In Mark 11:15-19, Jesus drives the moneychangers and merchants from
the Temple. Jesus tells them that the Temple is supposed to be a house
of prayer for all nations, but they have made it into a den of robbers.
I found Messianic Jew Derek Leman’s explanation of this passage in today’s Daily Portion to be informative.
“NOTES: The Temple protest action of Yeshua (a.k.a. the Temple
cleansing) is poorly understood because few consider the details of this
narrative and place Yeshua’s actions in the context of the Judaism of
his time and the context of the Temple of Herod and the way it was run
by the powerful Temple state. Mark’s account is the best of all four
gospels to help us reconstruct what happened. This incident is of great
importance, probably being what sealed Yeshua’s doom in the eyes of the
Temple state and Rome. We should read Yeshua’s actions in the giant
Temple complex as a commotion, not bringing the whole Temple activity to
a standstill. Yeshua acted alone and did not ask his disciples to
participate. The following sequence from Mark is helpful to restate: (1)
Yeshua enters the Temple, likely the outer courts, (2) Yeshua begins
driving out traders and overturning some tables, (3) Yeshua preaches
against and takes action to prevent people carrying vessels (baskets,
bowls, money bags) through the outer courts, (4) Yeshua preaches from
Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, (5) Yeshua’s protest becomes known to the
chief priests and also the scribes, (6) Yeshua’s action draws a crowd
which prevents his immediate arrest. What should be obvious is that
Yeshua reveres the Temple and protests the Temple state. Any
interpretation which assumes Yeshua wanted the Temple to be destroyed is
incorrect. The proper running of the Temple would involve
redistributing tithes to the poor and make it a place of God’s Presence,
of shared resources, and of joy. The Temple state has made it a place
of taxation without redistribution and a source of power and position
for the elite. What does Yeshua specifically oppose here? He opposes
trading in the Temple courts, carrying vessels through, and filling the
place of prayer in such a way as to prevent the main activity which
should be here: prayer. Collins explains that the idea of commerce in
the Temple courts began with Herod enlarging the Temple area and
including a Portico, like the Greco-Roman markets on their temples.
Prior to this, tradition says the necessary trade (selling animals,
changing money) happened on the Mount of Olives. Maurice Casey (Jesus of
Nazareth) explains Yeshua’s very plausible prohibition of carrying
vessels through holy space, which is similar to the later rabbinic law,
‘one should not enter the Temple mount with . . . his moneybag’ (m.
Berakhot 9:5, see also Harrington). Isaiah 56 is about foreigners and
eunuchs in the Temple, but also describes its courts as a place for
prayer. Yeshua’s main objection seems to have nothing to do with
gentiles (the outer courts were used by Jews and non-Jews for prayer, as
numerous New Testament texts and other sources confirm). The commerce
here at Passover crowded the courts and prevented prayer. Instead of
worship, the Temple was a market. This is also the point of the Jeremiah
7 text, where the prophet complains that the leadership have made of
the Temple a source of personal power and enrichment instead of a place
of prayer and worship. An additional issue in the money-changing is that
the Temple state required the Tyrian shekel, which was more pure in its
metal content, but which had an image of Baal Melkart on it (the Syrian
Hercules) and was therefore idolatrous. The Temple state’s priority was
not holiness, but commerce, power, and wealth. Yeshua’s protest action
did not stop Temple commerce and was symbolic. But it drew the attention
of the Temple state and also a large crowd. By the time Yeshua
completed it, his arrest was certain and the chief priests had what they
would need to convince Rome to execute him.”