hotcoffee
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Matthew 21:12 Jesus entered the temple courts 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. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[e] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[f]”
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
“‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise’[g]?”
17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
“‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise’[g]?”
17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
e.Matthew 21:13 Isaiah 56:7
f.Matthew 21:13 Jer. 7:11
g.Matthew 21:16 Psalm 8:2 (see Septuagint)
We learned in Daniel that the priesthood was up for bribes. The priests were installed in the position by the government rather than by God.
As the historical fulfillment of the last vision Daniel had, we see Jesus standing up to the corruption in the Temple.
Here's what one commentary says.
A pair of doves could cost as little as 4p outside the Temple and as much as 75p inside the Temple." This is almost 20 times more expensive.
Yet Jesus' anger was against all those who bought as well as those who sold. "Sellers and buyers viewed as one company - kindred in spirit, to be cleared out wholesale. The traffic was necessary, and might have been innocent; but the trading spirit soon develops abuses which were doubtless rampant at that period." (Bruce)
What Jesus did was important more as an acted-out parable than for what it accomplished in itself. "There is no indication, nor is it likely, that any lasting reform was achieved; no doubt the tables were back for the rest of the week, and Jesus took no further action."
There was a contemporary expectation that the Messiah would cleanse the temple, both approving it after the pagan conquerors (such as Antiochus Epiphanes and Pompey), but also from the false worship from God's own people.
I do not believe we shall thoroughly purify any church by Acts of Parliament, nor by reformation associations, nor by agitation, nor by any merely human agency. No hand can grasp the scourge that can drive out the buyers and sellers, but that hand which once was fastened to the cross. Let the Lord do it and the work will be done, for it is not of man, nor shall man accomplish it." (Spurgeon)
Yet Jesus' anger was against all those who bought as well as those who sold. "Sellers and buyers viewed as one company - kindred in spirit, to be cleared out wholesale. The traffic was necessary, and might have been innocent; but the trading spirit soon develops abuses which were doubtless rampant at that period." (Bruce)
What Jesus did was important more as an acted-out parable than for what it accomplished in itself. "There is no indication, nor is it likely, that any lasting reform was achieved; no doubt the tables were back for the rest of the week, and Jesus took no further action."
There was a contemporary expectation that the Messiah would cleanse the temple, both approving it after the pagan conquerors (such as Antiochus Epiphanes and Pompey), but also from the false worship from God's own people.
I do not believe we shall thoroughly purify any church by Acts of Parliament, nor by reformation associations, nor by agitation, nor by any merely human agency. No hand can grasp the scourge that can drive out the buyers and sellers, but that hand which once was fastened to the cross. Let the Lord do it and the work will be done, for it is not of man, nor shall man accomplish it." (Spurgeon)
