1. The First Cleansing of the Temple
The Life of Christ (10)
The First Cleansing of the Temple
Scriptures Exodus 30:13-16
Exodus 30:13–16 (NASB95)
13“This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the Lord.
14“Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the Lord.
15“The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves.
16“You shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.”
The temple in Jerusalem along with their synagogues was the center of life for the Jews. This is where they worshiped, learned about God, brought sacrificed animals for the forgiveness of sins and paid their temple tax. This was also true in the time of Jesus.
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2. The First Cleansing of the Temple
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The First Cleansing of the Temple
Scriptures
John 2:13–25 (NASB95)
13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.
15And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;
16and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”
17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.”
18The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?”
19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”
21But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
22So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.
23Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing.
24But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men,
25and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.
John 2:13-25 covers the first cleansing of the temple by Jesus. Read and explain the verses. The second cleansing of the temple was about 3 years later.
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3. The First Cleansing of the Temple
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The First Cleansing of the Temple
Vocabulary
Passover: the feast which celebrates the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
Jesus makes a trip to Jerusalem to observe Passover, the feast that celebrates the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Jn. 2:13
When He arrived at the temple He finds that inside the temple there are people selling animals for sacrifice and changing money. Jn. 2:14
The area of the temple in view is called the court of the Gentiles. It was the only area of the temple where Gentiles were allowed and was meant to be an area for Gentiles to meditate, pray, and learn Bible doctrine
Instead, it had been turned into a market.
While it was legitimate for men to be able to purchase animals for sacrifice, it was wrong to put up animal stalls inside the temple and allow these purchases to be made there simply for convenience.
The moneychangers also had a legitimate function: exchanging Roman and various foreign coins for the shekel of the sanctuary, the coin prescribed for payment of the Temple tax. Ex. 30:13-16.
Discuss the Vocabulary and discuss points. The shekel coin of the sanctuary was about 1/10 of an ounce of silver.
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4. The Life of Christ (10) Temple Money Changer
This is a representation of a money changer.
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5. Rome operated a mint in Tyre that produced silver shekels of high purity (94 percent silver or more). These and half-shekels were the only coins accepted by the temple in Jerusalem. The high priests paid Judas with silver shekels like this one to betray Christ (Matt 26:15). This was also the coin Jesus told Peter to find in the fish’s mouth (Matt 17:27).
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6. The First Cleansing of the Temple
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The First Cleansing of the Temple
They also had to exchange currency before buying animals for sacrifice.
Because the moneychangers and animal sellers had a monopoly they could charge extremely high prices, which they did.
Because of these practices the Temple lost its association with spiritual things and had simply turned into a marketplace. Jn. 2:16
Into this scene comes Jesus, whose zeal (passion) for the truth produced righteous indignation (anger).
He makes a whip out of cords and drives them all out and overturns their tables. Jn.2:15
As the Son of God and Lord of the Temple (Luke 1:9), Jesus had the right and authority to cleanse the temple in this way.
The angry temple leaders and businessmen demanded that Jesus give them a sign for his authority. Jn. 2:18
Discuss points and look up verses. Explain the difference of righteous indignation (anger) and sinful anger. In Jn 2:15, Jesus makes a whip out of cords or woven together ropes and drives the seller of animals, animals, and money changers out of the temple. Righteous indignation is anger that is not a sin. We must be careful to determine when anger is not a sin and righteous indignation. As the Son of God and Lord of the Temple (Luke 1:9) that the temple is called the temple of the Lord and we know that Jesus is the Son of God so that Jesus had the authority to cleanse the temple the way he did. I in Jn. 2:18, we see the temple leaders and the businessmen demanded a sign from Jesus.
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7. The First Cleansing of the Temple
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The First Cleansing of the Temple
Jesus knew their negative volition and refused to give them a sign even though he was capable of so doing.
Negative volition would not believe the truth, no matter what signs were performed as seen in the examples of Judas and the Pharaoh of Egypt.
Jesus tells them of a future sign, if they “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Jn. 2:19
He is referring to His body, but they think He is talking about the building (temple) and Jesus tells them (Jews) one of two things, depending on how one understands Jn. 2:20.
The first view understands John to mean that it took 46 years to build the temple.
The second view interprets their words to mean the sanctuary was completed 46 years earlier.
Neither view materially affects the comparison of time--46 years versus 3 days.
Discuss points and look up verses. In Jn. 2:19, Jesus is talking about the future resurrection when He would in three days resurrected after the crucifixion.
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8. The First Cleansing of the Temple
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The First Cleansing of the Temple
In Jn. 2:22 we see that this statement was actually made for the benefit of the disciples, so that when He was raised from dead, they would remember and have confidence.
In Jn. 3:25 we see a statement that Jesus knew from His deity what was in a person’s heart before they spoke to Him. Jn. 1:48-49; Matt. 9:4, 12:25.
Jesus also cleansed the temple a second time just before His arrest and crucifixion in 33 AD. Matt. 21:12-13; Mk. 11:15-17; Lk. 19:45-46
Discuss the verses and points. Read the verses covering the second cleansing of the temple.
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9. The Life of Christ (10) Herod’s Temple
This is a representation of the Temple in the time of Jesus.
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10. The Life of Christ (10) Temple Showing Court of Gentiles
This is a view of the temple showing the court of the Gentiles
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