in Scripture. The Old Testament depicts it. If you were going to go into the temple you had to be cleansed; you had to go through the cleansing ritual. This is also alluded to in Psalm 118. When those in the procession were going to enter the temple, there is the dialogue where it is probably the priests who were saying only those who were righteous could enter in. They were reminding them of the ritual required that only those who were cleansed could enter the temple to worship God.

This is why we emphasize 1 John 1:9 at the beginning of every class. Have we been cleansed from sin, are we in right relationship with God. This is external, dealing with the external part, the HIEROS. So we are to be under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit through the power of God's Word, cleaning up our lives, as it were, not through our own moral efforts, which are just human good and human works, but through our walk by the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the Word of God works to change us from the inside out.

Matthew21:13 ^NASB “And He said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN'.”

Jesus is going back to two Old Testament statements and tying them together in what is taking place at this time. Isaiah 56:7 was written at a time when Isaiah was looking forward to the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian captivity when it would be a house of prayer. He may even be talking about the future millennial temple in context. “Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” This is the millennial kingdom when all the nations will come to worship on the holy mountain.

Jesus stops and doesn't add “for all peoples/nations” because He is dealing with Israel here, He is not dealing with the Gentiles at all.

Then He quotes from Jeremiah 7:11 ^NASB “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen {it,}” declares the LORD. Jesus just lifts out that phrase “den of robbers”.

The first thing Jesus does as he comes into the temple is to exercise His authority as the Messiah, and He cleanses the temple to restore it to a place of worship. This creates a head-on confrontation with the religious leaders.

But the next thing He does is to sit down and begin to minister to the people, again demonstrating His messianic identity.

Matthew 21:14 ^NASB “And {the} blind and {the} lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them”. This is a fulfilment of Isaiah 35:5, 6 ^NASB “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.”

Again, this is a depiction of the ministry of the Messiah when He comes. What He is doing is turning back the effects and consequences of being in a sinful, corrupt world. That is the role of the Messiah.

Adam sinned. Sin entered into the universe and the universe became corrupt. Prior to that there was no sickness, no physical death whatsoever. But after Adam sins with corruption in the world there is going to be death, disease, sickness; all of these horrible things from birth defects to famine, to war, are all the consequences of sin. Jesus is demonstrating as the Messiah that He rolls back the effects of sin. He heals the lame and gives sight to the blind, demonstrating that he is the Messiah. This really angers the chief priests and scribes.

This is one of several groups that are going to come and oppose Jesus. He is going to be opposed by the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the scribes who are mentioned twenty-seven times in Matthew. By this time in Israel's history the scribes were the experts in the Law. They had memorized all of the Old Testament. They accompanied the chief priests who at that time were, according to Deuteronomy, to be teachers of the Law.

Matthew 21:15 ^NASB “But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, 'Hosanna to the Son of David,' they became indignant”. The children are now picking up the chant from Psalm 118. If the adults won't do it, the children are going to do it. This is the second time there has been this reference to Jesus as the Son of David in this section, emphasizing the recognition of Him as the Messiah. The response of the chief priests is that they are angry, indignant and frustrated. They want to get rid of Him; He is tearing down everything that they are doing.

Matthew 21:16 ^NASB “and said to Him, 'Do You hear what these {children} are saying?' And Jesus said to them, 'Yes; have you never read, ‘OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF’?”

Jesus confronts them: “Just stop, think about it.” He knew that they knew the Old Testament Scriptures. “Listen to what they are saying”. They should be able to stop, think, relax, and of they are hearing the children quote Psalm 118:25 the whole psalm should come to their mind. It is being fulfilled before their very eyes. Jesus says to those who have memorized the Scriptures: “Haven't you read this?” That is just a slap in the face.

Then He quotes from Psalm 8:2 ^NASB “From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength ...” The idea is that the religious leaders have completely failed, so God is going to raise up a witness from the children; they will declare the truth.

He confronts them with their apostasy and with their ignorance of Scripture, and then He leaves. Matthew 21:17 ^NASB “And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.”

Jesus has made a very clear statement to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: The Messiah is here; you have two options. Accept me as the Messiah or reject me as Messiah.