The Temple Disruption

Tuesday of Holy Week

The Temple Disruption

Texts: Mark 11:15-19, Matthew 21:12-13, Luke 19:45-48, John 2:13-17

This scripture is usually called "The Cleansing of the Temple." The term is not in the Bible, is completely erroneous, and should be replaced. Jesus was not mopping floors, nor was he in any way purifying the Temple. The most common understanding is that Jesus was objecting to commerce in the Temple, to buying and selling, to moneychanging. That understanding does not accord with what we know about Temple practices in the time of Jesus. 

The central Jewish rite in the Temple was animal sacrifice. All religions of that time practiced animal sacrifice. People and families would make pilgrimages to Jerusalem to have sacrifices made for them in the Temple by the priests. There were several different kinds of sacrifices, sacrifices for specific holy days, sacrifices for specific sins. There were rules for how the sacrifices were made.  The sacrificial animals were killed as humanely as possible. Doves, or occasionally other birds, were the animals generally sacrificed. People could bring their own doves or they could buy doves in the outer courtyard of the Temple. Strict rules prohibited the dove sellers from price gouging.

The doves had to be bought with Jewish money, shekels. The normal currency in use every else was Roman money. The moneychangers in the Temple courtyard exchanged Roman money for Jewish money. Again, strict rules prohibited undue profits for the moneychangers.  The Temple authorities made sure that none of the people who came to have sacrifices made for them were getting ripped off. So the common notion that Jesus was objecting to the commercialization of the Temple appears unfounded. 

What then did Jesus mean when he said, "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers." The most logical explanation is that "robbers" or bandits, as the word might better be translated, refers to the Zealot revolutionaries, who were often called bandits, and who like to congregate in the Temple precincts, an area that was generally safe from Roman police intrusion. 

The still leaves us with the question, "Why did Jesus do this? What was his motive in causing this disruption?"  This is one of those questions that my views have changed on and may well change again. Jesus never announces a specific program he has for the Temple. 

In Mark 13:1-2 Jesus prophesies the destruction of the Temple and that it will happen within a generation (Mark 13:30). Jesus made this prophecy in 30 AD. The destruction of the Temple by the Romans occurred in 70 AD. 40 years, which in the Bible is considered the normal time of a generation. 

Was Jesus Temple disruption an "acting out" of a prophecy he would make just a day later? Maybe that was part of it, but I think there was more. I believe that Jesus opposed the whole idea of animal sacrifice. This opposition was not because of inhuman treatment of animals. Jesus was no vegetarian. Rather, Jesus was following the tradition of the OT prophets, Micah 6:6-8 and Amos 5:21-24, that God does not desire sacrifice from God's people, not sacrifice but justice and mercy. 

I am not totally wedded to my viewpoint expressed here. It is the best explanation I have heard for the Temple Disruption, but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. I'm glad to hear your questions or disagreements. Email me or post a reply on this blog. 

Faithfully,

Christian