Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 19:45

And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;

45, 46. Final Cleansing of the Temple.

45. he went into the temple ] The procession of Galilaean pilgrims would leave Jesus at the foot of Mount Moriah (the ‘Mountain of the House,’ Isa 2:2), beyond which none might advance with dusty feet or stained by travel. Jesus would enter by the Shushan gate.

began to cast out, &c.] As He had also done at the beginning of His ministry, Joh 2:15. The needs of the pilgrims the money which had to be changed the purchase of cattle for sacrifice, &c. had made the cloisters, precincts, and even the outer court of the Temple a scene of noisy and greedy barter, as the nave of St Paul’s used to be a few generations ago. For further details, see Mat 21:12-13; Mar 11:15-17.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

See the notes at Mat 21:12-13.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Luk 19:45-46

My house is the house of prayer

The purified temple

Regarding the Church as an institution, with its possessions, its laws, its days of worship, its rulers, its teachers, its outward services, we may find for ourselves a lesson in this incident.

And that lesson is, that the spiritual character of the Church is everything, and that its first object is to deepen in mens hearts the sense of the Divine and the spiritual. When that great end is lost sight of, the Church has parted with her strongest claims upon the world, and it has forfeited also its privilege as a witness for God on the earth. The spiritual influence is the first and chief purpose of the Church of Christ. The lesson of this narrative comes home to us in these days, when so much time and thought are given to the outer framework of Church forms and usages; and that lesson may be needed to correct our spirit of bustling and restless energy in what is at the best only the machinery of spiritual life, and not spiritual life itself. There is no class of men who are more in danger of losing the true meaning of religion than those who are employed in its service. If I were to seek for cases in which spiritual truth had been travestied and turned to not only secular but profane purposes, I do not know that I could find them more readily than in men to whom all sacred words and acts have grown so familiar that they have ceased to express spiritual facts at all. Those who are always engaged in religious works are apt to lose the sense of their sacredness. No man more needs to be on his guard against an unspiritual life than the man who is perpetually employed in spiritual offices. He brings within the courts of Gods house what ought to be left without; he forgets his high spiritual functions in the bustle and care which attend them; and it is really no absolute guarantee of a religious and spiritual life that a mans profession is the teaching of religion. Christs words and acts read us all a lesson, then; they tell us that in the most sacred occupations of life there may be found cares and anxieties which are less religious, and which are apt to swallow up too much of a mans time and thoughts. There is another temple of a different kind, of which a word may be said. The whole Christian body is, in the words of the New Testament, a temple of God. There is a sacredness in that temple, the spiritual community of Christians, if we would only think of it, much greater than in the Temple of Jerusalem, or in any building devoted to holy uses. And just as the whole Christian community is a temple sacred to God, so each individual heart is in itself a temple where God Most High is honoured and worshipped. (A. Watson, D. D.)

Lessons from Christs cleansing of the temple

1. Abuses are apt to creep into the Church. Let us be on our guard against their first introduction.

2. The Church is much indebted, under God, to those who have had the courage to stand forward as real reformers. Hezekiah; Josiah; the English reformers. They are indeed the benefactors of the Church who successfully exert themselves to correct doctrinal and practical errors, and to promote the scriptural administration of ordinances, discipline, and government. Thus, the progress of corruption is arrested, the beauty of Christianity is restored, and the glory of God, and the religious, and even civil, interests of men are promoted.

3. It is the duty of us all, according to our several places and stations, to do what we can to reform whatever abuses may exist in the Church in our own times.

4. Let this purification of the temple lead us to seek the purification of our own hearts.

5. In all we attempt for the benefit of others, or of ourselves, let us imitate the zeal which our Master displayed on this occasion. To be useful to man, or acceptable to God, we must be deeply in earnest–we must have the Spirit of Christ in this respect. Neither fear, nor shame, nor sinful inclination should restrain us in such cases. (James Foote, M. A.)

Christs indignation aroused by irreverence

In contemplating this action we are at first sight startled by its peremptoriness. Is this, we say to ourselves–is this He who is called the Lamb of God? He of whom prophecy said that He should neither strive nor cry; He who said of Himself, Come to Me; I am meek and lowly of heart? Is there not some incongruity between that meek and gentle character and those vehement acts and words. No, my brethren, there is no incongruity. As the anger which is divorced from meekness is but unsanctified passion, so the false meekness which can never kindle at the sight of wrong into indignation, is closely allied, depend upon it, to moral collapse. One of the worst things that the inspired Psalmist can find it in his heart to say of a man is, Neither doth he abhor anything that is evil. Bishop Butler has shown that anger, being a part of our natural constitution is intended by our Maker to be excited, to be exercised upon certain legitimate objects; and the reason why anger is as a matter of fact generally sinful is, because it is generally wielded, not by our sense of absolute right and truth, but by our self-love, and, therefore, on wrong and needless occasions. Our Lords swift indignation was just as much a part of His perfect sanctity as was His silent meekness in the hour of His passion. We may dare to say it, that He could not, being Himself, have been silent m that temple court, for that which met His eye was an offence first against the eighth commandment of the Decalogue. The money brokers were habitually fraudulent. But then this does not explain His treatment of the sellers of the doves, which shows that He saw in the whole transaction an offence against the first and second commandments. All irreverence is really, when we get to the bottom of it, unbelief. The first great truth that we know is the solitary supremacy of the Eternal God; the second, which is its consequence, the exacting character of His love. God is said, in the second commandment, to be a jealous God. (Canon Liddon.)

Christ dealt immediately with wrong

What He might have done! He might have said, Well, this temple will one day, and that day not far distant, be thrown down. I shall not interfere with this abuse now, because in the natural order of things it will be overturned along with this structure. Jesus Christ did not know what it was to trifle so. I dont know that Jesus Christ knew the meaning of the word expediency, as we sometimes prostitute it. He saw wrong. If that wrong would in five minutes work itself out, that was no consideration to Him. Meanwhile, to Him five minutes was eternity! (J. Parker, D. D.)

The cleansing of the temple

I shall endeavour to call your attention to one or two of the most marked features. And in the first place, I would bid you notice our blessed Lords zeal, that zeal of which the Psalmist said, speaking prophetically, the zeal of Thine house hath even eaten me Psa 69:9).

2. But again, the conduct of our Lord shows us the reverence that is due to Gods house. The Jewish temple was emphatically a house of prayer, it was a place where God had promised His special presence to those who came to worship. And there are some things which, like oxen and sheep, are things not clean enough to be brought into the temple of God; all evil feelings, and pride, and unkindness, and envy, and self-conceit, and other wicked emotions may not be brought into Gods temple; they must be driven out with scourges, they must not be tolerated. Then also there are some things which, like the doves, though pure in themselves, have no business in the temple of God; the cares of this world, things necessarily engaging our attention at other times, may not enter these doors: Gods church is intended to be as it were a little enclosed spot where worldly things may not enter. But again, the tables of moneychangers must not be here; this is no place for thoughts of gain, it is a profanation of Gods temple to bring them here. And, lastly, Christian brethren, we cannot but be reminded, by our Lords cleansing of the temple in the days of His flesh, of that awful cleansing of His temple which will one day take place, when all that is vile and offensive shall be cast out of His temple, and everything that maketh a lie cast into the lake of brimstone. (H. Goodwin, M. A.)

The Louse of prayer

I. Our first inquiry is–WHAT IS OUR LORDS VIEW AS TO THE PURPOSE AND END WHICH HE DESIGNS HIS EARTHLY TEMPLES TO SERVE? And this is the answer–My house is the house of prayer. He calls us here to pray. The work to which He sets us in the sanctuary is mainly devotional.

1. As first, that common or united prayer is needful for man. Prayer itself is almost an instinct of nature. Man must worship. And he must worship in company; he must pray with others.

2. Another observation which the Divine idea in regard to the earthly sanctuary suggests is, that common or united prayer is acceptable to God.

3. Common or united prayer is efficacious to obtain Divine gifts. Otherwise, God would not assign to it so foremost a position in the worship of the sanctuary.

II. MANS DEPARTURE FROM THIS DIVINE IDEA ABOUT THE HOUSE OF GOD ON EARTH. Ye have made it a den of thieves. There is mans perversion of Gods design. You know, of course, what the particular sin was which these words of our Lord were intended to reprove. It was the appropriation on the part of these Jews of a portion of the temple enclosure to purposes of worldly barter. This was the way in which the Jewish people lost sight of the Divine idea in regard to their temple. And though it is not possible for men now to commit precisely the same offence, I fear it would not be difficult to trace a corresponding sin, even in the present altered condition of the church. It is possible now to desecrate sacred places and offices to purposes of worldly gain. It is possible to make a traffic of spiritual functions and emoluments. But, my friends, these are not the only things in which a departure from Gods idea about His sanctuary may be marked now. There are others, of another complexion and character, it is true, but not the less to be reprehended. It is to these that I would more especially call your attention.

1. Let me say, then, that some pervert Gods idea by making the house of prayer a house of preaching. With them the sermon is almost everything. They are impatient of all else to get to that. Prayers, and lessons, and psalms, and creeds, are all just to be endured as a sort of preliminary to that.

2. I remark again, that some depart from Gods intention with respect to the sanctuary by making the house of prayer a house of mere Sunday resort. They must pass the day somewhere; they must get through it somehow, and so, as it is customary, and seemly, and respectable, they will go to church. They are as well there, they think, as anywhere else; but, alas! this is all.

