How should we understand the "Cleansing of the Temple"?

Question

As a preface, I was talking with some good friends last night and this passage came up. On of my friends contributed an interpretation that made my blood boil. He was clearly wrong and clearly reading a foreign doctrine into the text. I kept my mouth shut, but as I thought of it, I realized I was reading my own doctrine into the text too. Before you answer, please take a moment and see if your answer would have any support if you took away whatever prior notions you carry into the text.

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This story is present in all four gospels, so let's take just the account in John 2:13-17 (ESV):

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Clearly there was some sort of injustice going on in the temple that Jesus was responding to and, compared most of the other stories told about him, he was uncharacteristically aggressive. The disciples later related Jesus' action to "zeal", which had a number of overtones, then and now, of violence.

On the other hand, Jesus did not ever lead an armed revolt and seems to have done his best to avoid being caught up in such a thing. In John 6, the people are ready to crown him as king and he withdraws from them. While he did cause a disturbance, he really didn't cause any permanent harm. In the end, he was put to death for actions such as this and died without protest.

So two opposing views of this account are:

1. Jesus demonstrated civil disobedience by disrupting commerce in the temple.
2. Jesus demonstrated using appropriate force to correct an injustice.

Is this a false dichotomy? How should we interpret Jesus' actions?

Answer 1

Abstract

Neither of these views captures what Jesus was doing by clearing the temple. Rather, Jesus was acting as (more than) a prophet, judging the temple system and enacting a symbol of its coming destruction.

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Mark's Account

In Mark 11, the story is told as a sandwich story:

 a. Jesus curses a fig tree.
 b. The narrative is interupted as Jesus enters the temple and clears it.
 a'. The first narrative is resumed when Peter notices that the fig tree has withered.

The inner story (the clearing of the temple) and the the outer story function to explain one another. In both cursing the fig tree¹ and clearing the temple, Jesus has judged the system and announced, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again."²

His authority to do this is questioned in Mark 11:27-33. Despite his evasive answer, the claim Jesus makes about his authority to do such things should be obvious to the reader: his authority corresponds to that of John's baptism, being from heaven.

Luke's Account

Luke's account of the temple-clearing story doesn't come out of nowhere, but immediately follows his approach to Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44 NIV):

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you."

In Luke 19:46, while clearing the temple, Jesus to alludes Jeremiah 7:11, a passage wherein the prophet is also prophesying the coming destruction of the temple (cf. 7:14 especially). The context of the passage within Luke and the context of the quote in Jeremiah then lend to seeing Jesus' actions as symbolic.

John's Account

We see the same thing in John 2. Jesus clears the temple as a sign and in typical Johannine irony the Jews respond by asking him, "What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" Jesus replies to them "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." Which the narrator explains, "But the temple he had spoken of was his body." In other words, the significance of the event is that it foreshadows the replacement of the temple by Jesus as the true temple - a theme that John continues to develop throughout the gospel. (cf. 4:21, 9:38, 11:48, Rev. 21:22)

Not only so, but again we see that the authority he claims to do this is that of heaven. Jesus offers the sign of his resurrection as a vindication of his claims regarding the temple. Since it is God who raises the dead, Jesus is appealing to none other than the Father that what he says/does is in accordance with the Father (cf. 5:19, 8:28). Indeed, throughout the Fourth Gospel, Jesus makes clear that his authority to judge is given to him by the Father (cf. 5:22, 5:27, 17:2).³

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¹ The fig tree is to be identified with Israel. See for example Hosea 9:10 as well as many prophecies about the return from exile where each Israelite will sit under his own fig tree.

² For further treatment, see work by James Edwards in Novum Testamentum XXXI, 3 (1989) on Markan Sandwiches. Section 5.3 in particular deals with this pericope.

³ Notice in John 5:27, that Jesus receives his authority to judge from the Father because he is the Son of Man. Hence, more than a prophet.

Answer 2

I agree with Soldarnal that Jesus is symbolically enacting the temple's coming destruction. But I disagree that his authority was simply from heaven. Jesus claimed to be like Solomon, the "Son of David" and thus the rightful builder of God's house. See my response to Did Jesus have the legal authority to cleanse the temple? for more.

But why did Jesus think the temple should be destroyed?

As he overturned the tables of the money changers, Jesus said,

Is is not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers.

