Matthew 21:12, commentary and pictures

On Passover morning near the close of His ministry Jesus entered the crowded temple a second time and drove out all who bought and sold, overthrowing the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves with a scourge of small cords. The outer court had become a noisy market for cattle, sheep and birds for offerings and for exchanging foreign money, in which priests and rulers themselves shared as brokers for immense profit by exacting exorbitant prices. His presence shone with divine majesty and kingly authority as guardian of the temple, striking guilty consciences so that traders and dignitaries fled without resistance as before armed soldiers. The desecrated courts represent the human heart and soul, God's purchased temple and dwelling, when degraded by selfish lusts, love of money and worldliness into a den of thieves under Satan's rule. His mission shown in cleansing the earthly temple is to cleanse the heart from all sin and pollution when the sinner brings it to Him in repentance and faith, and to purify His church through testing before His second advent until faith working by love sanctifies the soul.

Temple Scene Described

Jesus came down from Olivet and entered the temple early in the morning at Passover, when Jerusalem was crowded with people from a distance and large crowds were already going to the temple. He entered with His disciples into courts already crowded with animals and selling pens and filled with quarrelling and confusion.

The outer court had been arranged as a noisy cattle market and place of general traffic rather than the sacred temple of God. It was crowded with animals and birds for Passover sacrifices, with stalls for beasts and tables for exchange, and filled with sharp bargaining, angry disputation, lowing of cattle, bleating of sheep, cooing of doves, chinking of coin, and confusion that drowned out prayer. Traders called out and sold at the highest rates, and even ministers of sacred rites and temple dignitaries took part in the buying and selling there. That busy commerce with noisy activity and exchange showed the same lack of sacredness as busy Sunday markets.

The traffic was the sale of cattle, sheep, doves, sparrows and birds for sin offerings to travelers from a great distance who could not bring their own, sold in the outer court at exorbitant prices. Because a great number of beasts were annually sacrificed at the Passover the sales were immense. The money-changing was done by priests themselves acting as money-brokers and exchangers, exchanging Roman and foreign coins and different denominations to accommodate strangers for temple money. It was customary for each person attending the Passover to bring a piece of money paid to the priests upon entering the temple, and from changing coins and receiving offerings the business had grown into a disgraceful traffic and a source of great profit.

He cast out all who sold and bought in the temple, overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves and birds, using a scourge of small cords used to drive cattle to the temple. His command brought profound silence and terror, and His divine authority shone through His humanity. This was the second cleansing, done on His final visit to Jerusalem before His death almost at the close of His public ministry, repeating the cleansing at the beginning of His ministry three years earlier when the same trade had returned. He had driven the sellers out three years earlier, but the crowded animal market and dishonest trading had come back and again desecrated the court.

Immediately after the cleansing the sacred space was filled with the sick and suffering seeking His help. The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He received them with love and pity, laid His hands upon them and healed them all, and taught the people without interruption. Children cried Hosanna to the Son of David, which displeased the chief priests and scribes when they saw His wonderful works. The rejoicing of the healed and the children's praise confronted the rulers with the gratitude and praise that their commerce had displaced.

Corrupt Trade Exposed

The very men set apart for sacred rites — priests, rulers, temple dignitaries and ministers — themselves took part in the buying and selling in the court. They acted as money-brokers and exchangers, turning the receiving of offerings and the changing of foreign coins and denominations for strangers into a disgraceful traffic and a source of great profit. Under plea of accommodating travelers from a distance who could not bring cattle, sheep, doves and sparrows for Passover, they sold at exorbitant prices, and the dealers realized immense sales which were shared with the avaricious priesthood and men of authority. As hypocritical speculators under cover of holy profession they practiced extortion and made sacred office a source of personal revenue. Their trade exacted the highest rates from seekers of sacrifice, buying cattle cheap and selling dear, a dishonest and unfair buying and selling that transgressed the law of God. Greed overcame religious scruples, so that in God’s sight the traffickers were no better than thieves, exposed by kingly authority as hypocrites and robbers who had turned a house of prayer into a den of thieves.

