Why did Jesus turn the tables over..... whats the story in a nutshell ??

Answer 1

in a nut shell,,,,guys where selling stuff at a church,he thought is was not a place of business

Answer 2

Julia D has a point, even if she does rant and rave. The Bible never says whether or not the people doing the money changing and selling animals were actually cheating people. We presume that because Jesus called them thieves. It was a legit business, whether they were making more profit than they should have or not is up to debate.

The real problem that Jesus had was that these people had set up shop INSIDE the temple. The temple was a place intended SOLELY for worship; business had no place inside. On top of that, these booths were taking up a large chunk of the outer court. The outer court was the ONLY place that Gentiles were allowed to come inside the temple; they were considered too "unclean" to come any closer to the Holiest Place (where God was behind the curtain) unless they converted to Judaism. The money changers and animal salesmen were preventing the Gentiles from worshiping God because they created a mall-like atmosphere instead of a atmosphere of worship. THAT was why Jesus got mad at them and was justified in running them out. Not only were they not coming to the temple to worship God, they were preventing other people from doing so.

Answer 3

This is another Christian bulls*it story. The church teaches that the Temple had been turned into a den of thieves, that people were being ripped off, etc.

None of that is true.

The money-changers in the Temple were doing a LEGITIMATE, and LEGAL, and FAIR business. They were NOT ripping people off, and they were not a den of thieves.

People came from all over the known world at the time, to sacrifice their animals or bring grain offerings, etc. at the Temple. They came from nations that had different currencies than the Shekel, which was, and is, the national currency of Israel.

Many times these people did not have the means to carry all the animals or grain that they wanted to offer, with them on their long journeys. So there were merchants that would sell them doves, grain, etc. when they came to Jerusalem. There were also people who would exchange their currency for them into Shekels, to enable them to buy their animals and grain in the first place.

If you go to any country, even in modern times now, you will need to deal in the currency of that country most of the time. You will need to exchange your own currency for that of the country's currency. You can do that at a bank, or whatever.

It was the same back then. No different. The moneychangers did NOT rip people off, they did NOT charge more for their services than was fair and permitted by Torah law, and they were providing a much needed, and legal service.

But Christians never hear the truth of this, because their religion is so busy demonizing the Jews. This story that Christians tell is total crap, untrue, and a lie meant to make the Jewish merchants look greedy, and is one of the main reasons that people have the misconceptions that Jews are greedy - when in fact the story as presented in the new testament is an out-and-out lie.

Jesus would never have done something like that in the first place, if he were the real Messiah. As it is, this story just makes him look insane, which in fact it is also recorded there that after this incident his family actually thought he WAS insane, and apologised and tried to take him away and lock him up for a bit.

In short, this story is disgusting. It also adds to the untruth that the Pharissees were corrupted, which is completely untrue. Yeah, everything from the Pharisees on down to the moneychangers, all corrupt. This is a lie.

The Pharissees were the everyday, regular person's representatives. They cared for the widows, the poor, and the uneducated. They REFUSED to be bribed by the Romans, and they were about as far from corrupt as it gets.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, WERE corrupted. They represented the rich men and were right in the back pockets of the Romans, even going as far as to betray their fellow Jews and hand them over to the Romans. There are no descendents of the Sadducees left today.


So you see how backwards and upside down the new testament has things concerning Jews and the times back then and what went on. This was done by the non-Jewish writers of the new testament deliberately in many cases, in order to demonize Jews and Judaism, as Christianity sought to replace it and gain power, money, and land. And that's just what it did.

If you want to know the truth about anything Jewish back in those times, please, ask a Jew who knows about these things. Not a Christian and don't go by the new testament, either.

EDIT: Case in point. Just look at all the answerers who gave you the exact same answer, the same one they were brainwashed with as children, and never bothered to investigate whether it was true or not, even as adults. Disgusting. And very insulting.

Answer 4

The reason is there was a market atmosphere in the outer court of the temple, or thereabouts. In the Jewish law, one had to atone for sins by making sacrifices...literally, an offering of this animal or that animal, etc. There were animal traders out there so people could buy the animals they needed to make atonement. Money changers, etc....converting one from of currency for another. Obviously, there was a lot of profiteering going on.
So Jesus Christ expressed some anger and flipped a few tables, saying the Jews of his day had made the temple into a den of thieves.
It shows Jesus Christ had a temper, and could become angry.

Answer 5

the story in a nutshell? do you really need a condensed version of it, since we only have brief accounts of the incident.

here's some background info:
in order to buy the animals and such to be used for the various offerings and sacrifices, a special coin was the only currency accepted -- thus there were money changers so you could exchange your regular money for the special "temple" coins. doing that, why not jack up the exchange rate so you can make a nice profit -- hence the charge of turning the temple area into a "den of thieves"

Answer 6

Jesus inherently understood that the Laws of Mercies and Justice as well as Spirituality was the abode of The Temple in Jerusalem. Whereas the Worldly saw an opportunity to do business with those who came to the Temple to connect with the Holy One in the spiritual realm.

Thus Jesus understood that the money lenders were undermining the purpose of people coming to the Holy of Holies, and turning it into a bazaar for Worldly exchanges.

Plus the money lenders and salesmen were dealing with gold and silver and making illicit profits in many cases, thus he called them a den of thieves.

The ultimate insult to the Almighty was to turn a place of worship and spiritual upliftment to be turned into a place of mediocrity and Worldly transactions.

It just shows how Jesus was not the kind that teaches you to give the other cheek when it came to matters of faith or spirituality. In personal affairs indeed he taught that even the strong are better off by giving their other cheek to the meek.

Many people confuse these clear and enlightening teachings of Jesus. Amen.

Answer 7

There was institutionalized corruption all around the house of God.

Those guys were selling mite infested doves and other substandard critters, when only the best was supposed to be offered to God in sacrifice.

They were also forcing foreigners to pay a temple tax, as well as charging an inflated exchange rate to convert foreign currency into the required local money.

The priests and the scribes were also cut in for a sizeable share of the take.

Meanwhile, the office of high priest was literally available to the highest bidder.

Answer 8

Worshipers could only bring temple money into the temple because money from other governments was considered unclean with respect to honoring God. So money changers set up operations to convert coins from Rome and other countries into temple money and made a profit on it rather than doing it as a ministry. They were basically skimming off the tithes before they came into the temple. Also people bought animals for sacrifice at increased prices and reduced quality. So they were essentially cheating people and God.

Answer 9

Because people turned the house of the Father into businesses. Imagine what is going to happen when Jesus comes the second time and find out the exact same thing is happening all over again!!

Answer 10

Jesus turned over the tables because people were selling doves to be sacrifice in the Church.

Jesus was the first PETA member

Answer 11

He found the temple being defiled by people selling all kinds of things that had nothing to do with the things that the temple should be used for. It made him angry,so he turned over all of the tables that had been set up to sell the goods.