John 2:12 – 14
From the earliest days of Israel as a nation, the Tabernacle, built by Moses, and the temple built by Solmon and later remade by Zerubbabel. We will mention his temple again in association with the prophet Haggai. The same temple, which was repaired and updated by Herod the Great, played a significant role in the national identity of the Jews. It was the home of God so He could dwell among his people.
Daniel 1:2 says, “And the LORD gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand (Nebuchadnezzar), with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god, and he brought the articles into the treasure of his god. This text written by Daniel describes the events that took place in 606-605 BCE when the Babylonians came to Jerusalem and took Daniel and his friends captive. At that same time, Nebuchadnezzar took items from Solomon’s temple and brought them to his god’s temple.
The idea of a universal God was not in the thinking of humanity at this time. The Israelites believed that God, the God of heaven, resided within the Most Holy Place of their temple. Because of this, the area of land that Israel and later Judah possessed indicated the area that their God resided in or had control of. Taking from another god’s temple and bringing it to your god’s temple only strengthened your god, as in the fact that our god took over the area controlled by your god, so we will add items from your god to our god, thus giving our god more power. Especially since he now resides or rules over a bigger territory. Finally, in 586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar returned to Jerusalem for the third time, completely destroying the temple.
The prophet Haggai, who wrote at the time of the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, states that some who had seen Solomon’s Temple cried because this new temple was not built with the same beauty and grander. Haggai predicted that this new temple (known as Zerubbabel’s temple) would be filled with glory. Let’s read the passage together. Haggai 2:9; “The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place, I will give peace;’ says the LORD of hosts.” For all the nations, and especially the Jews, the temple holds a special place in their hearts, for it is the home of their God or their god.
Four hundred years after Zerubbabel’s temple was finished, Herod the Great began a rebuilding project to endear himself to the people. The project was the restoration of the temple, the temple that Haggai said, “The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former. And in this place, I will give peace” (see Haggai 2:9). This caused the temple to become known as Herod’s temple.
The second half of John’s second chapter starts in verse 12 and should be seen as a continuation of the narrative. The verse says. “After this He (Jesus) went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.” John, the author of the gospel that bears his name, wants us to see that what is about to take place is a continuation of the new wine. How do we know this? John 2:13 continues the narrative by stating the reason they did not stay in Capernaum. “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”
The Passover was a solemn time yet also a time of joy and celebration. It commemorated their freedom from bondage and slavery in Egypt and pointed toward the Messiah, for it would be the Messiah that would free them from bondage and slavery of sin. But is this their perception of the Messiah? Is this really who they think the Messiah is? Do they have different expectations?
Verse 14: “And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business.”
This takes a moment of explanation. Within the courtyard is a men’s courtyard, a woman’s courtyard, and an outer court. The outer courtyard is separated from the men’s and women’s courts by a four-foot-high wall with an opening leading into both the men’s and women’s courts. This outer courtyard is for the Gentiles and is within this area where the oxen and sheep traders and money changers are located. With all this bartering and yelling and clanking of coinage, it would be impossible for the Jewish men and women to worship, not to mention the Gentiles trying to worship.
Why would all this be happening?
Each year at Passover, hundreds of families would come to Jerusalem, purchase their animals to be sacrificed, and pay the temple tax. Because the temple tax was paid in Jewish currency, but most people did business in Roman currency, an exchange of Roman for Jewish currency had to be made. The priests, religious leaders, and those in charge of converting the money charged extra for doing this and then pocketed the extra money. And because of the hassle of traveling with animals to be sacrificed or eaten during the Passover. The animal sacrificed or eaten for the Passover meal was an object lesson of what the Lamb or God or the Messiah was to do on their behalf. For the convenience of the traveler, a place was set aside for the purchase of animals and for the exchange of money to pay the temple tax. This was the court reserved or set aside for the Gentile worshippers.
Jesus comes upon this scene and understands that the temple and the courtyard are God’s earthly home. And this doesn’t seem a fitting activity to be taking place in the Home of God. Christ assumed unto Himself as the new wine sent from God to give a pure and better understanding of who God the Father is; Jesus is about to take or assume the temple unto Himself.
I realize this is a lot of background information. But it is important to our understanding of what is about to take place and gives us a better understanding of the narrative of scripture within John’s Gospel. Therefore, I feel this is a good place to cut this post short and pick up the narrative in our next post.
The Bible In Your Hand 