Cleansing the Temple
The First Cleansing of the Temple
With the turning of water to wine, Jesus' transition from an average member of a lower-middle-class family in Nazareth to a rising teacher in Israel begins. Jesus has been theocratically anointed through John's baptism, overcome the temptations of Satan, and gathered a small band of followers.
Passover falls immediately on the heels of these events. Jesus returns to Jerusalem, as he would have every year, for the Feast. However, between his pre-baptism visit and this one, some significant changes have occurred at the Temple.
In Deuteronomy 5:8, the Mosaic Law dictated that Israel must not make any graven images lest they engage in idolatry. This prohibition on graven images was eventually extended (as the Rabbis were wont to do) to the coins used to pay tithes in the Temple and even to coins used to purchase sacrifices.
Jews, however, were spread all over the world and hence used all sorts of money. To allow the Temple itself to remain pure, money changers were given leave to set up their businesses in the very courts of the Temple. Worshippers with any form of money could exchange their coins for money approved for use in the Temple by the High Priest (and, by extension, the Priestly Family). This money market probably existed at every visit Jesus made to the Temple, starting from his first visit just days after his visit.
Again, many Jews had to travel many miles to reach Jerusalem, and priestly approval was not guaranteed for any animal they might bring from their local flock for sacrifice. Many other families did not own large flocks or herds, so they would need to buy one someplace nearby the Temple.
To serve this market for sacrificial animals, a second market was set up in the nearby Kidron Valley. To save money—and to increase the market's profit—the animals sold at this market were pre-approved by one of the High Priest's family.
Worshippers could change their money for Temple-appropriate coins, walk to the market, purchase a pre-approved animal for sacrifice, and then head back to the Temple for the sacrifice itself. This open buying of sacrificial animals lent the proceedings a great "public ceremony" air. Each man's wealth could be judged in the street between the market and the Temple.
About 30 A.D., however, just at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, this second market was moved into the Temple courtyard. The market became, in effect, a part of the Temple. While this was no doubt more convenient for worshippers, it also completely sealed the market in animals and money exchange into the hands of the High Priest's family.[1]
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."
John 2:13–2:16
Jesus drove the money changers and vendors of sacrificial animals out of the Temple proper. Jesus here quotes a prophecy from Zechariah:
Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. … And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day.
Zechariah 14:16, 21
How long did Jesus shut the buyers and sellers in the Temple down? Probably until the Temple guard showed up, escorting him from the Temple grounds.
The leader's reaction
The Jewish Leaders questioned Jesus very specifically, asking:
So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?"
John 2:18
Rather than condemn Jesus outright at this point, they ask a reasonable question. As the sacrificial market had only recently been moved to the Temple, the Jewish leaders might expect a prophet or holy man to show up contesting the move on behalf of God. Such a person, however, must have some authority to challenge this new arrangement.
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?"
John 2:19–20
The members of the Sanhedrin were not convinced. In terms of honor and shame, Jesus had asserted an honor—control over the Temple—and had not given an answer the Sanhedrin could verify or even respect.
Jewish leadership wanted to prevent riots at the Temple at all costs, as this would invite Roman interference, and a riot had been avoided. The markets in coins and animals were preserved so the money of worshippers kept flowing into the coffers of the High Priest's family.
Jesus had asserted a claim of honor and had, in a sense, been refuted—or at least the claim to honor had been put off to another day. The High Priest's family would now send a group to monitor this potentially dangerous man, leading to many of the confrontations we see throughout Jesus' Galilean ministry.
The leadership wedge
However, the Sadducees and the High Priest's family are not the only contingents of Jewish leadership in the Sanhedrin. The Pharisees watched this exchange with interest. Here was a man unafraid to challenge the corruption of the High Priest—at Passover, the holiest Feast in Jerusalem, no less!
Here was a man worth defending, at least for a while, and at least as a way to embarrass the family of the High Priest and the Sadducees, who ruled by ingratiating themselves to Rome.
In this one action, Jesus brought himself some protection from the Pharisees. Pharisaic favor granted him free access to the synagogues throughout Israel. His actions in the Temple also gave Jesus some measure of respect from lower- and middle-class Jews who felt the brunt of the High Priest family's corruption most directly.
This argument with the Sadducees would come to fruit later in Jesus' ministry. Still, for the moment, he had established himself as a man of the people and religiously observant against the wealthy powers aligned with Rome.
How do we know there were two cleansings?
Much ink has been spilled over whether Jesus cleansed the Temple once or twice. This dispatch assumes there are two cleansings. Why?
First, the result of this first cleansing is clear in the rest of Christ's ministry. For instance:
Why were the Sadducees and Pharisees delegations following Jesus around and questioning him in Galilee? Sending observers would not be normal for these groups; they had much more important things to do.
Why was there confusion over what Jesus said about the "three days" at Jesus' trial? If the incident had been recent, witnesses would have been plentiful, and the words of Jesus would have been clear. However, a three-year period between Jesus first speaking these words and his trial would make testimony harder to come by and memories unclear.
Second, the timing of the first cleansing is rather specific—"forty-six years." This timing would be difficult to fit into any chronology where Jesus is crucified after 30 A.D.
Third, the differences between the descriptions of the cleansing in John and the other Gospels are stark:
In John, Jewish leaders ask him for his authority. In the other accounts, they do not question Jesus, but they start seeking to kill him instead.
In John, Jesus claims the honor of declaring how the Temple should be operators. In the other Gospels, Jesus prophecies the destruction of the Temple itself. These are completely different claims.
The cleansing in John only involves one group, the sellers, while the cleansing in the other Gospels involves the buyers and the sellers.
The cleansing in John only seems to last until the Temple guard arrives, and it doesn't seem to interrupt the sacrifices. The cleansing in the other Gospels appears to last much longer. In the other Gospels, Jesus shuts down the entire business of the Temple.
For readers who would well-researched and argued sources on this topic, see:
Richards, E. Randolph. "An Honor/Shame Argument for Two Temple Clearings." Trinity Journal 29, no. 1 (2008): 19–43.
Chapple, Allan. "Jesus' Intervention In The Temple: Once Or Twice?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 2015.
[1] E. Randolph Richards, “An Honor/Shame Argument for Two Temple Clearings,” Trinity Journal 29, no. 1 (2008): 26–27.