Problem: Critics note that Jesus chased out the money changers with “a scourge of cords.” Why was he so angry here?
Solution: The religious leaders were profiteering off of a poor culture. The historical background of this graft is important.
Josephus: “When Pompeii entered Jerusalem (80 BC), ‘There were in that temple… the treasures two thousand talents of sacred money.’” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 4:76)
One Attic talent was ~ 60 lbs.
2,000 talents
120,000 lbs of gold
92 million ounces (today an ounce is $1,500)
$2,880,000,000
Josephus: “Now Crassus… carried off the money that was in the temple, which Pompeius had left, being two thousand talents, and was disposed to spoil it of all the gold belonging to it, which was eight thousand talents.” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 7:105)
68 million ounces
$11,520,000,000
In total, $14.4 billion.
Josephus: “The Romans exacted of us, in a little time, above ten thousand talents; and the royal authority… became the property of private men.” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 4:77)
Josephus: “And let no one wonder that there was so much wealth in our temple, since all the Jews throughout the habitable earth, and those that worshipped God, nay, even those of Asia and Europe, sent their contributions to it. Nor is the largeness of these sums without its attestation; nor is that greatness owing to our vanity, as raising it without ground to so great a height; but there are many witnesses to it.” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 7:2)
Alfred Edersheim points out that foreigners flooded Jerusalem during Passover with their offerings. However, the priests considered their offerings “impure.” Then they sold replacement animals at exorbitant prices![1] The Mishnah records, “It once happened in Jerusalem that the price of [a pair of sacrificial birds] stood at a golden Dinar.”[2] Leon Morris writes,
The Temple money changers had a monopoly and often charged exorbitant rates. They have been estimated to have made an annual profit of about £stg. 9,000 a year, while the Temple tax brought the Temple authorities about £stg. 75,000 a year. The enormous wealth of the temple is illustrated by the fact that the Roman Crassus is said to have taken from it a sum equal to about two and a half million pounds sterling. See Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 2 vols. (London, 1890) I, pp. 367ff. for details. He relates that on one occasion the action of Simeon, the grandson of Hillel, caused the price of a pair of pigeons to fall from the equivalent of 15s. 3d. to 4d. This is related in Mishnah, Keritot 1:7 (where the price dropped from a golden denar [worth 25 silver denars] to a quarter of a silver denar).[3]
For a much milder example, many people consider spending $20 for a beer at a sports game to be unfair. After all, once you’re in the stadium, you can’t go out and get a drink from a gas station. Something similar (those far worse) was going on here: Once the weary travelers made it to the Temple, they couldn’t go back and get another lamb from home. They stuck getting bilked by the priests in the Temple. These religious profiteers would be (rightly!) criticized today for taking money from the poor (see “Faith Healers”).
Furthermore, note that Jesus made a “scourge of cords.” He didn’t come in with a sword (or a machine gun!). A whip is not meant to be a lethal instrument. He came in to clear the Temple, but not kill those in the Temple. This is an example of righteous anger—not unrighteous anger (see “Anger”).
[1] Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896) 364-376.
[2] Mishnah Keritot (Rabbinic Commentary: First & Second Century) 1:7.
[3] Morris, L. (1995). The Gospel according to John. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 170. See footnote.
“And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. (Mark 11:15-17)
