AD 33 · