Matthew 21:13

“It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

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

Worse than this, Jesus identifies the Temple as having become a "cave of lestes (in Greek).”Who are these lestes?

 

Most translations use the word "robbers,” but this is far too weak a word to communicate the meaning found in the Greek literature of the day. In both the writings of Strabo and Josephus, this word has a very specific connotation: "brigand" comes closest in meaning, as Buchanan showed in his 1959 article "Mark 11:15-19: Brigands in the Temple.” He argued then that already in Jesus' time, the Zealots had begun to use the Temple as a stronghold for their subversive activities against Rome. The current innovations started by Caiaphas created a distasteful atmosphere in the Temple that incubated the sort of resistance movement led by these "brigands.” Jesus was saying, then, that due to these outrageous practices, the Temple authorities were contributing to the anti-establishment attitudes embodied in the activities of the anti-government guerrilla groups already marauding throughout the Judean country-side. Rather than being a light to the nations, Second Temple Judaism was becoming a breeding ground for terrorist cells bent on insurrection against Rome. Where could all of this lead? Jesus is clear: just as he overturned the tables, so God would overturn the Temple in judgment as the Old Testament prophets had already foreshadowed.  [BN,3]

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