3. I remark, in the next place, that some pervert this design by making the house of prayer a house of formal service. Their service is no more than lip service. (G. M. Merry.)

My house is the house of prayer

Nor are there wanting examples, in all succeeding ages, of the conscientious and religious regularity with which the faithful ever attended the public means of grace. Thus, for example, Zacharias and Elizabeth walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. The just and devout Simeon waited for the consolation of Israel, and came by the Spirit into the temple of the Lord. These, so striking examples of such excellent men, and the uniform and continuous practice of the faithful in all ages, show that the public worship of God is an institution of Divine authority. That there is a God is the first suggestion of unassisted reason, and that God ought to be worshipped is the foundation and first principle of all religion. Accordingly, we have reason to believe, that public worship began with the beginning of the world, and that it has been continued and maintained in all countries and in all times, and under every form of religion that man has devised or God instituted. The ancient Jews for example, dedicated a seventh part of their time to the service and worship of God. We may also remark, that, from the earliest ages, not only particular times, but also particular places, were set apart and consecrated to these sacred services. In the darkest times of heathen idolatry, when there were gods many, and lords many, magnificent temples were built, stately altars erected, costly sacrifices offered, solemn rites celebrated, and the elegant arts of painting and sculpture, poesy and music, were called into the service of dumb idols. In after times, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, and had no fixed nor settled abode, the tabernacle was erected by Gods special command, and richly endowed with sacred utensils and ornaments for His solemn worship.

I. PUBLIC WORSHIP IS CALCULATED TO DISPLAY THE GLORY OF GOD. As the court of an earthly monarch derives its dignity from the splendour and number of its attendants, so the church, the court of the Lord, shows forth the majesty of the Most High by its multitudes of humble worshippers.

II. PUBLIC WORSHIP IS ALSO CALCULATED TO PROMOTE AND PERPETUATE THE PRACTICE OF PURE AND UNDEFILED RELIGION. Prayer kindles and keeps up the spirit of piety in the soul. And if the house of prayer be thus holy, how great should be the purity of those who frequent it? Here, again, let the royal Psalmist be our director, Praise is comely for the upright. (A. McEwen.)

The house of prayer

My house is the house of prayer. This is as true of that portion of the holy body which we call the Church visible or militant as it is of the rest. The object of the visible Church is not solely philanthropic, although the Churchs duty is to do good unto all men, specially to them that are of the household of faith. It is not solely the moral perfection of its members, although the purification to Himself of a peculiar people zealous of good works was certainly a main object of its founder; still less is it the prosecution of inquiry or speculation, however interesting about God, because we already know all that we ever really shall know in this state about Him. We have on our lips and in our hearts the faith that was once delivered to the saints. This temple, visible and invisible, is thus organized by its Divine founder throughout earth and heaven to be a whole of ceaseless communion with God; and as its heavenly members never, never for one moment cease in their blessed work, so by prayers, broken though they be and interrupted–by prayers and intercessions, by thanksgiving and praise, private and public, mental and vocal, the holy Church throughout the world doth acknowledge Him who is the common centre of light and love to all its members, whether on this side the veil or beyond it. Into this temple also there sometimes intrudes that which moves the anger of the Son of Man, for this spiritual society has its place among men. It is in the world, although not of it, and it thus sometimes admits within its courts that which cannot bear the glance of the All-Holy. And especially is this apt to be the case when the Church of Christ has been for many ages bound up with the life and history of a great nation, and is, what we call in modern language, established–that is to say, recognized by the State, and secured in its property and position by legal enactments. I am far from denying that this state of things is or may be a very great blessing, that it secures to religion a prominence and a consideration among the people at large, which would else be wanting to it, that it visibly asserts before men the true place of God as the ruler and guide of national destiny; but it is also undeniable that such a state of things may bring with it danger from which less favoured churches escape. To be forewarned, let us trust, is to be forearmed; but whenever it happens to a great Church, or to its guiding minds, to think more of the secular side of its position than they think of the spiritual–more, it may be, of a seat in the Senate and of high social rank than of the work of God among the people; if, in order to save income and position in times of real or supposed peril, there is any willingness to barter away the safeguards of the faith, or to silence the pleadings of generosity and justice in deference to some uninstructed clamour, then be sure that, unless history is at fault as well as Scripture, we may listen for the footfalls of the Son of Man on the outer threshold of the temple, and we shall not long listen in vain. Churches are disestablished and disendowed to the eye of sense, through the action of political parties; to the eye of faith by His interference who ordereth all things both in heaven and in earth, and who rules at this moment on the same principles as those which of old led Him to cleanse His Fathers temple in Jerusalem. (Canon Liddon.)

Gods house a house of prayer

My house shall be called the house of prayer. Here is a law for the furniture and equipment; here is a definition of the object and purpose of a material Christian church. There are great differences, no doubt, between the Jewish Temple and a building dedicated to Christian worship; but over the portals of each there might be traced with equal propriety the words, My house shall be called the house of prayer. No well-instructed, no really spiritual Christian thinks of his parish church mainly or chiefly as a place for hearing sermons. Sermons are of great service, especially when people are making their first acquaintance with practical Christianity, and they occupy so great a place in the Acts of the Apostles, because they were of necessity the instrument with which the first teachers of Christianity made their way among unconverted Jews and heathens. Nay, more, since amid the importunities of this world of sense and time the soul of man is constantly tending to close its eyes to the unseen, to the dangers which so on every side beset it, to the pre-eminent claims of its Redeemer and its God, sermons which repeat with unwearying earnestness the same solemn certainties about God and man, about the person, and work, and gifts of Christ, about life and death, about the fleeting present and the endless future, are a vital feature in the activity of every Christian Church, a means of calling the unbelieving and the careless to the foot of the cross, a means of strengthening and edifying the faithful. Still, if a comparison is to be instituted between prayers and sermons, there ought not to be a moments doubt as to the decision; for it is not said, My house shall be called a house of preaching, but My house shall be called the house of prayer. Surely it is a much more responsible act, and, let me add, it is a much greater privilege, to speak to God, whether in prayer or praise, than to listen to what a fellow-sinner can tell you about Him; and when a great congregation is really joining in worship, when there is a deep spiritual, as it were an electric, current of sympathy traversing a vast multitude of souls as they make one combined advance to the foot of the eternal throne, then, if we could look at these things for a moment with angels eyes, we should see something infinitely greater, according to all the rules of a true spiritual measurement, than the effect of the most eloquent and the most persuasive of sermons. My house shall be called the house of prayer is a maxim for all time, and if this be so, then all that meets the eye, all that falls upon the ear within the sacred walls, should be in harmony with this high intention, should be valued and used only with a view to promoting it. Architecture, painting, mural decoration, and the like, are only in place when they lift the soul upwards towards the invisible, when they conduct it swiftly and surely to the gate of the world of spirits, and then themselves retire from thought and from view. Music the most pathetic, the most suggestive, is only welcome in the temples of Christ, when it gives wings to spiritualized thought and feeling, when it promotes the ascent of the soul to God. If these beautiful arts detain men on their own account, to wonder at their own intrinsic charms, down among the things of sense; if we are thinking more of music than of Him whose glory it heralds, more of the beauty of form and colour than of Him whose Temple it adorns, then be sure we are robbing God of His glory, we are turning His Temple into a den of thieves. No error is without its element of truth, and jealousy on this point was the strength of Puritanism, which made it a power notwithstanding its violence, notwithstanding its falsehood. And as for purely secular conversations within these walls, how unworthy are they in view of our Redeemers words! Time was, under the first two Stuarts, when the nave of the old St. Pauls was a rendezvous for business, for pleasure, for public gossiping, so that Evelyn the diarist, lamenting the deplorable state to which the great church was reduced, says that it was already named a den of thieves. Is it too much to say that the Redeemer was not long in punishing the desecration of His Temple? First there came the axes and hammers of the rebellion, and then there came the swift tongues of fire in 1660, and the finest cathedral that England ever saw went its way. Would that in better times we were less constantly unmindful of the truth that its successor is neither a museum of sculpture nor yet a concert-room, and that He whose house it is will not be robbed of His rights with permanent impunity. (Canon Liddon.)

