Dude, why did Jesus Christ destroy the market place in the temple?

Question

I thought He was like "Do unto others, what you would want them to do to you!"

So..I'm pretty sure He wouldn't like it if people would mess up His stuff.

Why didn't he just use his powerful diplomatic talking skills instead of resorting to violence.

Strangely though..none of the very many merchants didn't fight back. If you'd do that in the wet market now..you'd get pretty beaten up.

Answer 1

The people had come to temple for worship and make atonement ...... if you made a sacrifice it was supposed to be without blemish or spot.
The merchants were ripping off the brethren.
Jesus merely cleaned his house out of thugs.
If you come to my house ripping me off, i am gona clean house too.Folks my house is clean but not a holy place/
That was a holy place and they made it a den of iniquity

Answer 2

At time when Jesus lived, the priest had allowed merchants to set up shop within the Outer court of the Temple. This was a area that was suppose to be reserved for prayer, not for merchandising. This was a direct violation of several Old Testament Laws on Temple usage.

Plus, the merchants that were there were cheating the people. It was required that before an animal could be offered as a sacrifice, it had to be "perfect". The merchants would inspect it, claim to find a flaw, and then offer to exchange it for a "perfect" animal at a high fee. They would then sell that "imperfect" animal to the next customer.

They were also cheating the people by requiring them to exchange their regular Roman money for Temple coins before they could put them in the offering. The exchange rate was a rip off, and also not required under Old Testament Laws.

So what Jesus saw was a group of people who were perverting the temple, cheating the people, preventing the worship of God, and violating the Old Testament Laws by which they claimed to live. So he drove them out of the temple so that it could again be a place of prayer.

Please note that "Do unto others" is only one of over 600 teachings Jesus gave. While it is often held up as one of his most important, it was actually not treated that way in the scriptures. It is mentioned once, and not referred to again. Nor is it used in the scriptures as the foundation for any major doctrines or practices.

You will also find that Jesus cleansed the Temple more than once. While Matthew, Mark and Luke tell about him doing it just before his crucifixion, John tells us he also did it at the beginning of his ministry.

Answer 3

Dude, you didn't read the passage, did you ?
You're like, you heard Jesus did this, and that sure didn't sit well with you, so you, like, blame him for being angry.

Well, dude, the reason He was upset, according to Him, was because the merchants have turned the "market place" into a den of thieves.

Apparently, these merchants were selling animals to pilgrims who came from on far which did not fit what the Old Testament required for animals to be sacrificed: without blemish, young.

These thieves sold blemished and not so y oung sacrificial animals to pilgrims who had come from afar and had no choice but to accept whatever was available, and then you had the moneychangers which you could liken to modern day "loan sharks" who shortchanged pilgrims and travelers.

Read up, dude.

Answer 4

The very thing that Jesus was most passionate about was His father. His father's house was being used for gambling and selling of livestock. In those days, only the elite could enter the temples, the only place for the average joe to worship God was in the courts of the temple, but, the money changers made it into a den of theives and took up the place that would normally have been used for worshipping God...

Answer 5

Dude, He was pissed off. After all He was human, born of Mary. He was pissed off!! All His teachings, all His sermons, all His miracles... no one got it. The sacrifices carried on as usual. The market place was a cesspool of money grubbing extortionists. It wasn't about the blood sacrifice any longer. It was all about the money. The merchants ripped off the poor of everything they had. For everyone who believed in God, the blood sacrifice was more important than material things. It was the ' offering of atonement for their sins'. You can't get to heaven without atonement. Jesus became the world's atonement for all of our sins, forever more. So, do you see? He was so angry with these merchants. In MY FATHER'S HOUSE!????????????? It would be like us coming home from vacation , finding a car in the pool, pool cues through the ceiling, your trusting son passed out in the tub and not too much left of the sea aquarium. Hardly the same scenario but, pretty much the same reaction. Maybe not as bad, as what Jesus must have felt like. I am always amazed that He still cares, after all the water under all the bridges.

Answer 6

"Christ Jesus had plenty reason to say that greedy merchants had turned God's temple into "a cave of robbers." (Matthew 21:12, 13) To pay the temple tax, Jews and proselytes from other lands had to exchange their foreign money for acceptable currency. In his book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Alfred Edersheim explains that money changers used to set up their businesses in the provinces on Adar 15, a month before Passover. Beginning on Adar 25, they moved into the temple area in Jerusalem to capitalize on the tremendous influx of Jews and proselytes. Dealers ran a thriving business, charging a fee for every piece of money exchanged. Jesus' reference to them as robbers suggests that their fees were so excessive that they were, in effect, extorting money from the poor.

Some could not bring their own sacrificial animals. Anyone who did so had to have the animal examined by an inspector at the temple—for a fee. Not wanting to risk having an animal rejected after bringing it a long distance, many bought a Levitically "approved" one from corrupt dealers at the temple. "Many a poor peasant was well fleeced there," says one scholar."

Hannah J Paul

Answer 7

The money changers were turning the temple into a place of business making no difference between the sacred grounds and sacredness of the Temple and the secular business practices.
The Temple is a house of prayer, not Wall Street.

Answer 8

His Father's house ( the temple) was for worshipping and praising God not for selling things.
The people who were there, sold the people imperfect things at high prices. In what was commonly called the court of the Gentiles, in which even common people could worship the Lord. So what they were doing was making a mockery of the temple and what it stood for. So yes, Jesus had every right to toss them out.

Answer 9

You've gotten some good answers.

It's called righteous indignation. The temple was a place where people were to go to worship his father. It had not only become commercialized but the merchants were taking advantage of the poor.

Answer 10

740117SB.HAW Lectures
I have read one book, Lord Jesus Christ, when he was a young boy he was very much shocked when he saw that animal-killing is going on in the synagogue. Therefore he differentiated from the Jews and he started his own religion, Christian religion. Is it not a fact? Am I right? Why... He was also a Jew. Why he deviated? Why he deviated from the Jews? Because when he saw in his young age that animals are being killed in the synagogue, he differed, "No, no, this is horrible. This should be stopped." Therefore, his first commandment is "Thou shall not kill." Am I wrong or right? Eh? That was his first impression, that people should stop killing. So who is Christian? Everyone is violating this first commandment, what to speak of other commandments. Everyone. So it is very difficult to find a real Christian. But if you violate the commandments of Christ, then what kind of Christian you are? This is our question. Who will answer this?
So this is the problem. Animal-killing is not within the category of human civilization. When a man becomes civilized, he knows how to produce food. He can till the ground. He can produce food grains. He can produce fruits and flowers and so many things. Even in the animal kingdom, there are different kinds of animals. They do not touch meat-eating even. They do not touch. Every, every animal has to live by destroying or killing another animal. That is nature's law. Jivo jivasya jivanam. Either you eat vegetable or you eat meat, it doesn't matter. Vegetable has also got life. But there is allotment. Just like the cows or other animals, they do not eat meat, they live on grass. Grass has got (also) life, but because they eat grass life, therefore they will eat meat? No. The allotment. Similarly, human being should be also... There is allotment. For human being, God has given us the foodgrains, the fruits and... Patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati. In the Bhagavad-gita you'll find. Krsna is saying that "Anyone who is supplying Me this patram puspam..." Patram means leaves, vegetables, and puspam means flowers. Patram puspam phalam, fruits. Toyam, and milk. So why? He is speaking in the human society. He's not speaking in the animal society. Therefore it is already described what kind of foodstuff we shall take. So patram puspam phalam. This is our Krsna consciousness movement. We offer to Krsna the patram puspam--flower, vegetables, grains, milk products--and we take prasadam. This is our movement