Bible Synapse
Did Jesus clear the temple on the day he entered Jerusalem, and before or after he cursed the fig tree?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
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Matthew tells the entry and the clearing of the temple, then the night in Bethany and the fig tree the next morning.
And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, …
Mark: on the day of the entry Jesus only looks round the temple; next morning he curses the fig tree, then clears the temple.
And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. …
Luke tells the clearing after the entry without naming a day.
And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
The objection
Matthew seems to have Jesus clear the temple on the day he rode into Jerusalem, and curse the fig tree the next morning. Mark says that on the day of the entry Jesus only looked around the temple; the next morning he cursed the fig tree and then cleared the temple. The order differs.
The answer
Mark gives the closest timetable, marking each evening and morning (Mark 11:11, 12, 19, 20). On the first day Jesus entered the temple and “looked round about upon all things”; on the second he cursed the fig tree on the way into the city and then drove out the traders; on the third the disciples saw the tree withered.
Matthew’s order may suggest that the clearing came on the day of the entry, but he does not say so; he simply does not tie it to a day. His account moves from the entry to “And Jesus went into the temple of God” (21:12) without saying ‘that same day’, and Luke does the same (19:45). Matthew often arranges his material by subject rather than in strict time order, as in the collected miracles of chapters 8–9. Here he finishes the temple story first, and then tells the fig tree story in one piece, curse, withering and lesson together. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown put it simply: ‘The precision with which Mark distinguishes the days is not observed by Matthew.’ A summary that groups undated events differently does not contradict a narrative that dates them.
From the classic commentators
This was the next day after our Lord's triumphant entry into Jerusalem; for on the evening of that day he went to Bethany, and lodged there, Mark 11:11, and Matthew 21:17, and returned the next morning to Jerusalem.Adam Clarke, Commentary, on Mark 11:15 (1810–1826)
The precision with which Mark distinguishes the days is not observed by Matthew, intent only on holding up the truths which the incident was designed to teach.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary, on Mark 11:20 (1871)
Sources
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: Mark 11 (1871), at Bible Hub
- Adam Clarke, Commentary: Mark 11 (1810–1826), at Bible Hub