We emphasize the connection between the money changers and “den of robbers” but fail to see the quotation to Isaiah 56:7 in between.

these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

To whom is Isaiah 56:7 referring? The larger context concerns God's promise to the foreigner and the eunuch.

“Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will never let me be part of his people.’ And don’t let the eunuchs say, ‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’ For this is what the Lord says: I will bless those eunuchs who keep my Sabbath days holy and who choose to do what pleases me and commit their lives to me. I will give them—within the walls of my house— a memorial and a name far greater than sons and daughters could give. For the name I give them is an everlasting one. It will never disappear! “I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord, who serve him and love his name, who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest, and who hold fast to my covenant. I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

The temple establishment is not robbing from men. It is robbing from the universal glory due to God’s Name.

Isaiah prophesied (Is. 2)

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and all the nations will stream to it.

The word “nations” in this passages as well as the one quoted by Jesus is the word gentiles. But the gentiles by and large are not coming. Jesus is angry because rather than a bridge, the temple has become a barrier to the worship of God among pagans.

Answer 3

This isn't really meant to answer your question; it is more me thinking out loud and trying to learn. I'm less than a layman when it comes to hermeneutics, but I thought it was an interesting question about a Biblical account that I love, and I'd like to get @Jon Ericson's comments on my thoughts. Poking around the board a bit, it seems like you really know your stuff.

I didn't even think you could be reading a "foreign doctrine" into this story-- so maybe I am, too, and I don't even know it. I'd be curious to know what your friend was reading into it.

I always thought that this uncharacteristic anger that Jesus expresses here (probably the angriest we see Him in the NT) was a [just] reaction to these sellers' sin of loving money more than God (idolatry; also 1 Timothy 6:10). As this answer said, "he was upset at what he saw"; the traders were making God's house a "den of robbers", when it's supposed to be a "house of prayer" (Mark 11:17).

Wouldn't part of this also be that He is fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 69, as noted by the disciples' realization: "His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for your house will consume me.'"?

The Bible is clear that we are to follow man's law except when it conflicts with God's law (reference). So yes, Jesus was using appropriate force to correct a grave injustice (what makes God angrier than idolatry?), but I think there's more to it-- it's a false dichotomy because there are other possibilities besides the two you supplied; one would be fulfillment of prophecy.

Answer 4

Despite being the son of God, Jesus had thumos and phren and splachna and all the other parts common to men. It's small wonder, then, that the sight of the temple being made into an exchange brought out his zelos.

But "ζῆλος" is not a response to abstract injustice, nor a political revolt, nor civil disobedience. If it were, verses like 2 Cor 7:7 ("announcing...your zelos over me") or 1 Cor 14:1 ("you must all zeloo for the spiritual things") would make no sense. It is a word paired with ἐριθεία ("selfishness") and ἔρις ("quarreling") for a reason.

Jon, you actually exhibited ζῆλος when your friend "contributed an interpretation that made my blood boil". It is the feeling you have when your in-group (sometimes consisting of just yourself) is challenged, cheated, or violated, and you rise to meet the challenge, wanting first to win and only afterward (if at all) to decide whether you are in the right. It is the pride in one's in-group that drives sporting events to this day. It is manly competition which was the only way to thrive (and often survive) in a world of limited good. I tend to translate it as "rivalry".

Jesus' initial actions, then, were not because the poor were being cheated or because the system was oppressive or because he wanted to presage some future event. The ones buying and selling (not just vendors but wholesalers and brokers and even bankers, it's not ἀγορά, "market", but ἐμπόριον, "exchange") were doing so in his Dad's house. No surprise then that he drove them out; wouldn't you? Violence is justified when you and yours are being violated.

Answer 5

As stated in another answer, the first reference to the cleansing of the temple (Mark 15:11-18) forms part of a Markan sandwich in which the outer narrative has Jesus curse a fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season:

a. Jesus curses a fig tree.
b. The narrative is interupted as Jesus enters the temple and clears it.
a'. The first narrative is resumed when Peter notices that the fig tree has withered.

