Were the merchants in the Temple there for worship or marketing? I’m sure they rationalized the whole process by saying they were making worship convenient. Many pilgrims were coming from a long distance, and Scripture stated that the animals were to come from the worshipper’s own flock. Deuteronomy 12:6 There you will bringyour offerings of the firstborn animals of your herds and flocks.[1] This would have been difficult, and the animal may not have been perfect. The priests often would reject even the local lambs as blemished, forcing the worshipper to purchase one at the Temple.
The priests sold perfect lambs and doves but at inflated prices. Worshippers would have had to exchange their secular foreign currency for the Hebrew Temple coinage to purchase the animals. Of course, this, too, involved a steep exchange fee. Mark specifically mentions the dove sellers in Mark 11:15. Doves were the sacrifice for the poor people (Lev. 14:22). Joseph and Mary had sacrificed a dove at Jesus’ dedication (Luke 2:24). This market victimized the poor, which must have tugged at Jesus’ heart.
Selling in Worship Space
This market was located in the court of the Gentiles. This was the large outer space in the Temple set aside for non-Jews to worship. Gentiles could go no farther into the Temple. God desired Gentiles to come and worship Him.
Isaiah 56:6 I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord, who serve him and love his name, who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest, and who hold fast to my covenant. 7 I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.[2] Jesus quoted this text as a reason for His cleansing of the Temple.
Instead of doing serious missionary work with the Gentiles, the Jews made their worship difficult. Josephus, a Jewish historian, wrote that over 250,000 lambs were sacrificed at Passover in 66 AD.[3] The livestock would have turned the worship space into a smelly barn instead of a sacred space to meet with God.
Warren Wiersbe remarked, “The court of the Gentiles should have been a place for praying, but it was instead a place for preying and paying.”[4]
Purge Hypocrisy
Jesus was against a lack of faith and using a worship space for personal gain. He desires our prayer and praise. Any time someone uses church people or worship space for social, political, or financial gain, they are in the wrong. Instead of worshipping God, these people are worshipping themselves and are hypocrites. Jesus came to renew our hearts, so we should desire to worship Him and work to enable others to worship Him. Worship or marketing? To learn more, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/the-fig-tree-and-the-temple
[1-2] Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.
[3] Barton, B. B. (1994). Mark (p. 321). Tyndale House Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 151). Victor Books.