The sharp bargaining, angry disputation, and noise of traffic disturbed worshippers inside and drowned out prayer, lowering sacred things to ordinary business. That commercial activity profaned the temple meant for prayer and did not belong in the sacred place, even when sellers could claim their goods were for sacrifices. Selling merchandise during religious meetings distracts from worship for the same reason, and the act condemns all such profanation. Buying and selling had turned sacrificial worship into gain and obscured that animal blood pointed to sin and to Christ’s blood soon to be shed for the world. Familiarity with shedding animals’ blood had made the services profane, hiding that sin made the sacrifices necessary and that their true meaning was to direct people to the crucified Redeemer. The priests and elders valued His coming sacrifice no more than animals’ blood, though sacrifice without repentance and obedience did not honor God.

The leaders tolerated buying, selling and other disruptive conduct in the courts while condemning children’s joyful voices and presence as pollution of the sacred place. The richness and beauty of the building did not sanctify worshipers whose conduct desecrated it. They charged Jesus with profaning the temple and declared Him its enemy for driving out the traders. Yet by cleansing it before all the people He demonstrated He was a truer friend to the temple than those violating its sacredness.

Divine Authority Displayed

In driving out buyers and sellers and overturning the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves, divinity shone through humanity with divine majesty and kingly authority as guardian of the temple. The act was done by heaven's authority to confront dishonest misuse of the courts, and His presence and command displayed a solemn power that could not be resisted. His glory shining through His humanity filled the crowd with fear, and the traffic stopped as the traders gave way before Him.

His command struck guilty consciences with the power of God, bringing profound silence and terror where quarreling and confusion had reigned. That power carried such force that dishonest traders obeyed in fear without resistance, not by human power but by divine authority. His presence silenced even people and animals, and His healing works added undeniable evidence of the same authority.

Priests, rulers, merchants, dignitaries and temple officials fled with their cattle and sheep as if pursued by armed soldiers. His presence struck them as before a flashing sword like that guarding the tree of life. Though they had thought their earlier surrender could not happen again, the dignitaries fled in fear and haste. Those fleeing warned travelers to turn back, and the exaggerated report they spread turned back some seekers in fear, while others pressed on to find Him, believing His power surpassed all others and alone could relieve suffering.

Their flight revealed fear and ignorance of true worship, and convicted priests and rulers that He was no common man. The cleansing gave evidence of His sacred mission and divine mission as Israel's King, which should have led the people to worship Him. But the authorities feared losing their power and chose disbelief, and though frightened they later considered returning to challenge His authority rather than immediately resuming trade. When they did, they were confronted by what their commerce had displaced, the rejoicing of those He had healed and children praising God with gratitude and praise in God's temple.

The disciples remembered the sellers fleeing as before armed soldiers and hoped He would again show that power to disperse His enemies and the mob and establish Himself as King of Israel. The Pharisees could neither intimidate Him as guardian exercising solemn kingly power nor stop the people's enthusiasm. Afterward He looked on the fleeing crowd with profound pity, while many who remained hoped He was the long-awaited Messiah. In that moment He stood nearly alone except for a few disciples, with the people drawn away in fear.

Prophecy and Final Warning

The cleansing of the desecrated temple belonged with the triumphal entrance and the barren fig tree as signs pointing to Jerusalem's coming doom. Together they showed the judgment awaiting a city that rejected Christ's love and compassion. The scene also symbolized the dispersion of the Jewish nation for wickedness and impenitence.

His command in driving out the traders foreshadowed the voice of judgment that will solemnly declare hidden sins to those who reject messages and refuse pardon, leaving them unable to act or prepare themselves. The desecration pictures the rebellious soul defiled by sin as a den of thieves, and rejecting mercy leaves it bound in doubt and despair and exposed to judgment. That rejection repeats the Pharisees' path by despising reproof and treating messages with scorn.