The regenerate soul is a house of prayer

My house shall be called the house of prayer. This is true of every regenerate soul. When it is in a state of grace the soul of man is a temple of the Divine presence. If any man love Me, and will keep My words, My Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. Christs throne within the soul enlightens the understanding, and kindles the affections, and braces the will, and while He thus from His presence-chamber in this His spiritual palace, issues His orders hour by hour to its thinking and acting powers, He receives in return the homage of faith and love, a sacrifice which they delight to present to Him. So it is with Gods true servants, but alas! my brethren, if you and I compare notes, what shall we say? Even when we desire to pray we find ourselves in the outer court of the soul surrounded all at once with the tables of the money-changers, and with the seats of the men who sell the doves. Our business, with all its details, follows us in the churches, follows us into our private chambers, follows us everywhere into the presence of our God. Our preparations for religious service, the accidents of our service, occupy the attention which is due to the service itself. Sometimes, alas! we do not even try to make the very first steps towards real prayer, and steps which ordinary natural reverence would suggest; we lounge, we look about us, just as though nothing in the world were of less importance than to address the Infinite and Eternal God. But sometimes, alas! we do close the eyes, we do bend the knee, we try to put force upon the souls powers and faculties, and to lead them forth one by one, and then collectively to the footstool of the King of kings; when, lo! they linger over this memory or that, they are burdened with this or that load of care, utterly foreign to the work in hand. They bend, it is true, in an awkward sort of way in the sacred presence beneath, not their sense of its majesty, not their sense of the love and the beauty of God, but the vast and incongruous weight of worldliness which prevents their realizing it. And when a soul is thus at its best moments fatally troubled and burdened about many things, God in His mercy bides His time; He cleanses the courts of a Temple which He has predestined to be His for ever, He cleanses it in His own time and way; He sends some sharp sorrow which sweeps from the soul all thoughts save one, the nothingness, the vanity of all that is here below; and so He forces that soul to turn by one mighty, all-comprehending act to Himself, who alone can satisfy it; or He lays a man upon a bed of sickness, leaving the mind with all its powers intact, but stripping from the body all the faculties of speech and motion, and then through the long, weary hours the man is turned in upon himself; and if there is any hope for him at all, if at that critical moment he is at all alive.to the tender pleadings of the All-merciful, he will with his own hands cleanse the temple; he sees the paltriness of the trifles that have kept him back from his chiefest, from his only good; he expels first one and then another unworthy intruder upon the sacred ground. The scourge is sharp, the resistance it may be persevering; the hours are long, and they are weary, but the work is done at last. (Canon Liddon.)

Irreverence rebuked

When Walter Hook (afterwards Dean of Chichester) was Vicar of Coventry, he was once presiding at a vestry meeting which was so largely attended as to necessitate an adjournment to the church. Several persons kept their hats on. The vicar requested them to take them off, but they refused. Very well, gentlemen, He replied, but remember that in this house the insult is not done to me, but to your God. The hats were immediately taken off.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 45. Went into the temple] See all this transaction explained, Mt 21:12-16.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

We have met with this before more fully: See Poole on “Mat 21:12-13“. See Poole on “Mar 11:15“, and following verses to Mar 11:17.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

45, 46. As the firstcleansing was on His first visit to Jerusalem (Joh2:13-22), so this second cleansing was on His last.

den of thievesbandedtogether for plunder, reckless of principle. The mild term “houseof merchandise,” used on the former occasion, was nowunsuitable.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And he went into the temple,…. Being come into the city, he alighted from the colt he rode on, and having committed it to the care of a proper person to return it to the owner, he went up directly to the temple, of which he was the Lord and proprietor, and where he had some work to do the few days he had to live.

And began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; that traded in sheep, and oxen, and doves; see Joh 2:15. The Ethiopic version adds here, as there, “and overthrew, the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves”.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Began to cast out ( ). So Mr 11:15 whereas Mt 21:12 has simply “he cast out.” See Mark and Matthew for discussion of this second cleansing of the temple at the close of the public ministry in relation to the one at the beginning in Joh 2:14-22. There is nothing gained by accusing John or the Synoptics of a gross chronological blunder. There was abundant time in these three years for all the abuses to be revived.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

SECOND PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE V. 45-48

1) “And he went into the temple,” (kai eiselthon eis to eron) “And upon entering into the temple,” as also recounted Mat 21:12; Mar 11:15.

2) “And began to cast out them that sold therein,” (erksato ekballein tous polountas) “He began to expel or toss out, forcefully, those who were selling,” commercializing in His house, as He had done on one previous occasion, Joh 2:13-22. They were selling cattle, sheep, pigeons, and doves, with a noisy, nasty, clamoring traffic, for sacrifices, Mat 21:12-13; Mar 11:15; Mar 11:17.

3) “And them that bought;” (polountas) “As well as those who bought;” The pilgrims brought their own coins to be changed from Egypt, Syria, Greece, etc. Those who had come to buy their over-inflated priced animals, turtle doves, and pigeons for sacrifices. He simply closed down their commercializing secular traffic and desecration of and in the temple, His Father’s house, Joh 2:16.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Butlers Comments

SECTION 5

Prayer (Luk. 19:45-48)

45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46saying to them, It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers.

47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him; 48but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon his words.

Luk. 19:45-46 Temple Purged: Apparently Jesus and the Twelve entered Jerusalem each morning for four successive days and went out to lodge in Bethany each night. He entered Jerusalem Sunday morning for the Triumphal Entry and returned to Bethany that night, doing the same on Monday, Tuesday and probably Wednesday (cf. Mar. 11:11; Mat. 21:18; Mar. 11:19-28; Luk. 21:37-38). Thursday He entered the city to keep the Passover (Mat. 26:18-20), was arrested that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, put on trial all night long and crucified on Friday. On Sunday He merely entered the Temple precincts, looked around at the despicable commercialization and exploitation of the Temple and its worshipers and departed for Bethany with the Twelve since it was late in the evening (cf. Mat. 21:10-17; Mar. 11:11).

As He returned toward Jerusalem the next morning (Monday), He cursed the unproductive fig tree (Mat. 21:18-19; Mar. 11:12-14. After entering the city on Monday He went to the Temple and taught and healed. Children shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David and Jesus cautioned the indignant Pharisees, . . . Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise. . . .

The incident of the cleansing of the Temple in our text took place on that same Monday, (see also Mat. 21:12-17; Mar. 11:15-19). The Temple of Jesus day was magnificent. Herod the Great initiated grandiose plans in 20 B.C. for remodeling the Temple Zerubbabel had finished about 516 B.C. This remodeling was not completed until 64 A.D. (only 6 years before it was totally destroyed in 70 A.D.). Workers and materials were scattered about the Temple which Jesus knew. Ten thousand workers were employed in its remodeling. With nearly 3,000,000 people in Jerusalem at Passover time, and most of them coming to the Temple at least once a day, it was a very packed and busy place. Jesus was there probably every day of this last week. He would naturally gravitate to the Temple because of the teeming masses of people there at Passover time. He would have not only somewhat of a captive audience, but one with its mind concentrating on spiritual things. There also, were the rulers and religious leaders of the whole nation. This last week is the nations moment of truth. This last week will be the crisis of the cosmos (see. comments on Luk. 21:1-38). No longer will He keep a low profile on His Messiahship. Now is the time the issue is to be faced openly, thoroughly and plainly. There must be no lingering doubts about how much authority Jesus claims. The logical place for that authority to be claimed is the Temple. In addition to all this, the Temple, and its services, will provide immediate, vivid symbolism and typology for Him to relate His redemptive work to the Old Testament of the Jews. Thus, He entered the Temple.

The Court of the Gentiles was called the Bazaar of Annas because the family of the High Priest made their fortune from the markets there. The Court of the Gentiles was a public place very much like the Forum in Rome or the Agora in Athens where anyone could go, including infidels, heretics, excommunicated Jews or unclean Jews. It was always crowded like a modern Farmers market with people gossiping, buying, shopping, strolling around and selling. Merchants from all over the world were allowed to set up booths in it to hawk their wares. Along the walls, the huge colonnades (sheltered walk-ways) were gathering places, Roman soldiers walked along the roofs at Passover time patrolling the Court. It was big business. Over $1,000,000 a year was cleared by the family of the High Priest. The Roman general, Crassus, plundered the Temple of $30,000,000 himself. The family of the High Priest had a corner on the market of kosher animals and kosher money for sale to Passover pilgrims. Jewish worshipers came from all over the Roman empire. Many of them could not bring a Passover lamb or Jewish shekels for their offerings. Nothing else was acceptable. Furthermore, all the priests had to do was pronounce any lamb that had been brought, unsuitable, and another one had to be obtained before the worshiper could observe the Passover. Often prices at the great feasts went up as much as fifteen times over the usual price of a lamb or a shekel. People were being exploited and defrauded in the name of religion.
Jesus was angry about this. He entered the Temple courts and began to drive out those who sold. The Greek word translated drive out is ekballein and means literally, throw out. It is a word of action. Matthew records that He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of the merchants. The meek and mild Jesus vents His anger. There is a righteous magnificence to His roughness. He is demonstrating by actions what the prophets said so many times about the zeal of the Messiah for justice and relieving the oppression of the poor (Isa. 9:7; Isa. 11:1-5; Isa. 42:1-4; Isa. 61:1-4). As long as there was corruption in the Temple and its priesthood, there would be corruption in the whole nation. Where there is corruption in the religious leadership of any nation it will filter down and permeate the whole citizenry.

God never intended His house (covenant family) to become a marketplace where men buy and sell, exploit the weak and powerless, and worship the god mammon. Isaiah predicted that Gods house (the church) would be set aside to evangelize the foreigner and call all who would to come into covenant relationship and worship (prayer), (Isa. 56:1-12). Jeremiah told the people of his day the Lord was going to remove them from their land and take His presence from them because they made His house a den of robbers, There is, in Jesus reference to both these prophecies, a direct claim to deity and messianic authority. He vindicates His actions by claiming the divine authority of messianic prophecy.

Superdome of New Orleans, La., in relative size to the Temple in Jesus day.

Luk. 19:47-48 Teaching Popular: Jesus, in this action on Monday, excited a whole spectrum of emotions that lasted for several days as He taught in the Temple.

a.

The rulers were indignant (Mat. 21:15) and sought to kill Him (Luk. 19:47-48.

b.

The sick flocked to Him to be healed (Mat. 21:14).

c.

The children shouted Biblical praises, (Mat. 21:15-16). d. Most of the multitude watched and listened in astonishment, awe and appreciation, hanging on His words (Luk. 19:48).

