Jesus Casting Out Buyers and Sellers in the Temple - Matthew 21:12

Matthew the apostle wrote when Jesus, “was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee”, and in chapter twenty-one and verse twelve of his book, Matthew shares how Jesus, “went into into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple” where we read:

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

The verse reads, “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, ...”. Matthew began with the words, “and Jesus” or “and Jesus whose name means Jehovah is Salvation and is the Son of God, the Savior of mankind and God incarnate” “went” which means “entered and went forth” “into the temple” or “in the sacred place at Jerusalem” “of God” which refers to “belonging to the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit”, “and cast out” or “and expelled, banished, compelled and commanded all to depart” “all them” which means “each, every, the whole and everyone of the people” “that sold” or “who bartered as sellers” “and bought” which means “and purchased, did business and redeemed” “in the temple” or “in the sacred place at Jerusalem”. Matthew shared how Jesus entered into the “temple” where people worshiped God, and He threw out every person who did business inside the “temple”.

The verse goes on to say, “... and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,” Matthew continued with the words, “and overthrew” or “turned over and threw down” “the tables” which means “places upon which items are set” “of the moneychangers” or “the bankers, coin-dealers and exchangers”, “and the seats” or “and the chairs of influence” “of them” which refers to “the people” “that sold doves” which means “who bartered as sellers of small birds known as doves”. Matthew wrote how Jesus turned over the “exchangers' money tables” and the “chairs” of people who were selling “doves”.

When we think through Matthew's words in this verse, we see how Jesus acted with vigor against those who were “buying and selling” within the “temple of God”. “Moneychangers” and “sellers of doves” were disrupted in their normal course of business as Jesus threw over their tables and chairs. We might imagine the “anger” Jesus exemplified as He reacted to these pernicious acts of business. God desires to have a personal relationship with every person through His Son Jesus and no business activity should ever keep people from coming to Him. We shall see the reason Jesus reacted to these wicked activities in the temple in the next verse, but suffice it for now to know His response in anger should be enough to know He was not pleased with what He saw.

Next time Matthew shares how Jesus refers to how, “it is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer” when Jesus entered Jerusalem, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.