The cleansing near the close of His public ministry was the second cleansing, answering the first cleansing at the beginning of His ministry for the same sacrilegious profanation. The two cleansings together point to the last work for warning the world in two distinct calls made to the churches. The second cleansing answers to the second call, the second angel's message and the voice from heaven to come out of Babylon because her sins have reached unto heaven and God has remembered her iniquities, just as God called Israel out of Egypt to keep His Sabbath.

The cleansings at the beginning and close of His earthly ministry illustrate that He purifies His church through tests and trials for its present and eternal good. Those trials deepen piety and strengthen His people to carry the triumphs of the cross throughout the world. The cleansing at the first advent, when commercial work had been brought into the temple and God had been forgotten, also points to a cleansing before His second advent when God will purify His temple in displeasure.

A large work of putting away unholy things that God desires to be carried to every church was started but failed of completion through Satan's deception. The cleansing remains undone especially among those in responsible positions, whose faith is dead being alone and who quench the work of the Spirit. Until faith which works by love is seen sanctifying the soul, the life and power of God cannot be manifested. Religious claims do not excuse conduct forbidden by God's Word, for God's law measures obedience, and hurried business must not displace thought of heaven.

Heart Cleansed From Sin

The courts crowded with unholy trade and confusion picture hearts defiled by earthly desires, selfish lusts and evil habits. The same defilement is selfishness cherished in the soul, with love of the world and of money, mammon, malice, envy, pride, passion and unholy passions all given place in the human heart. The rebellious heart thus becomes a den of thieves, and rejecting mercy leaves it bound in doubt and despair and exposed to judgment. This condition among professed followers repeats the Jews' neglect and rejection of present opportunity, revealing base ingratitude, hollow formalism, hypocritical insincerity, Pharisaical pride and apostasy. Christ looks upon such a state with the grief He showed on Olivet, seeing His love despised, His mercies unacknowledged, His solemn warnings rejected and ridiculed, and His ambassadors treated with indifference as if their words were idle tales.

The soul is a temple belonging to God, purchased by the price of Christ's own blood and meant as His dwelling place. It was meant to witness to the high destiny open to every person, but men have not yielded themselves as temples for God's Spirit. When given to deeds of darkness and sin it is degraded, desecrated and defiled, and its Godlike chambers are converted into a robber's haunt, a den of thieves under Satan's rule.

The cleansing of the Jerusalem temple is the sign of His mission to cleanse the human heart from sin, fraud, pollution and everything that tarnishes or corrupts it. The soul is a temple where Christ should be enshrined, yet selfish or corrupt dealings desecrate it and disregard God's counsels. The sinner must bring the polluted soul to Christ in repentance and faith, ask Him to wash and purify it, and commit it to His care, for He alone can cleanse and keep it. Truth must have an abiding place within, and through the Holy Spirit shape all that a person does and says, and His fearless denunciation of dishonest practices and hypocrisy shows that truth did not languish on His lips.

His searching of the temple pictures His searching of the citadel of the soul, the heart, to test whether selfish gain remains within. When truth occupies the citadel and God is enthroned in the heart, He finds no buyers and sellers to condemn. The goods and abilities entrusted by God are sacred and must be used in His service, not mixed with worldly merchandise. Means and physical and mental powers God has entrusted are sacred and must be kept unmingled with worldly business and commercial cares and invested only in the Master's service for results as far reaching as eternity. Worldliness leavens the mind, destroys the sense of accountability as God's servants, takes away spiritual discernment, and loads the mind with extra burdens that hinder devotion, searching the Scriptures, and prayer. Cleansing brings singleness of aim to do the Master's bidding and promote His work, upward growth, the Holy Spirit's transforming work on the heart, death to self, kindness and tender regard for others, and change into Christ's likeness by beholding Him.

