"It was time for the annual Passover celebration, and Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; and he saw money changers behind their counters. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and oxen, scattered the money changers' coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, "Get these things out of here. Don't turn my Father's house into a marketplace!"

We see that Jesus was going to partake in the annual Passover celebration and the feast of unleavened bread that lasted a week after Passover in compliance to the Levitical laws. Because the temple was in Jerusalem, all Jewish men were required to come from all parts of the earth to Jerusalem during this week to bring forth the required sacrifices and sin offerings to the High Priest to offer up unto the Lord for atonement of sin. Also, this festival was also to remember the Exodus from Egypt that Moses led God's people out of the bondages, slavery, and oppressions they suffered. Because every man had to come into the outer court of the temple to bring forth their sacrifice, the outer court was probably a very crowded place to begin in. In verse fourteen, we see that in this same temple area were the local merchants who had set up booths and tables to sell cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices. Also, there were moneychangers present to convert the currencies of the Jews from foreign lands to the acceptable currency of the local merchants. Now the temple court was even more crowded and not only was it more crowded, there was local commerce going on during the actual worship and sacrifice sessions in the Holy Place and in the Holy of Holies. How could a true believer even attempt to focus to worship God when the clutter of the local merchants was in the air. In fact, according to many commentaries I read about this parable, the local religious leaders justified their actions based on the following reasons below:

• Temple Maintenance: The religious leaders saw the Passover as a way to coerce more money that was designed to go into a fund to upkeep the building. In other words, the temple went from an original attempt to be the centralized center of worship into a corporate machine that needed the fuel of money to upkeep the surroundings. The tithes and offerings into the local storehouse (commanded by God in the book of Malachi) was now not enough to maintain the temple. In fact, the original intent of the tithe and offerings was to provide a needed income for the priests and also to provide assistance for the orphaned and the widows but we see throughout the gospels that the orphaned and widows were not being properly taken care of by the religious leaders. If the widowed was taken care of properly, we would not have to have seen a widow in Luke 12:42 deposit all she had in the temple box. Instead she could have deposited her tithe and offering and had her needs met. But Jesus shows the intent of the heart of this woman to give what was God's to God. I believed that the widow woman was blessed by God for the gift from the heart and not out of the gift of the surplus. However, the care of the widows and the orphans was restored in the church described in Acts when the Holy Spirit filled the people (now temples of the Holy Spirit). Since the religious leaders were not caring for the poor per the commandments of God, where was this "surplus" money going to that came from the tithes and offerings that was supposed to maintain the temple, pay the priests, and care for the widowed?
• Convenience: Knowing that many of the Jewish people were coming from out of town and from other foreign lands. The buyers and sellers realized that it was cumbersome in the natural realm to come from out of town with your family and also your required animals for sacrifice in the temple. Therefore, in the name of convenience, these merchants would make life "easier" for the weary travellers by having the proper animals available for sale. Therefore, the weary travellers would just bring their money, families, and other necessities to Jerusalem for the Passover and purchase their animals for sacrifice there.
• Herders And Priests In Partnerships: According to some of the commentaries I read, the concept of the priests, merchants, and moneychangers being in "cahoots" with each other was very true during the Passover. If a weary traveller came into Jerusalem with unblemished animals to offer up for sacrifice. No matter how unblemished the animals were, the local religious leaders and priests would purposely find something wrong to the point of sabotage in order to not accept the weary traveller's animals for sacrifice. Therefore, knowing that by the Levitical law that you must offer up animals for sacrifice once a year at Passover, the weary travellers were now forced to procure animals (usually at scalped rates) from the livestock farmers. One commentary stated that this system was so corrupt that the animals sold were branded with a marking from the local livestock merchants in specific areas to tell the local priests that the "marked" animals were from their buddy the local livestock farmer. In other words, the local livestock farmers would "blemish" their animals with their branding mark. It was by this mark that the local religious leaders determined acceptance or non-acceptance of the animal for sacrifice. Even though the scriptures commanded that the animals had to be unblemished to be acceptable unto the Lord. Therefore, the weary travelling Jew was now forced to play into a "racketeering scheme in the name of God" to have his sacrifice done. Also was the burden of when the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was over, the Jew, his family, and his rejected livestock (now wearied) had to go back home with this load and burden and ended up more wearied instead of refreshed and atonned. Therefore, many of the Jews from out of town or foreign lands got to the point where to make travelling light and to not go through that experience again, they would not come against the racketeering scheme but go along with it and buy the animals in Jerusalem to get the ceremony over with.
• Moneychangers And Priests In Partnerships: To those who had their animals rejected, not only were they ripped off with the scalped price of an animal, the religious leaders knew that the weary Jews from out of town and distant lands had to exchange their currency with the currency of Jerusalem in order to have Jerusalem currency to procure the animals for sacrifice. Therefore, the moneychangers would charge an outrageous and improper exchange rate to the travellers and still make money. Not only did the travellers get burned on the sacrificed animal, they got burned on the exchange rate and lost money. What a racket in the name of money. The required sacrifice was turned into a grudge business co-conspired by crooked religious leaders, bankers, and merchants.

What was the true purpose of the temple? The true purpose of the temple was to provide a centralized place to worship the Lord and to bring forth the sacrifices of praise and the atonements for sins. Seeing that the true and original intent of the temple was now being polluted by people out for their own selfish gain instead of worshipping the Lord who brought his chosen people from oppression, bondage, slavery, and tyranny when he could have chosen to let his people die, it is easy to see why Jesus became very angry at the environment of the temple and the practices going on in the temple.

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