For one brief moment the Temple was what it should bebeautiful, holy and spiritual. It was untidy and noisy, but lovely. For one brief moment the Temple was no longer a market-place that made you feel dirty and ashamed for having been there. It was a house of prayer and glory to God. For one brief moment Jesus revived in the minds of the worshipers the spiritual ideals and atmosphere of the Temple and turned them from their crass materialism.
The rulers were filled with rage and would have killed Him on the spot but they were afraid to do so. Jesus did something which was very popular with the multitudes. It warmed their heart to see anyone with enough courage to take action and overturn money tables and drive the merchants out. With only a slight provocation, the crowds would have joined Jesus against the rulers. Furthermore, the rulers were guilty and they knew they were guilty. What Jesus was doing was right and their consciences told them so. Guilty consciences have made many powerful men cowards. Finally, although they were filled with rage, they were also calculating. They knew the expedient thing to do was wait for the right moment and hope for an opportunity to make Jesus appear to be the criminal. Then they knew they could win the popularity of the multitudes to their side.

The church, made of living stones, is Gods temple today (Eph. 2:11-22). He wants it to be His house of prayer and evangelism. He is angry when it prostitutes itself before the gods of materialism, false teaching and sensuality. Some of the last admonitions of the New Testament are for the church to purge itselfto repentlest He come and take away its light (cf. Rev. 2:1-29; Rev. 3:1-22). Let the church know what happened to the Temple (Mat. 23:37 to Mat. 24:35; Mat. 21:5-33), and repent.

STUDY STIMULATORS:

1.

Would you risk your reputation to visit in the home of a traitor to teach about Gods kingdom if invited? Jesus did!

2.

Is the religious experience of Zacchaeus (his salvation) an accurate example for salvation now?

3.

What does the Parable of the Pounds do for your concept of rewards in heaven?

4.

What do you think about faithfulness as the divine criterion for reward versus amount of work accomplished? Can you think of other teachings in the N.T. along the same line?

5.

Have you ever been tempted to think of God as austere and too demanding? How do you overcome it?

6.

Do you believe the Master has given you a pound to invest? What is it? Have you invested it?

7.

What do you think you would have thought had you been a Roman soldier stationed in the city of Jerusalem the day Jesus rode in on the colt? What do you think you would do today if He rode into your town in an old, broken down automobile, followed by an entourage of common laborers, farmers and alleged traitors, claiming to be President of the United States?

8.

Have you ever wept over the impenitence of your: home town? Have you ever grieved over all the lost people who live there?

9.

How many people do you know who have never acknowledged that Jesus was God in the flesh, visiting mankind? Have you ever talked to them about this?

10.

Are there religious leaders making Gods house (the church) a den of robbers today? How does Christ feel about this? What about your body as the temple of the Holy Spiritis there anything in it that Christ might want to drive out?

Appleburys Comments

Cleansing the Temple
Scripture

Luk. 19:45-48 And he entered into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold, 46 saying unto them, It is written, And my house shall be a house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of robbers.

47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him: 48 and they could not find what they might do; for the people all hung upon him, listening.

Comments

began to cast out them that sold.All three of the synoptic writers record this incident (Mat. 21:12-14; Mar. 11:15-18; Luk. 19:45-48). But John gives the account of the cleansing of the temple that occurred at the beginning of Jesus ministry (Joh. 2:13-22). There is no good reason for assuming that such an incident could not have occurred at the beginning of His ministry and again at its close. The fact that they are similar does not rule out the possibility of two separate cleansings. It takes a very short time for people to revert to their old ways. Selling sacrificial animals was undoubtedly a very good business, and the merchants did not give it up for long.

It is written.Jesus appeal to what was written shows His approval of the Old Testament Scriptures. Jews pretended to approve them, but their conduct proved otherwise.

The temple was not built as a place of business, but as a house of prayer. It was a place for worshippers to offer their gifts and sacrifices to the Lord. It was a place where they were to receive His gracious blessings.
They had so perverted this purpose that Jesus said, You have made it a den of robbers.

The church is the temple of God. In the light of what happened to the temple in Jerusalem, Christian people might well examine their relation to this spiritual temple to see if it too has been put to other uses than the divinely appointed one. See 1Pe. 2:1-10. In the light of what is written, what will the answer be?

And he was teaching daily in the temple.From beginning to end, Jesus ministry was one of teaching as He proclaimed good news to the people. A return to a teaching ministry in the church is long overdue.

sought to destroy him.There was no denying what their real intent was; they were bent on destroying this One who was taking their place in the hearts of the people. The conspiracy included the chief priests and scribes and the prominent men of the nation.

There was only one thing holding them back: How could they do it without violent reaction from the people? The people were clinging to His words as they listened to Him. What a thrilling experience it must have been to hear the Teacher sent from God tell the story of eternal life!

Summary

As Luke neared the close of his account of the Life of Christ, he crowded as many incidents into it as possible. Five are given in this chapter, some of which are mentioned only briefly.
The story of Zacchaeus presents another practical defense of Jesus ministry in behalf of the lost sinner. He was criticized, of course, for going into the house of this chief publican, but He answered, The Son of man came to seek and save that which was lost.
The Parable of the Pounds answers many questions about the nature of the kingdom of God. The story of the nobleman who went into a far country to receive a kingdom and return shows that Jesus was soon to return to the Father where He would be seated at the right hand of the throne of God and reign as King until the end of the age. Then He will return to call upon His servants to render account of their stewardship. Those who have been faithful will be rewarded accordingly, but no excuse will be accepted for failing to carry out His orders. Even the opportunity to serve will be taken away from the one who does not use it in this life. Those who reject Him as King will be destroyed when He comes again.
The story of the Triumphal Entry presents Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a colt as the prophet had said. As He came to the descent of the mount of Olives, He was met by a crowd that spontaneously cried out, Blessed is the King that comes in the name of the Lord. The ubiquitous Pharisees heard it and said, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He said, I tell you if they become silent, the stones will cry out. But soon the enemy would stir them up and they would be yelling, Let him be crucified.
As Jesus looked at the city He wept over it. If you had known the things that belong to peace, but now they are hid from your eyes. The time would come when their city would be besieged, its people dashed to the ground, and its buildings utterly destroyed. All this was because they did not know the One sent from God with the message of peace.
He went into the city and once again found the temple being used as a place of merchandise. He drove out the merchants as He had done at the beginning of His ministry and said again, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer. You have made it a den of robbers.
As He was teaching in the temple, the chief priests and scribes and prominent men were seeking a way to destroy Him. How to do it without arousing the people, was their only concern, for all the people were hanging on His words, listening to the story of eternal life.

Questions

1.

What is known about the history of Jericho?

2.

Why was Zacchaeus called a chief publican?

3.

Why did he want to see Jesus?

4.

How did he overcome his handicap?

5.

Why did Jesus say, I must abide in your house today?

6.

What did the crowds say about this?

7.

What did Zacchaeus propose to do about his life?

8.

What is the significance of the remark: If I have wrongfully exacted aught?

9.

Why did Jesus say that salvation had come to his house?

10.

What did his being a son of Abraham have to do with it?

11.

What was the purpose of Jesus ministry as seen in His remark at the close of the story of Zacchaeus?

12.

What was the occasion for telling the Parable of the Pounds?

13.

What is the parable about?

14.

Why didnt the people understand Jesus purpose in going to Jerusalem?

15.

Who is represented by the nobleman in the parable?

16.

What does the parable teach about the kingdom of God and the office of Christ as King?

17.

When did He receive the kingdom?

18.

What will He do when He comes again?

19.

What are His servants to do while He is away?

20.

Who are represented by the citizens who refused to have Him as their King?

21.

On what basis were the servants rewarded?

22.

What lesson is taught by the one who didnt use his talent?

23.

When will the opportunity to serve be taken away?

24.

What will happen to those who reject Christ as King?

25.

What does Bethphage mean? Bethany?

26.

Where were these villages located?

27.

How explain the owners willingness to let the disciples take the colt?

28.

What is suggested by the fact that Jesus rode the colt into Jerusalem?

29.

What did the people say when they saw Him coming?

30.

What was the objection of the Pharisees?

31.

How explain Jesus answer?

32.

What did Jesus do when He saw the city? Why?

33.

What is meant by the time of visitation?

34.

What was to happen to the city? When?

35.

What evidence is there to support the view that Jesus cleansed the temple at the beginning of His ministry and again at its close?

36.

What is the significance of Jesus statement, It is written?

37.

What method did Jesus use in His ministry and what does it suggest for the present age?

38.

Who were involved in the conspiracy to destroy Jesus?

39.

What was restraining them?

40.

How does Luke describe the attitude of the people toward Jesus ministry of teaching?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(45-48) And he went into the temple.See Notes on Mat. 21:12-17; Mar. 11:15-19. St. Luke apparently agrees with St. Matthew in thinking of the expulsion of the money-changers as taking place on the same day as the Entry. His narrative is here the least descriptive of the three.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

112. CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE, Luk 19:45-48 .

See our notes on Mat 21:12-13. That there were a first and second cleansing, see notes on the parallel in Matthew and on Joh 2:13-17.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And he entered into the temple, and began to cast out those who sold,’

And He entered the Temple, and looking around at what was happening there in the Court of the Gentiles, He was angry. And so He began to cast out those who sold (He began and continued), emptying it of the noisy traders so that it was possible for those present to pray in comparative peace. Compare here Mal 3:1. The Lord had come to His Temple. He was not weeping now. This was the next day (Mar 11:12), but Luke ignores that because he wants us to recognise its connection with the preceding words. The emptying of the traders from the Temples is a symbol of the judgment that is coming. Now He is here in anger at the duplicity of the priesthood, and warning of what will happen if they do not cleanse up their act.