Cleansing Applied Today

God's house must not be made a place of merchandise, and selling the grace of God is the same sin as the money-changing driven from the temple. The Roman Church repeated that desecration by setting the tables of the money-changers beside her altars, with buyers and sellers filling the air, publicly selling indulgences for sin by papal authority to raise money for building St. Peter's church at Rome. To build a temple for God's worship by the price of crime, laying its cornerstone with the wages of iniquity, is the very traffic condemned in the casting out of buyers and sellers and the overturning of tables. The very means used for Rome's aggrandizement provoked the deadliest blow to her power and shook the papal throne.

The same cleansing belongs to publishing houses when they are devoted principally to commercial work. When managers enter into contracts to publish questionable matter merely for commercial gain and take in a mass of outside work requiring increased facilities and workers, the sacred purpose of publishing present truth is lost sight of, spiritual perception is perverted, and the work is cheapened into any other commercial enterprise. The Review and Herald office at Battle Creek is to be cleansed as Christ cleansed the temple, because justice and integrity and the love of God have not guided its leading men, and every unfair scheme savoring of selfish grasping practiced over and over despite reproof hardens hearts and kindles God's wrath. Defiling literature that dishonors the Redeemer, unsettles faith, sows doubt, questioning and unbelief in youth and workers, undermines the authority and purity of the Old Testament Scriptures, and argues Christ was only a man must be taken away, lest Satan's sophistry be let in and educated infidels be sent forth. For this reason publishing plants must arise in other places, no longer dependent on Battle Creek.

The need for such purification rests also upon the institutions at Battle Creek, upon churches, schools and sanitariums. They must be cleared of selfish unjust rule, of dictating to consciences as though God, of selfishness, arrogance and misuse of authority, of injustice and fraudulent dealings, and of commercial enterprises brought into God's house. Sanitariums need the same cleansing of their commercial enterprises, joined with restoring the sick to health and ministering the Word pointing to Christ as the great Healer of sin-sick souls, and with refusing to be beguiled and ensnared by the cunning craftiness of men who lie in wait to deceive ignorant, unwary souls.

What drove buyers and sellers from the temple condemns feasting and unholy trade conducted in religion to raise money by appealing to appetite, greed or pleasure. Selling merchandise during religious meetings, even when the goods can be claimed to be for sacrifices, does not belong in the sacred place, for such traffic distracts from worship and lowers sacred things to the level of ordinary business. Fashionable churches where extravagant dress and display distract from worship dishonor God's house, and those who treat it as a setting for display would likewise be driven out. Busy Sunday markets and stores, with noisy exchange of produce and buying and selling going on as on any common day, show Sunday has no sacredness to the people.

The traffic cast out was dishonest, unfair buying and selling that transgressed the law of God, exacting exorbitant prices from worshipers from a distance who could not bring offerings, buying cattle cheap and selling dear. Professing Christians who are dishonest in transactions, unfair in buying and selling, and who take advantage of the confidence others place in them because they are church members commit the same sin, disregard the divine precepts, and will suffer the consequences upon every transgressor. The rebuke falls with a scourge of small cords upon physicians and the medical profession when selfishness governs and even lawful-seeming charges become unlawful extortion, covering a multitude of sins and making medicine a den of thieves to be driven from His courts, though Christ will cooperate with and beautify the work of the Christian physician who bears His presence. The same cleansing must reach marketplaces, merchandise stores, courts of justice, lawyers' offices, the medical fraternity and medical missionary work itself, for God will be party to no dishonest transaction, and those stamped with the sign of His government must honor it by honest dealing and by Christ's methods given in Isaiah 58.

The same cleansing would remove defiling influences from schools, driving out books, false principles, false reasoning and Satan's sophistries that defile the mind, to be replaced with sound knowledge and teachings that can be kept in the heart and guide conduct. Its pattern corrects corrupt practices in the Office of publication so that God's name is not dishonored and Jesus is welcomed as heavenly guest. It removes people unfit from positions of responsibility when their conduct unfits them. It means vigorous, militant battle against satanic foes invading God's house, work requiring strong-bodied, healthy men, while weak, sickly, languid men dare not take the field but can only write a moral tract or sing a pious song and let evildoers like distillers and kidnappers go on.