Jeremiah 7:11

Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.

From Background Notes [BN] for September 21^st & 22^nd written by Pastor Bob Brown:

What would a visitor approaching the Temple courts immediately see? He would encounter crowds of people exchanging their currency for the Temple shekel, allowing them to purchase proper sacrifices, or, in the case of the poor, to buy pigeons instead.

 

How did it come about that such commerce was located inside the Temple area? There is good evidence that this practice was a recent innovation started by Caiaphas to counter pre-existing markets located outside the Temple. The Mount of Olives was home to four markets where the necessary sacrifices could be purchased. But the Temple authorities did not control the commerce in these. And so the High Priest instituted his "counter-market" inside the court of the Gentiles, a decision which led to much controversy with the established markets on the Mount of Olives. Jesus knew that this practice was not needed, since the other markets already existed elsewhere. What he opposed was not the fulfillment of Temple sacrifices, but the unnecessary housing of its commercial apparatus inside the Temple courts. [BN,2]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am, 5:30pm