Mark frequently sandwiches two apparently unrelated narratives in this way, in order to emphasise some point. In both the story of the fig tree and that of cleansing of the temple, Jesus becomes angry and curses an adversary. That this was an intentional literary device can be seen just a few verses earlier (Mark 11:11), when Jesus went into the temple and looked around about upon all things, and therefore must have seen the moneychangers and those who sold doves, but took no action:

Mark 11:11: And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

Jesus is clearly not using appropriate force to correct an injustice, because if that were the case, he would have acted immediately on his first visit. On the other hand, if Jesus is demonstrating civil disobedience by disrupting commerce in the temple, he must have been intentionally drawing attention to himself. Mark introduces the Cleansing of the Temple as the "last straw" that results in his opponents seeking to have him crucified (Mark 11:18). The account contains an allusion to Jeremiah 7:11:

Jeremiah 7:11: Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.

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The author of Matthew was unaware of Mark's use of literary sandwiches and simplifies the sequence of events, thus removing the association between the Cleansing and the fig tree narrative. In this account, the priests are not so much angered by the Cleansing of the Temple, but by Jesus' continued teachings and the power of his parables, so the Cleansing of the Temple becomes a less important episode. If this public act was intended to cause an open confrontation, it seems that, for Matthew, it failed in that purpose.

The author of Luke omits the narrative of the fig tree. As with Matthew, the Cleansing of the Temple becomes a less important episode and the priests seek to kill Jesus because of the influence he is having on the people.

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If the narrative of the Cleansing of the Temple is not part of the justification for the priests to seek to kill Jesus, it is no longer necessary for it to occur at the end of the Gospel. Robert Kysar (John, the Maverick Gospel, third edition (2007), page 11) points out that the Johannine account makes the raising of Lazarus the pivotal event that triggers the plot to kill Jesus. Kysar says the Temple cleansing is given a symbolic role at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, where it seems to suggest that his ministry was in general designed to cleanse Judaism.

Answer 6

I believe the best way to interpret his actions concerning the house are found in the Torah and the Prophets. The act is a liturgical one. The reason is found in Leviticus, etc. which speaks of a leprous house. The commerce is just a symptom (Jesus ties worship to commerce in Revelation - fine gold). This also ties it to the sin of Miriam.

Jesus inspected the Temple for "scale disease" (not leprosy but "snakeskin" - that is, the offer of kingdom without priestly reference to God, tied to Moses' handling of the serpent). In Leviticus 14, the priest must inspect the house in the city (not in the Land) and cleanse it. He would return after 7 days for a second inspection, and if the disease had returned, the house would have to be torn down.

So, Jesus inspects the house around AD30. According to some Christian interpretations he returns "in like manner" around AD70 and finds the house entirely given over to evil. Now the house will be torn down. Her last state would be worse than the first (Matthew 12:45). For her sorcery, she would be stoned and burned with fire (Isaiah 47:9; Revelation 9:21).

There is also a reference to Ezekiel inspecting the Temple. And again, in the second Temple, Nehemiah throws Tobiah the Ammonite out of the Temple, restores the firstfruits to the Levites and locks the Tyrians out of the city to prevent trade on the Sabbath (Cainites in the Land), and then breaks of the intermarriage with unconverted women (daughters of men in the World). Thus, the entire world, as a three-level construct, is clean. This age is stage 3. Satan is currently bound from gathering a "united nations" against the church, and his influence is slowly being "circumcised."

Practically, God's house must be separate and holy to be a house for the nations.

Answer 7

When Jesus cleaned the temple it was because he knew he was God and that it was his house. This is foretold in prophecy:

In sensus plenior, there is a hidden prophecy that Jesus would rebel at age 12:

Ge 14:4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. The kings of Chedloamer served him 12 years and then rebelled.

The five against four represent the flesh against the Word. Chedloamer means 'handful of sheaves' representing his parents as a small portion of the field of harvest.

According to sensus plenior the 'rebellion' at age 12 is linked by drash to Manassaeh as the 12 year old king:

2Ch 33:13 "And he prayed unto Him; and He was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD He was God."

SP says this passage tells us that Jesus knew he was God before he returned to Jerusalem because of perceived grammatical ambiguity in this verse. Riddles are made from the ambiguity of language.

The only thing that transpired in the scriptures between these two events was the wedding at Cana. Prior to removing judgement/axe from the word/water, it was not yet his time. But immediately after changing water/(the whole word) into wine(grace) he immediately began his ministry. "He knew he was God".

He claimed the temple as his own. There was no concept of social justice involved. And there was no crime. It was his Father's house, and his also directly by relation.