The life of Jesus · John 2
Jesus Drives the Merchants from the Temple
The Jews’ Passover is at hand, and Jesus goes up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he finds people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money changers sitting at their tables. He makes a whip of cords and drives them all out, along with the sheep and the oxen. He pours out the money changers’ coins, overturns their tables, and says to those who sell doves, “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” His disciples remember what is written: “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” The Jews demand a sign. Jesus answers, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They are astonished: it took forty-six years to build! But he was speaking of the temple of his body. The disciples will remember this only after his resurrection.
What happens
- Merchants and money changers set up in the temple John 2:14
- Jesus drives them out with a whip of cords and overturns the tables John 2:15
- “Make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise” John 2:16
- “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” John 2:17
- “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” John 2:19–20
- He was speaking of the temple of his body John 2:21–22
Who is in this story
The lesson
Jesus defends the honor of his Father’s house: we do not approach God to do business. He also announces the true temple, his own body, which he will raise up on the third day.
And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
Quick quiz on this story
Which Jewish feast is at hand when Jesus goes up to Jerusalem?
John notes that “the Jews’ passover was at hand” when Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found the merchants in the temple. John 2:13–14
What does Jesus use to drive the merchants out of the temple?
“When he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen”; then he overturned the tables. John 2:15
How many years, the Jews say, did it take to build this temple?
The Jews object, “Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?” John 2:20
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