The effectiveness of what He did resulted as much from His moral authority as from brute force, and the traders were also no doubt aware of the twelve husky looking Apostles in the background.

Perhaps also we are to link it with His entry into Jerusalem as its Messiah. For He may well by this have indicated that one purpose of His coming was in order to purify the Temple worship, by removing what corrupted it and making it a place of prayer. We can compare how both Hezekiah and Josiah were noted as having cleansed the Temple of what offended (2Ki 23:4; 2Ch 29:5 ; 2Ch 29:16; 2Ch 34:8), and in both cases it was followed by the observance of the Passover (2Ki 23:21; 2Ch 30:1; 2Ch 35:1). They had emptied it of idolatry, Jesus was emptying it of the new idolatry, Mammon.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The purging of the Temple:

v. 45. And He went into the Temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought,

v. 46. saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

v. 47. And He taught daily in the Temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy Him,

v. 48. and could not find what they might do; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

It was on the next morning that Jesus carried out a plan that had occurred to Him the day before, when He had seen the abuses to which the Temple had been put by the people. Since it would have been very inconvenient, in some cases almost impossible, for every Israelite to bring his sacrificial animal from his home to Jerusalem, the Lord permitted those living at a distance to buy their sacrificial beasts and birds in Jerusalem. The consequence was that a thriving business soon developed, which seems to have been controlled by some of the religious leaders themselves, for they were not at all averse to making money. All would have been well if they had held their market somewhere down in the lower town. But the venders had moved up into the neighborhood of the Temple, and finally into its very court. There were the stalls for the oxen, the pens for the sheep and goats, the coops for the doves. There were also the money-counters; for it was necessary to make change. The fact that their methods profaned the courts of the Lord had apparently not entered into the minds of these eager business men. But the Lord made short work of their marketing, of their buying and selling. He began to thrust out the buyers and sellers, reminding them meanwhile of the words of the prophet concerning the fact that the house of God should be considered a house of prayer for all people, Isa 56:7, as Solomon had said in his prayer of dedication. They had converted it into a den of robbers, where the people sat haggling over prices and pocketing excessive profits. It was not only the marketing that profaned the house of the Lord, but also the fact that many of the people came there without true repentance, intending to buy themselves free from the wrath to come with sacrifices. But all sacrifices and prayers that are made with an unrepentant heart are an abomination in the sight of God, a blasphemy of the most holy name of God. But the Lord is the Judge of all such, and will, in the end, pass sentence upon all such as are guilty of hypocrisy. After Jesus had thus purged the Temple, He taught in its halls daily. The leaders of the people, the members of the Sanhedrin, were greatly embittered over His words and works, and they sought for some way of destroying Him. But they were afraid to carry out their murderous designs; they could find no way of approaching Him with an evidently hostile intention. For the common people all together, during these days, were most attentive to hear Him; they hung upon His every word as though they could not get enough of the words of salvation. The word used by Luke describes not only the most careful attention, but also the very great pleasure and gratification that was theirs because they were privileged to hear Jesus. Thus all men should at all times hang upon the Word of eternal life as it has been revealed in the Gospel, for it testifies of the Savior of the world.

Summary

Jesus visits Zacchaeus, the publican, in Jericho, tells the parable of the pounds, enters Jerusalem in triumph, but weeps in the knowledge of the future fate of the city, and purges the Temple.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Luk 19:45-46 . See on Mat 21:12 f.; Mar 11:15-17 . Luke proceeds by brief extracts, and, moreover, gives the saying in Isa 56:7 not as Mark gives it, but in the abbreviated form of Matthew.

] He began therewith His Messianic ministry in the temple. Schleiermacher erroneously regards Luk 19:45-46 as the concluding formula of the narrative of the journey.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves. And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

I refer the Reader for my observations on those verses to the similar passage, Mat 21:12-14 .

REFLECTIONS

BLESSED LORD JESUS! do I behold thee, mine honored Lord, entering and passing through Jericho, the cursed city? Yes! I do. And is it, my soul, to be wondered at, when I know that that Holy Lord, who knew no sin, was yet content to be made both sin and a curse, that his redeemed might be made the righteousness of God in Him? And was there a poor Zacchaeus near Jericho, one of Christ’s, a son of Abraham, that Jesus went purposely to seek? And will not Jesus still seek his own, wherever they are scattered, in the present cloudy and dark day? Oh! yes! Jesus will call them down from every lofty imagination, or raise them up from every fallen state; for the Son of Man is come to seek and save that which was lost.

Almighty King! thou art indeed a nobleman gone to receive to thyself a kingdom, and to return. Lord! give me grace to occupy till thou shalt come. The truest occupation, my honored Lord, is to live on thee, and to be everlastingly receiving of thy fulness, and grace for grace. And when my Lord shall come, shall I not, as those babes of Israel, hail thee with Hosannas; yea, with shouts and acclamations of praise? Blessed, forever blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord.

And, oh! thou tender compassionate Lord! May my soul often call to remembrance thy tears over Jerusalem. Jesus wept! Oh! the largeness of mercies in the heart of the God-Man Christ Jesus! What shall ever keep my soul from going to Him who knoweth my frame by his own; and whose mercies are the mercies of both God and man in one. Oh! the privilege of a throne of grace! Oh! the blessedness of such an High Priest!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;

Ver. 45. See Mat 21:12-13 , &c.; See Trapp on “ Joh 2:14 “

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

45, 46. ] CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. See on Mat 21:12-13 ; Mar 11:15-17 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 19:45-48 . Jesus in the temple (Mat 21:12-17 , Mar 11:15-19 ). We have here two tableaux: Jesus reforming temple abuses (Luk 19:45-46 ), and Jesus teaching in the temple to the delight of the people and the chagrin of their religious and social superiors. Of the former we have but a slight and colourless presentation from Lk., whose editorial solicitudes, now well known to us, here come into play. The story as told by Mt. and Mk. shows passion (of the true Divine prophetic type) and action bordering on violence. This disappears from Lk.’s page in favour of a decorous but neutral picture. J. Weiss thinks it incredible that Lk. should have given us so inadequate a statement had he had such an account as that in Mk. before him (Meyer, eighth edition, note, p. 584). It is perfectly intelligible, once we understand Lk.’s method of handling his material. Equally groundless, for the same reason, is the inference of Hahn from the omissions of Lk. between Luk 19:44-45 (Mat 21:10-11 , Mar 11:11-14 ) that he cannot have known either Mt. or Mk.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Luk 19:45 . , the sellers, no mention of the buyers in the true text (W.H [158] after [159] [160] [161] ).

[158] Westcott and Hort.

[159] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[160] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[161] Codex Regius–eighth century, represents an ancient text, and is often in agreement with and B.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 19:45-46

45Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling, 46saying to them, “It is written, ‘And My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a robbers’ den.”

Luk 19:45 “Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling” This seems to be a prophetic fulfillment of Mal 3:1-2 (“suddenly” is combined with “judgment”). Joh 2:13 ff records a cleansing of the Temple earlier in Jesus’ ministry, while the Synoptics record a cleansing in the last week of His ministry. Because of the thematic organization and freedom of the four Gospel writers, it is uncertain whether there were only one or two cleansings of the temple. The Sadducees owned the commercial rights on the Mount of Olives and in the Court of the Gentiles. They were cheating the people (1) with their exorbitant charges to exchange common coins into the Tyrian shekel and (2) their quick disqualifications of sacrificial animals brought from home. The sacrificial animals available through these merchants were very expensive.

This act of Jesus

1. reveals His authority

2. reveals the corruption in God’s house

3. seals His death by the Jewish leaders (Sadducees, Herodians, and Pharisees, cf. Luk 19:47)

Luk 19:46 “It is written” This is an idiom for Scripture. Exactly why Luke did not quote the entire passage (cf. Isa 56:7), which continues (in both MT and LXX), “unto all nations” is uncertain, because it would seem to fit his recurrent theme of Luke of a universal love of God through Jesus for all humans (of which Zaccheus is an immediate example).

“but you have made it a robber’s den” Jesus is combining Isa 57:6 with Jer 7:11 (“a den of robbers”). Jeremiah 7 is the prophet’s famous temple sermon addressed to those who are trusting in the temple instead of YHWH.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

the temple = the temple courts. Greek. hieron. See Mat 23:16

to cast out, &c. This is a repetition of the Lord’s act in Luk 21:12, but the same as in Mar 11:15, which has supplementary details. See App-156.

therein = in (Greek. en).

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

45, 46.] CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. See on Mat 21:12-13; Mar 11:15-17.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 19:45. [, and) Noble zeal follows close upon His tears.-V. g.]-, the temple) the stronghold of religion, where, upon seeing His zeal, they ought to have known and acknowledged the things which belonged to their peace.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Chapter 31

Purging The House Of God

What if the Son of God were to come to church next Sunday? Have you ever tried to imagine what would happen if the Lord Jesus were to visit one of our modern churches, if he were to attend one of those things people call worship services held in his name? What would our Saviour do, if he were to walk into one of our modern church buildings? If the Son of God were to come into most any church in this day, he would do exactly what he did in the passage before us.

