Matthew 21:12-13

| Matt 21 |

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

12 e And Jesus entered the temple [1] and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of f the money-changers and the seats of those who sold g pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, h ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but i you make it a den of robbers.”

Translation Notes

[1] 21:12 Some manuscripts add of God

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Matt. 21:1–23:39 The Messiah Asserts His Authority over Jerusalem. Jesus' authority over Jerusalem is revealed in his triumphal entry (21:1–11), actions in the temple (21:12–17), cursing the fig tree (21:18–22), debates with religious leaders (21:23–22:46), and woes pronounced on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (23:1–39).

Matt. 21:12–17 The Temple Actions: Jesus' Pronouncement on the Temple Establishment. John's Gospel records a similar cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus' ministry (John 2:13–17). Interpreters have proposed two explanations: (1) there was only one cleansing, but John narrated the action at the beginning for thematic/theological purposes, while the Synoptic Gospels narrate the actual historical chronology; (2) there were indeed two similar but distinctly different temple cleansings. The differences of detail seem to indicate the latter, for while the initial action is similar, Jesus' statement (Matt. 21:13) and the challenge from the Jewish leaders (vv. 15–16) are entirely different from what John records. In addition, John places the event so early in his Gospel that it would be difficult to think he wanted readers to take it as anything but an event that happened early in Jesus' ministry. Thus Jesus cleansed the temple at the beginning as a warning, and at the end of his ministry as a statement of judgment on the leadership of Israel.

Matt. 21:12 And Jesus entered the temple might seem to suggest that this cleansing of the temple took place immediately after Christ's entry into Jerusalem on Sunday (vv. 1–11), but Mark clearly places the incident on Monday morning (Mark 11:12–19). At times Matthew condenses some of the narrative of Jesus' activities during Holy Week and arranges it topically, which is the case here. Once Matthew tells readers that Jesus entered Jerusalem (Matt. 21:1–11), he recounts what else Jesus did in Jerusalem (vv. 12–17) without specifying that it was the next day. all who sold and bought. Within the temple was a sort of market where commercial activity enabled pilgrims from throughout the Diaspora (see note on John 7:35) to participate in temple activities, exchange their own currency for temple currency (Matt. 17:24–27; cf. Ex. 30:11–16), and purchase animals and other items for sacrifices.

Matt. 21:13 Jesus compares the temple and its keepers to a den of robbers. Thieves often used caves to store their ill-gotten wealth and to plot future crimes.