Cleansing of the Temple

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darinhouston
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Cleansing of the Temple

Post by darinhouston » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:05 am

I'm curious what views folks have of whether Jesus cleansed the temples twice or just once. Specifically, is the account in John an earlier passover than the final cleansing that occurred at the beginning of Holy Week?

dizerner

Re: Cleansing of the Temple

Post by dizerner » Sun Dec 04, 2022 5:08 am

Twice would be very poetic, going out with the same message he started with.

I would imagine in fact, he may have done it more than twice.

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Homer
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Re: Cleansing of the Temple

Post by Homer » Tue Dec 06, 2022 10:22 pm

Darin., I believe the scriptures tell of two different temple cleansings by Jesus. Consider the following:

John 2:13-16
New American Standard Bible 1995
13. The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16. and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”


This appears to have occurred early in Jesus' ministry. "Making" is a present imperative negative; "stop doing this". It is important to note that at this time Jesus refers to the temple as "my Father's house".

Now consider Matthews' account. (I won't paste all the scriptures from Matthew 21:12- Matthew 24:21).

Matthew 21:12-23
New American Standard Bible 1995
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 And He *said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”


Jesus came into the temple and accused them of making it into a robbers' den. "Making" here is a present indicative; what they were actively doing at the time.

14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?”

Jesus is still in the temple.

17 And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.18 Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city,

Jesus left the city and came back.

23 When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?”

Jesus is now back in the temple.

Matthew 23:37-38
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!


Jesus is in the temple and His statement indicates that He no longer considers the temple to be His Father's house.

Matthew 24:1
New American Standard Bible 1995
24 Jesus came out from the temple and was going away [a]when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.

And this statement indicates Jesus was still in the temple when He made the preceding remark about the temple.

It appears to me that Matthew was careful to locate Jesus in his account of the events and that Jesus In John had referred to the temple as His Fathers' house early in His ministry and near the end His Father had abandoned and given up the temple to be destroyed in 70AD.

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Homer
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Re: Cleansing of the Temple

Post by Homer » Thu Dec 08, 2022 5:03 pm

No Comments??

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darinhouston
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Re: Cleansing of the Temple

Post by darinhouston » Fri Dec 09, 2022 11:47 am

I'm still reflecting and need to go back and read the entirety of the relevant passages in context. But, it seems clear to me that he visited the temple twice in Matthew, but on subsequent days - it's unlikely he drove them out twice in two consecutive days without it being noted, and I'm more than a bit surprised to see no reference to an earlier event in the account of the later event if there were two (like, "as before" or "again").

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steve
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Re: Cleansing of the Temple

Post by steve » Mon Dec 12, 2022 3:50 pm

John's Gospel deliberately avoids overlapping material found in the Synoptics. With the exception of the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on water (and, of course, His own resurrection), all the miracles of Jesus recorded in the Synoptics are omitted from John. John contains none of the parables or the discourses of Christ that are found in the Synoptics. John does not even record the last supper (no doubt, since the Synoptics had all adequately covered it).

In light of John's observable desire to supplement, rather than duplicate, the events in Jesus' life recorded in other Gospels, it seems very likely that the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Christ's ministry (recorded by John) is a separate act from the cleansing of the temple at the end of His ministry (recorded in the Synoptics). This would seem a very natural explanation. It also would explain why everything else—other than the mere driving of animals and merchants out of the temple—is different in John's account from the details in the Synoptics (e.g., what Christ said when He was doing so, and the response of His critics afterward).

See: Matt.21:12-13/ Mark 11:15-17 / Luke 19:45-56 / John 2:14-20

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