Mark tells us that, after he had driven out those who sold doves, and dumped the money-changers money in the floor, turning their tables upside-down, he would not allow them to even carry their vessels through the temple. We would be shocked to see the things Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us our Saviour did in the house of God that evening. But, really, we should be shocked that it is not done. This was not some gentle thing that our Saviour did, after he had persuaded the people it really ought to be done. It was something our Master did in utter fury. John gives a vivid account of a similar event that had taken place three years earlier (Joh 2:13-17).

And the Jews passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Fathers house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

When our Saviour first began his public ministry, the first time he went with his disciples to keep the passover, he saw in the house of God an unbearable display of irreverence and utter contempt among people who convinced themselves that they were serving the Lord. Now, three years later, he came to Jerusalem again. Again, it was the time of the Jews passover. And things were exactly as they had been before.

The Offence

What was the great offence here? What were these people doing that was so bad? The business carried on in the forecourt was connected to the sacrificial offerings and the atonement money required by the law. The Jews came to Jerusalem at the time of passover from many different countries (Joh 12:20; Act 2:5). The money-changers were there for what appears to be a very good reason. If they were not there, the people would have to go to a little, needless trouble to get their currency exchanged somewhere else, so that they could pay their required half-shekel.

The same thing could be said for the other businessmen who were there serving the Lord and his people. If the people were to keep the passover, they needed sacrifices: animals, wine, oil, salt, and so forth. The poor, who could not afford larger sacrifices, were permitted by the law to bring a pair of doves. Those who sold doves simply made things easy and convenient. Of course, they had to make a profit.

What could be wrong with these things? We read of nothing in any of the narratives that these people did except that which appeared useful. Their crime was that the priests and the people sought to enrich themselves in the name of serving God. Does that seem familiar? It should. The biggest business in the world is big business religion. Their crime was that they had turned the house of God into a den of thieves, taking that which was to be the house of prayer and making it a house of pleasure. Oh, they read the law and kept the feasts with great pomp and impressive ceremonies; but they made the Word of God of no effect by their practices.

Four Lessons

Is there a message in all this for us? The temple was destroyed 2000 years ago. We do not observe those holy days the Jews profaned. And, though Ive seen a good many strange things in churches, I have never yet seen people selling animals and conducting a currency exchange in a church house. Such things would not surprise me; but I havent yet seen them. So I ask again, Is there a message in all this for us? Indeed there is.

In fact, there are many, very important lessons to be learned from this passage. Here are four.

The purging of the temple by our Lord Jesus stands out as one of the Masters greatest displays of his absolute divinity. The fact that the scribes, and Pharisees, and Priests stood by and silently watched all that our Lord did here, strikes me as being as marvellous as our Saviour ordering the Roman soldiers in Gethsemane, and the legion of demons who begged his permission to go into a herd of hogs. Those who observed these things must have been completely awestruck.

Learn this, too. The house of God is his house. Christ is the Head, the only head, of his church. He is the King in this kingdom. There is no voice of authority but his voice, and no rule of faith and practice, but his Word.

Sometimes faithful men, men who seek the glory and honour of God, must get angry and show their anger. Those who would honour God cannot give approval to that which dishonours him. To be silent is to give approval. Our Saviour showed his disapproval of the wickedness before him. Let us follow his example.

The church of God is a house of prayer. When I speak of Gods church and Gods house, Im not talking about a building. The church and temple and house of God is the assembly of his saints in the name of Christ for worship (Mat 18:20; 1Co 3:16-17). There is no room in the house of God for anything but prayer worship.

Be sure you understand that. There is no room in the house of God for anything except the worship of God, and worship according to the Word and Spirit of God. As it was in the days of Nehemiah, so it is today. The strength of those who are supposed to bear the burden has decayed; and there is a lot of garbage (much rubbish) in the house of God. If we would worship and serve our God, we must clear his house of all the rubbish men bring into it by their vain philosophies, religious traditions, and foolish sentiments (Neh 4:10).

I say to you who read these lines, as Peter said to those who stood before him on the Day of Pentecost, Save yourselves from this untoward (warped, winding, crooked, and perverse) generation (Act 2:40). There is so much rubbish in the churches of this day that a true gospel message cannot be preached in most places of worship, without utter warfare breaking out among those who profess to be worshipping God and serving him. Everyone has a form of godliness (religion), to which they tenaciously adhere, all the while denying the power of true godliness (the gospel of the grace of God). The religious generation in which we find ourselves today was well described by the apostle Paul as a people, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2Ti 3:7).

There is so much rubbish in religion that the first thing a preacher has to do is get a big shovel and dump truck, clear out the rubbish and haul it to the garbage dump. Until that is done, nothing else can be done. We cannot build the walls of Zion upon a pile of garbage. We cannot build a wall of hope and security on religious rubbish. The foundation cannot be laid until the rubbish is recognized, dealt with, and hauled away. And cleaning up a pile of garbage is never easy or pleasant. But it must be done. Faithful men in every generation have found the work both necessary and costly. Moses had to deal with Korah and his crowd. Elijah constantly had to confront Ahab and Jezebel. Hezekiah had trouble on his hands when he destroyed the brazen serpent. Paul was compelled to deal with judaising legalists everywhere he went.

I have preached in a good many churches in the last 40 years; and I think I know where the problem is. I think I know what the rubbish is. Let me point out three things that must be dealt with, if we are going to build a wall of hope and refuge for eternity bound sinners in our day.

The Law Of God

In religious circles today, I am talking about churches of every brand, the holy, pure, immaculate, unchanging law of God has been whittled down to a set of rules for men to obey by mere outward religious exercise and outward conformity. Righteousness has been reduced to a work of man. This was the charge our Lord laid against the scribes and Pharisees of his day (Mat 23:25-27). And this is the charge that must be laid against the religion and religious leaders of our day.

Saul of Tarsus was in exactly that condition before God saved him. He was a devoutly religious man. His religious zeal and devotion would put you and me to shame. But he did not know God at all. He had gone to church all his life. He graduated from the Gamaliel School of Theology with honours. He taught the scriptures. He was a man of indisputable morality. And he was a law-keeping legalist of the first order (Php 3:5-6). Saul of Tarsus was a man who was deeply religious, who lived by the law, and boasted of his righteousness before the law. But he did not know God or his law. He was as lost as any sinner on the top side of Gods earth. Then, something happened (Acts 9; Rom 7:9). He said, I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

God the Holy Spirit came to that poor, lost religionist, revealed Christ in him, and in doing so revealed the true character of Gods holy law to him. When he saw Christ and was convinced by God the Holy Spirit that righteousness was accomplished and brought in by Christ (Joh 16:8-11), for the first time in his life, Saul was made to see that God requires truth in the inward parts; and he had nothing in himself but deceit. For the first time in his life, he saw that there was no comeliness in him, but only sin. God stripped him buck naked and brought him to shame (Rom 7:9-11). The law he once boasted of keeping now made him tremble, for it exposed his sin.

Has the Lord Jesus Christ ever come to you by the saving operations of his Spirit and revealed his holy law to you? Hear what he declares, For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven (Mat 5:20).

That righteousness that God requires, you cannot perform. It is a righteousness performed for us by Christ and given to us by grace. And godliness, true godliness is not outward, but inward. The Lord looketh on the heart. Christianity is not a creed, but a Person. It is not outward, but inward. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory!

Thats the first piece of garbage that must be hauled away, if we are to have a house of prayer and praise to God. We must be made to see that no man can, by anything he does or experiences, make himself righteous before God. The bondwoman and her son (works religion and all who promote it) must be cast out!

Degenerate Worship

The second problem is this. Worship, or what people call worship, has degenerated into nothing but religious entertainment and ceremony performed under the disguise of worship. Most churches are nothing but religious social clubs, with rules, regulations, and ceremonies, and a good place for businessmen to network. If God the Holy Spirit did not exist, it would not change a thing in most churches. Their program would move along without a glitch.

You dont need the Spirit of God to make a decision for Jesus. But you must have him to be born again. You dont need God the Holy Spirit to reform your life. But you must have him to be regenerated. You dont need the Holy Spirit to make a profession of faith. But you must have him to get faith. You dont need the Holy Spirit to learn a creed and learn to fight for it. But you must have him to learn the gospel. You dont need the Spirit to stand up and testify. But you must have him to bow down and worship. You dont need the Spirit of God to be devoted to religious activity and service. But you must have him to sit at the Masters feet and hear his Word.

You dont need the Spirit of God to be immersed in water. But you must have him to be baptized into Christ. You dont need the Holy Spirit to observe the Lords Supper. But you must have him to commune with Christ and remember him. You dont need God the Holy Spirit to recite a prayer. But you must have him to pray. You dont need the Spirit to give out a lesson. But you must have him to preach a message. You dont need the Holy Spirit to give a tithe. But you must have him to offer two mites in the name of the Lord. You dont need God the Holy Spirit to love religion. But you must have him to love one another. You dont need the Spirit of God to meet together. But you must have him to be the temple of the living God!

If God the Holy Spirit did not exist, if there were no God, no Christ, no salvation, no eternal life, with most religious people, nothing would change. In most churches, nothing would change. You dont need God to have a business meeting. But you must have him to have a prayer (worship) meeting. You dont need God to be in the church. But you must have him to be in Christ. You dont need God to have a church house. But you must have him to be a habitation of God through the Spirit.

