Matthew 21 features the well known and frequently misunderstood story of Jesus “cleansing” the Temple. Considering that Jesus’ actions at the Temple are most likely responsible for His crucifixion, I believe that the story demands a full explanation (or at least as much as we can). I’m going to go through some questions about the event and see if it we can’t uncover some of its meaning and significance
How large was Jesus’ action in the Temple?
This is a key question, because a small event probably indicates Jesus was doing something of symbolic significance, whereas a large event probably indicates Jesus was actually trying to create a lasting change. All the evidence we have points to a small incident. A large incident would have drawn the Temple soldiers and would have led to Jesus’ immediate arrest. Furthermore, Jesus is not barred from entering the Temple in the coming days, so the authorities must not have perceived a physical threat from Him that a large-scale action would have created.
Did Jesus intend to “cleanse” the Temple?
No, at least not in the way that “cleansing” would have been understood by the crowds. “Cleansing” would have involved ritual purifications, including sacrifices, and a change of Temple leadership. An example of “cleansing” is found in 1 Maccabees 4:36-46:
Then Judas and his brothers said, ‘See, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ 37So all the army assembled and went up to Mount Zion. 38There they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned. In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket, or as on one of the mountains. They saw also the chambers of the priests in ruins. 39Then they tore their clothes and mourned with great lamentation; they sprinkled themselves with ashes 40and fell face down on the ground. And when the signal was given with the trumpets, they cried out to Heaven. 41 Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary. 42He chose blameless priests devoted to the law, 43and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place. 44They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt-offering, which had been profaned. 45And they thought it best to tear it down, so that it would not be a lasting shame to them that the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar, 46and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them.
Obviously, this was a far larger action than Jesus’. And furthermore, the issue with saying Jesus “cleansed” the Temple is that He didn’t remove that which was “defiling” the Temple, which was the Temple’s leadership. Jesus partially restores the Temple to its proper function by allowing God’s activities (through Jesus’ ministry) to be recognized and celebrated, but the Temple function is only disrupted, and not “cleansed”.
3. Were there Old Testament precedents to what Jesus did?
Absolutely. There are several, and the biggest precedent was set by the Prophet Jeremiah, who disrupted the Temple to deliver a sermon and demonstration of judgment against the Temple and against Judea in general. Check out Jeremiah 7:1-4, 8-15:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” . . . 8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are safe!”—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the Lord. 12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things, says the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors, just what I did to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim.
Here Jeremiah was telling the people that Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed and that they would go into exile- Jesus will give a very similar message to the crowd and to His disciples in Matthew 21,22 and 24 (just as John the Baptist did in Matthew 3). So here’s a key: Jesus’ action is connected to God’s judgment upon the Temple and its leadership.
4. What does Jesus mean by a ‘den of robbers’?
A better translation for this would be a ‘den of brigands’. There were, throughout Israel’s history, gangs of outlaws who hid in the caves in and around the mountains of Judah (even into the Roman era). This same word (lestai in Greek) was used to described these outlaws/rebels . . . it was a a word used for petty thievery, but for dangerous and violent brigands whose lives were the epitome of unholiness. And Jesus, like Jeremiah before him, is saying this is what the Temple leadership are like. The Temple was meant to be a “house of prayer”- that is a place where people come into God’s presence- and had become instead a place where Israel’s false shepherds consolidated their power and denied God’s Messiah His rightful place of leadership.
5. How might we interpret Jesus’ actions?
Many of the prophets of Israel performed prophetic “signs” (Jeremiah breaks a pot, Ezekiel lays on his side for almost a year, Isaiah walks around naked, etc.) to demonstrate a point. I believe Jesus’ overturning the table functioned in a similar way- it was a demonstration of God’s judgment on the Temple, and brought sacrifice to a halt, which was what Jesus claimed God would do in the near future.
Furthermore, Jesus’ actions were a symbol of His authority as the Messiah, the one who has a legitimate claim over Temple leadership. The King of Israel had the ability to command sacrifice or to halt it and Jesus’ is enacting that right on a symbolic scale. Jesus also demonstrates what true worship should look like in the Temple at this point by allowing the blind, lame and children to come to Him and receive healing. This event then, in a sense, is a brief moment of restoration of the Temple to its proper role of connecting people with God’s saving work. However, its brevity underlines its purpose of being a symbol of what God really desires from the Temple.
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