As Jesus disrupted the market in the Temple, He called it a den of thieves. Mark 11: 15 When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, 16 and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. 17 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”[1]
As we discussed yesterday, the Jewish leadership had put a marketplace in the area of the Temple designated for the Gentiles to pray. God wanted all nations to come to the Temple and be able to pray. Instead, the Jews used this area as a profit center; thus, we can understand the concept of thievery here. But what about a den?
A Den is a Hideout
One definition of “den” from Merriam-Webster is: “a hollow or cavern used especially as a hideout ora center of secret activity.”[2] The priests and scribes used the Temple and its religious rituals as a cover for their sin and hypocrisy. The Temple was a grand building, and much of the Jewish faith centered on worship there. Thus, the Jewish leadership thought it was such a massive institution that it would never disappear. They considered it a safe place to do what benefitted them without considering what God wanted.
Their thought process was much like that of the priests in Jeremiah’s time. God had sent prophet after prophet to warn them, but they had not listened. Jeremiah would give God’s final warning before God sent them into exile and the destruction of the Temple.
Jeremiah 7:8 Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! 9 Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, 10 and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again? 11 Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the Lord, have spoken![3]
The Heart of Worship
God wants worship from our hearts. Isaiah 29: 13 And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. 14 Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders.[4]
The Jewish leadership refused to listen to Jesus’ message. Not only were they stealing money from the people, but they were also stealing true worship from God. They were worshipping things more than God. But before we point our fingers at them, we need to look at ourselves. So, what is our motive to attend a worship service? Do we want it to provide a cover for ongoing sin? Hopefully, it is a place where we can join others to confess our sins, receive forgiveness, and praise God for the chance to live a new way. To learn more about the den of thieves, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/the-fig-tree-and-the-temple
[1,3,4] Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.