As I read about our Saviour driving the money-changers and sacrifice peddlers out of the temple, I cannot help thinking to myself, how furious he must be with mens intrusions into his house today. There is no place in the house of God, the house of prayer, for anything except that which involves the worship of God. Nothing should ever take place in the house of God, in the assembly of Gods saints except gospel preaching, gospel ordinances, prayer, and praise

Thats the second problem. The churches of our day have said good-by to God. And worship has degenerated into nothing but man-centred religious activity. Cast out your programs and ceremonies, or you will never worship God!

A Corrupt Message

Heres the third problem in churches around the world today. The church of this perverse age has substituted the message of the gospel, the message of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ, for a corrupt and perverse message of works.

Everywhere today people are told to stand up and be counted. The gospel of God demands that you bow down and worship. Theres a difference! The message of substitution, the message of our Lords blessed obedience and sin-atoning sacrifice, and salvation by him, in him, from him, and for him has been replaced with Will you let God save you? Wont you give your heart to Jesus? The decision is yours. You must do your part. Whats your decision? The Lord wants to save you. You need to start serving the Lord. Open your heart to the Lord, and he will come in.

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Gal 1:6-9).

When we have cleared away the rubbish, the Foundation can be laid and the walls of Zion can be built. The Foundation is Jesus Christ crucified. In his day the only place where John the Baptist could preach the gospel was in the wilderness. There he lifted up his solitary voice in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, crying out to eternity-bound sinners, Behold, the Lamb of God! Let us, like John the Baptist, cry out to immortal souls in this wilderness, Behold, the Lamb of God!

Jesus Christ is not just a good example after whom you must pattern your life. He is THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS! He was not a religious reformer. He was and is God our Saviour. He did not die as a martyr in a noble cause. He died as the Lamb of God, a sin-atoning, blood sacrifice for sin. He is not God who wants to save. He is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him. He is God mighty to save!

If the Lord God will give us grace today to clean out the rubbish, drive the merchandisers and their merchandise out of his house, and make his house a house of prayer for needy sinners, maybe, just maybe we will see the same thing happen that happened when our Saviour did it. We might just see sinners healed by his almighty grace (Mat 21:14).

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

went: Mat 21:12, Mat 21:13, Mar 11:15-17, Joh 2:13-17

sold: Deu 14:25, Deu 14:26

Reciprocal: Psa 26:8 – Lord Jer 7:11 – this Eze 28:16 – the multitude Luk 20:2 – Tell Joh 2:14 – General Joh 18:20 – I spake Act 5:33 – they

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

CLEANSING THE TEMPLE

And He went into the Temple den of thieves.

Luk 19:45-46

Our Lord twice had to cleanse the Temple. The profane practice grew up gradually until He put it down in His authoritative way. What is its counterpart now?

I. The encroaching spirit of worldliness.God is practically dethroned. Think of the Sunday trading, Sunday travelling, Sunday excursions, in simple disregard of the day.

II. The growth of irreligion gives birth to all new forms of self-indulgence. Be careful to mark the beginning of careless, God forgetting ways. Beware, too, of evil communications; no doubt buyers and sellers encouraged each other.

III. The voice of conscience even among those buyers and sellers was only stifledit was not destroyed. They shrank away at the words of Christ, ashamed and self-condemned.

The voice of God still makes itself heard above and against the voice of the people.

Bishop Fraser.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

6

See Mat 21:12-13.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Luk 19:45-46. THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. This took place on Monday; see notes on Mat 21:12-13; Mar 11:15-17. This is the briefest account, with no peculiarities.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

No sooner had our blessed Saviour entered Jerusalem, but his first walk was to the temple, and his first work was to purge and reform it from abuses, not to ruin and destory it because it had been abused.

But what was the profanation of the temple, that so offended our Saviour?

Answer. In the court of the Gentiles, the outward court of the temple, there was a public mart or market kept, where were sold oxen, sheep, and doves, for sacrifice, which otherwise the people must have brought up along with them from their houses: as a pretended ease therefore to the people, the priests ordered these things to be sold hard by the altar; but our blessed Saviour being justly offended at this profanation of his Father’s house, cast the buyers and sellers out of the temple: teaching us, that there is a special reverence due to God’s house, both for the Owner’s sake, and for the service sake: nothing but holiness can become the place where God is worshipped in the beauty of holiness.

The reason in added, My house is the house of prayer; where by prayer is to be understood, the whole worship and service of God, of which prayer is an eminent and principal part. That which gives denomination to an house, is most certainly the chief work to be done in that house; now God’s house being called an house of prayer, implies that prayer is a chief and principal work to be performed in this house; yet take we heed, that we set not the ordinances of God at variance one with another; we must not idolize one ordinance, and vilify another, but reverence them all, and pay an awful respect to all divine institutions. Our blessed Saviour here in his house of prayer preached daily to the people, as well as prayed with them; and all the people were as attentive to hear his sermons as he was constant at their prayers.

Prayer sanctifies the word, and the word fits us for prayer. If we would glorify God, and edify ourselves, we must put honor upon all the ordinances of God, and diligently attend them upon all occasions.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Luk 19:45-48. And he went into the temple See notes on Mat 21:12-14; Mar 11:11; Mar 11:18. And he taught daily in the temple Jesus, being now to remain but a short time upon earth, employed himself without intermission in teaching as many people as possible, and in the most public places.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1. Expulsion of the Sellers: Luk 19:45-48.

Vers. 45-48. Without Mark’s narrative, we should think that the expulsion of the sellers took place on the day of the entry into Jerusalem. But from that evangelist, whose account is here peculiarly exact, we learn that the entry did not take place till towards the close of the day, and that on that evening the Lord did nothing but give Himself up to the contemplation of the temple. It was on the morrow, when He returned from Bethany, that He purified this place from the profanations which were publicly committed in it. If Matthew and Luke had had before them the account of the original Mark, how and why would they have altered it thus? Holtzmann supposes that Matthew intended by this transposition to connect the Hosanna of the children (related immediately afterwards) with the Hosanna of the multitude. The futility of this reason is obvious. And why and how should Luke, who does not relate the Hosanna of the children, introduce the same change into the common document, and that without having known Matthew’s narrative!

The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem took place either on Sunday (Comment. sur. l’vang. de Jean, t. ii. pp. 371-373) or on the Monday; it would therefore be Monday or Tuesday morning when He drove out the sellers.

Stalls () had been set up in the court of the Gentiles. There were sold the animals required as sacrifices; there pilgrims, who came from all countries of the world, found the coins of the country which they needed. There is nothing to prove that this exchange had to do with the didrachma which was paid for the temple. The words , and them that bought, are perhaps borrowed from the other two Syn. But they may also have been omitted, in consequence of confounding the two endings .

The saying of Jesus is taken from Isa 56:7 and Jer 7:11. Luke does not, like Mark, quote the first passage to the end: My house shall be called a house of prayer , for all peoples. Those last words, however, agreed perfectly with the spirit of his Gospel. He has not therefore borrowed this quotation from Mark.

The appropriateness of this quotation from Isaiah is the more striking, because it was in the court of the Gentiles that those profanations were passing. Israel was depriving the Gentiles of the place which Jehovah had positively reserved for them in His house (1Ki 8:41-43). By the designation, a den of thieves, Jesus alludes to the deceptions which were connected with those different bargainings, and especially with the business of the exchangers.

If Israel in a spirit of holiness had joined with Jesus in this procedure, the act would have ceased to have a simply typical value; it would have become the real inauguration of the Messianic kingdom.

Vers. 47 and 48 are of the nature of a summary; the , daily, and the imperfects, they sought, etc., prove that Luke does not affect to give a complete account of these last days. The words, the chief of the people, are added as an appendix to the subject of the verb sought. They probably denote the chiefs of the synagogue representing the people, who, with the priests and scribes, formed the Sanhedrim. This singular construction arises from the fact that the real instigators of hostilities against Jesus were the priests and scribes; the chief of the people only yielded to this pressure. This idea forms the transition from Luk 19:47 to Luk 19:48. The people formed the support of Jesus against the theocratic authorities. Certainly, if He had thought of establishing an earthly kingdom, now would have been the time. The passage Mar 11:18 is the parallel of those two verses. But neither of the two accounts can proceed from the other.

Should this event be regarded as identical with the similar one which John places at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Luk 2:13 et seq.? This seems to have been the generally received opinion in Origen’s time (in Joh. T. Luk 10:15). As the Syn. relate none but this last residence at Jerusalem, it would be very natural for them to introduce here different events which properly belonged to previous residences. See, nevertheless, in our Comment. sur. l’vang. de Jean, t. i. p. 391, the reasons which make it probable that the two events are different. Here we shall add two remarks: 1. Mark’s narrative must rest on the detailed account of an eye-witness. Comp. those minute particulars: And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple; and when He had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, He went out unto Bethany with the Twelve (Luk 11:11); And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple (Luk 19:16). These are such details as are not invented; it was not tradition that had preserved them (see Luke and Matthew). They proceed, therefore, from an eye-witness. How in this case can we question Mark’s narrative, and consequently that of the three Syn.? 2. If Jesus was returning for the first time after the lapse of two years (John 2) to the feast of Passover, which more than any other gave occasion to those scandals (Bleek on Mat 21:12), He could not but be roused anew against the abuses which He had checked the first time, more especially in the Messianic attitude which He had taken up. Here, then, again John supplies what the others have omitted, and omits what they have sufficiently narrated.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

CVI.

