Bible Synapse
Did Jesus clear the temple at the start of his ministry or in his last week?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
At a Passover early in his ministry Jesus drives out the traders with a whip of cords and speaks of raising the temple in three days.
And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? …
In the last week Jesus overturns the tables and says they have made the temple “a den of thieves”.
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. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.
Matthew tells the clearing after the entry into Jerusalem.
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.
Luke also tells it after the entry.
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
John puts Jesus’ clearing of the temple at the beginning of his ministry, at the first Passover he mentions. Matthew, Mark and Luke put it in the last week, after the entry into Jerusalem. The scenes are so alike that critics think one event has been placed at two different times.
The answer
The likeliest answer is that Jesus cleared the temple twice, at the beginning and at the end of his public ministry. The accounts differ in more than timing. In John, Jesus makes a whip of cords, drives out the cattle and sheep, says “make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise”, and when asked for a sign answers, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:15–19). In the other Gospels he quotes Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, calling the temple “a den of thieves”, and the leaders begin to plot his death; Matthew adds that he healed the blind and the lame there.
John’s time note fits the early date. The Jews’ reply, “Forty and six years was this temple in building” (John 2:20), points to about AD 27–28, since Josephus says Herod began rebuilding the temple in the eighteenth year of his reign, 20/19 BC (Antiquities 15.11.1). The other Gospels record only one Passover in Jesus’ public ministry, the last, so their accounts leave no obvious place for an earlier clearing. At his trial witnesses claimed he had said, “I will destroy this temple” (Mark 14:58), which fits John’s record that he had spoken of the temple’s destruction long before. (Within the last week, Mark dates the clearing to the day after the entry; that is a separate question.)
Other answers Christians give
One clearing, placed for its meaning
Other Christian scholars think there was one clearing, in the last week, and that John placed it at the start of his Gospel for its meaning: Jesus, whose body is the true temple (John 2:21), confronts the old one. The Gospels do not always keep strict time order, so on this view no writer is in error.
Still open
Christian scholars remain divided between one clearing and two, as older commentators already were.
From the classic commentators
Mr. Mann, Dr. Priestley, and Bp. Pearce, contend that our Lord cleansed the temple only once; and that was at the last passover. Calvin, Mr. Mede, L'Enfant and Beausobre, Dr. Lardner, Bp. Hurd, and Bp. Newcome, contend that he purged the temple twiceAdam Clarke, Commentary, on John 2:14 (1810–1826)
Forty and six years—From the eighteenth year of Herod till then was just forty-six years [Josephus, Antiquities, 15.11.1].Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary, on John 2:20 (1871)
Sources
- Adam Clarke, Commentary: John 2 (1810–1826), at Bible Hub
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: John 2 (1871), at Bible Hub