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The Gospel of Matthew

The second purification of the temple

Chapter 21:12 -27

The Gospels of Mark, Luke and John also report the events in this passage in more or less detail. The order also varies a little, because the Gospels do not follow a strict chronological sequence, as historians often do.

Chronology of the King's last days

Comparing the Gospels, we conclude that the events since the triumphal entry into Jerusalem until the crucifixion of the Lord occurred in five days, as follows:

1. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was on a Sabbath (Saturday), when the Lord Jesus entered the city, went to the temple, healed the blind and crippled, the children applauded Him, and He noted everything and in the evening retired to Bethany with the twelve. There was no trade in the temple that day, because it was a day of rest. (Matthew 21:1-11, 14-17, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:29-44).

2. On the first day of the week (Sunday), He returned to Jerusalem cursing a fig tree on the way, and on arriving at the temple expelled those that traded there. He then taught in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes and the chief men of the people now sought to destroy Him because they feared Him, but they could not find what they might do. In the afternoon, He left the town again with His disciples. (Matthew 21:18-19, 12-13; Mark 11:12-18, Luke 19:45-48).

3. The next day (Monday), He again entered Jerusalem, discussed with the chief priests and chief men of the people the origin of His authority and taught the people, then returned to Bethany where he had dinner with Simon the leper (Matthew 21:20 -26:16; Mark 11:19 - 14:11; Luke 19:49 - 22: 6).

4. On the first day of unleavened bread (Tuesday), two disciples were sent to prepare the Passover; He participated in the Passover with His disciples, then went out with them to the garden of Gethsemane and was arrested before dawn of the next day (Mark 14:12 - 15:72; Luke 22:7-65).

5. On the "day of preparation" (Wednesday), He was crucified and buried before sunset (Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:42). The next day was a special “sabbath” (Exodus 12:16, Leviticus 23:7). 

It is therefore evident that the crucifixion took place on a Wednesday, then after three days and three nights, the Lord rose again. There were two days of rest (sabbaths) that week: one on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the second on the last day of the week, with one working day in between. They made the interval between the death and resurrection of the Lord. (For more details see see HERE).

Let us now proceed with the text under study, written by Matthew.

The second purification of the temple

It was on the first day of the week that the Lord Jesus returned for the second time to the temple, and faced the busy trade going on in there. Israelites came from far and wide to exchange their coins of different countries and values, to acquire the "half-shekels" of standardized weight and without blemish, offered to God annually by men aged twenty years or more (Exodus 30: 13-15). They also needed to buy doves for sacrifices and burnt offerings for the feast of Passover.

It was a commercial opportunity, and many took advantage of it. Merchants and moneychangers installed themselves on benches and tables inside the great enclosure of the temple built by Herod, in places rented from the administrators of the temple. It was an opportunity to rob the buyers with unfair prices and exorbitant exchange rates.

The Lord Jesus was angry at this and expelled them all, both buyers and sellers. He combined two verses from the Old Testament, Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 to proclaim what was written: "My house shall be called a House of Prayer: but you have made it a den of thieves" (Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11)

He had purified the temple some three years earlier in a similar way, at the beginning of His ministry (John 2:13), also before the feast of the Passover. He thus expressed his zeal for the house of the Lord that had been prophesied in Psalm 69:9, as He reminded his disciples: "the zeal of Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me."

The fame of the Lord Jesus as an operator of miracles was already well known, and, even in the temple, the blind and lame came to Him and He healed them. On seeing the wonderful things He did, and still hearing the boys who exclaimed "Hosanna to the son of David" the chief priests and scribes, who considered themselves the masters of the temple, were indignant: nobody had asked their permission for these activities.

Confrontation by chiefs and scribes

They confronted the Lord and asked for an explanation: did He hear what they were saying? He answered straight away with the words taken from Psalm 8:2. The words "perfect praise" appear as "strength" in Psalm, but the original allows this translation.

If the Lord Jesus were not the Messiah, He could not have accepted such an acclaim, and the chief men of the temple expected Him to excuse Himself for that. However, He was in fact the Messiah, and expressed His approval in His reply. If the leaders, who should recognize this reality because of their education and position, did not want to give Him praise as the Messiah, then God would get "perfect praise from the mouth of babes and nursing infants".

Then He left and returned to Bethany, a town close by, without discussing it further with them. Thus ended the first day, a Saturday (the expulsion of the merchants and moneychangers in the temple took place on the next day, as Mark and Luke inform us and we saw at the beginning of this commentary).

The next day, early in the morning, he went to Jerusalem and on the way He sought figs in a fig tree to eat and found none, only leaves. It was not yet the time to harvest figs (Mark 11:13), but in that region there was a species of tree that produced figs before they grew leaves, and then new figs welled up with the leaves. This would have been one of them.

In this miracle, the only curse rather than blessing the Lord ever made, He cursed the fig tree, declaring that it would never bear any fruit. No doubt, He, the creator of everything, knew the fig and was disappointed with it, but it was a type of something much more important.

The fig trees that did not produce figs off-season were sterile and would not give fruit later either. They were usually cut down because of that. This would be the fate of this fig tree, but, when cursed by the Lord, it dried up immediately from the root (Mark 11:20).

Like the vine and the olive tree, the fig tree stood for the nation of Israel, who had received Him in Jerusalem with only leaves, acclamation, instead of fruit acceptable to God, contrite and repentant hearts turning to receive His envoy. There being no fruit now, He knew there would not be any later, and He already predicted the destruction of the country that would come a generation later, in 70 A.D.

The disciples wondered about the fact that the fig tree had dried so fast. The Lord used the example to teach them that there are no limits to what God can do for those who place their trust in Him, as He had already told them on another occasion (chapter 17:20). All they asked in prayer, believing, they would receive. This last sentence must not be taken on its own, as there are many other teachings in the Bible concerning prayer, and every one must be taken into account to understand correctly what the Lord Jesus was saying. He just points to the essential: the request made in prayer, with faith in Jesus Christ, will be answered.

Returning to the temple, the Lord Jesus began to teach the people, again attracting the attention of the oversight, and this time the elders of the people joined the chief priests. They put in doubt His authority, and demanded to know who had given it (because it was not theirs).

He replied with another question: whose was the baptism of John (his ministry), was it from heaven or from men? This silenced them because they were afraid of the people, who believed that John the Baptist was a prophet. As they said nothing, He told them that He also would not answer their question. Implicitly, as the prophetic ministry of John came from God, the authority of the Lord Jesus also came from heaven and not men as theirs did.

 

R David Jones

 

(See below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

 

 

 

 

 

13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER,' but you have made it a 'DEN OF THIEVES.'"

 

 

 

 

14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.

15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant

and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read, 'OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES AND NURSING INFANTS YOU HAVE PERFECTED PRAISE'?"

 

 

 

17 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

 

18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.

 

 

19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again." Immediately the fig tree withered away.

20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"

21 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.
22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
23 Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?"
24 But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things:
25 The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?" And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
26 But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet."
27 So they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know." And He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Gospel of Matthew, chapter 21 verses 12 to 27