BARREN FIG-TREE. TEMPLE CLEANSED.

(Road from Bethany and Jerusalem. Monday, April 4, A. D. 30.)

aMATT. XXI. 18, 19, 12, 13; bMARK XI. 12-18; cLUKE XIX. 45-48.

b12 And a18 Now bon the morrow [on the Monday following the triumphal entry], ain the morning bwhen they were come out from Bethany, aas he returned to the city [Jerusalem], he hungered. [Breakfast with the Jews came late in the forenoon, and these closing days of our Lord’s ministry were full of activity that did not have time to tarry at Bethany for it. Our Lord’s hunger implies that of the disciples also.] 19 And seeing a fig tree by the way side, bafar off having leaves, ahe came to it, bif haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, [580] he afound nothing but leaves only; bfor it was not the season of figs. [Two varieties of figs are common in Palestine. The bicura or boccore, an early fig with large green leaves and with fruit which ripens in May or June, and sometimes earlier near Jerusalem. Thomson found ripe fruit of this variety as early as May in the mountains of Lebanon, a hundred fifty miles north of Jerusalem, and Professor Post, of Beyrut, states that fig-trees there have fruit formed as early as February, which is fully ripe in April. The second variety is the summer fig or kermus. This ripens its main crop in August, but its later fruitage often hangs on all winter when the weather is mild, dropping off when the new spring leaves come. As the fruit usually appears before the leaves, the leaves were a promise that fruit might be found, and the fruit, though not perfectly ripe, is considered edible when the leaves are developed. Though it was too early for fruit, it was also too early for leaves. The tree evidently had an unusually favorable position. It seemed to vaunt itself by being in advance of the other trees, and to challenge the wayfarer to come and refresh himself.] 14 And he answered and said {asaith} unto it, Let there be no fruit from thee henceforward for ever. bNo man eat fruit of thee henceforward for ever. And his disciples heard it. aAnd immediately the fig tree withered away. [The disciples did not pause to watch the effect of Christ’s words upon the tree. But from the degree to which it had shriveled when they saw it next day it became evident to them that it had begun to wither as soon as Christ had finished uttering its sentence. Our Lord here performed a miracle of judgment unlike any other of his wonderful works. The reader can hardly fail to note how perfectly this fig-tree, in its separation from the other trees, its showy pretensions, its barrenness of results and its judgment typifies the Jewish people. In fact, Christ’s treatment of it appears in some respects to be a visible and practical application of the principles which he had formerly set forth in a parable ( Luk 13:6-9). But we must not too confidently make such an application of the parable since Jesus himself gave [581] no hint that he intended us so to apply it.] b15 And they come to Jerusalem: and he entered into the temple, and began to cast out aall them that sold band them that bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold the doves [three years before, Jesus had thus cleansed the temple at the first passover of his ministry, for an account of which see Mat 12:29, Luk 17:31. The LXX. uses it as equivalent to “instruments of war” at Deu 1:41, and to “vestments” at Deu 22:5.] 17 And he taught, and said {asaith} c46 Saying unto them, It is written [the prophecy cited is a combination of Isa 56:7, Jer 7:11], {bIs it not written,} cAnd my house shall be {bshall be called} a house of prayer for all the nations? but ye have made {aye make} it a den of robbers. [The caves in certain sections of Palestine have been immemorially infested with robbers, and Jesus, because of the injustice of extortion practiced by the merchants, likens the polluted temple to such a den. The dickering and chafing and market talk were probably not unlike the grumbling and quarreling of thieves as they divide the booty.] b18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, c47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him: 48 and they could not find what they might do; for the people all hung upon him, listening bfor all the people was astonished at his teaching. [Overawed by the magnitude [582] of the popular demonstration made on Sunday, the Jewish rulers feared to attempt any violent measures in dealing with Jesus. But they neglected no opportunity by appeals to Jesus himself, by treacherous questions, etc., to divert the popular favor from the Lord that they might put him to death.]

[FFG 580-583]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE

Mat 21:12-13; Luk 19:45-48; Mar 11:15-19. And they came into Jerusalem; and Jesus, coming into the temple, began to cast out the buyers and sellers in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those selling doves; and He did not suffer that any one may carry a vessel through the temple. And He was teaching, saying unto them, Has it not been written that My house shall be called the house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and the chief priests heard, and they were seeking how they shall destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the multitude were delighted with His teaching. And when it was evening, He departed out of the city. Luk 19:48 : And they did not find what they can do; for all the people hung on Him, hearing Him. Our Saviors ministry embraced four Passovers, beginning with one by purifying the temple, verifying the prophecy, in reference to the Messiah, that on arrival He would come suddenly to the temple and purify it; two Passovers transpiring in the interim of His ministry and this one, at the conclusion, so eminently commemorated by His arrest, prosecution, condemnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, rendering it the most celebrated of all the Passovers since that memorable night when Egypt was visited by the destroying angel, slaying the first-born in every house in all the land, but passing over the tenements occupied by the children of Israel, because, pursuant to the commandment of Moses, they had sprinkled on their door-posts and lintels the blood of the slain lamb, that vivid type of the bleeding Lamb of Calvary which was perpetuated at the great Passover festival, through all the intervening ages, down to this momentous culmination, when they not only slay the innocent typical lamb, but the Great Antitype, who, symbolized by countless millions of bleeding victims through the fugitive ages, now Himself bleeds and dies. Our Lord having purified the temple when inaugurating His ministry, now performs the same responsible and significant office in the conclusion. He will also, when He comes in His glory, give it a complete and final purgation, as it will be polluted no more, Satan having been east out. This traffic in beasts and birds was for the accommodation of multitudes, coming from afar, who desired to purchase a sacrifice, the birds being kept on hand for the especial accommodation of the poor. While in this you might see a degree of plausibility, doubtless much fraudulent dealing for the sake of filthy lucre had crept in among them, as we see plainly indicated by the Savior calling them thieves. All cheating and defrauding are theft in the sight of God, however honorable in the estimation of men. The temple was the house of God upon the earth in a sense vastly more preeminent than any other sanctuary in all the world, the great end in view being the rendezvous of Gods saints, that they might prevail in prayer for all the nations of the earth. It is very sad to contemplate the fairs, festivals, frolics, and fandangoes now so frequently held in church edifices, to the grief of the Holy Spirit and the profanation of Gods temple. Every, preacher should walk in the footprints of Jesus in this and every other respect, making a specialty of purifying the Church in the inauguration and the conclusion of His ministry. No one has a right to hold a pastoral charge in the ministry of Christ unless he exemplified Him in all his ministration. This bold procedure was very offensive to the hierarchy, who looked upon Him as an intruder and a usurper, and would have interfered if they had not feared the people, who were so delighted with His preaching that they hung on Him spellbound.

Luk 21:37-38. And He was teaching in the temple during the days, and at night, going out, He was lodging in the mount called Olivet. And all the people were assembled unto Him in the temple to hear Him. Tuesday night and Wednesday night He lodged in some of the villages on Mount Olivet, having spent the two preceding nights in Bethany; Thursday night He was arrested, and Friday night He was in the sepulcher. Jerusalem was this week thronged with vast multitudes, not only those having come to the Passover, but the whole country was on tiptoe with excitement about Jesus, a tremendous popular sensation breaking out three years previously, when John so powerfully preached Him to the multitudes attending his ministry, and increasing through the three successive years, having spread abroad into all nations, so that now the world is aroused and waiting spellbound to witness the issue impending, they know not what.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Luk 19:45-48. The Cleansing of the Temple (Mar 11:15-19*, Mat 21:12 f.*).Lk. abbreviates; only the sellers are ejected. Jesus teaches daily in the Temple, a statement repeated at Luk 20:1 and Luk 21:37. Luk 19:48 points to the popularity of Jesus in Jerusalem, cf. Luk 21:38, Luk 23:27; Luk 23:48.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 45

And he went into the temple; on the following day, as is distinctly stated by Mark, (Mark 11:12,15;) so that the buyers and sellers, in submitting to this ejection, were not overawed by the multitude which followed Jesus, but they yielded voluntarily, from consciousness of wrong, and through veneration for the personal character of Jesus, whom they doubtless regarded as a prophet.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

19:45 {10} And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;

(10) Christ shows after his entry into Jerusalem by a visible sign that it is his duty, given and admonished unto him by his Father, to purge the temple.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

2. Jesus’ cleansing of the temple 19:45-46 (cf. Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17)

Judgment began when Jesus threw the merchants out of the temple courtyard. Jesus did this twice, once at the beginning of His ministry (Joh 2:13-22) and here at the end. Luke stressed the temple as a place of prayer. Jesus purified it quoting from Isa 56:7 and Jer 7:11. Luke’s interest in this incident, which he related briefly, was primarily as the introduction to Jesus’ teaching that followed. It also explains the religious leaders’ great antagonism toward Jesus (Luk 19:47).

Perhaps Luke omitted Jesus calling the temple a house of prayer for the Gentiles because he thought this might confuse his Gentile readers. The temple had not become a house of prayer for the Gentiles. Was Jesus therefore wrong? The explanation that Luke did not want to digress to explain was that it will become such in the millennial kingdom.

Some interpreters have identified this incident as the fulfillment of Mal 3:1, but none of the evangelists connected the event with that prophecy. Mal 3:1 is a prediction of Jesus’ coming to the Tribulation temple at His second coming (cf. Zec 14:21).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)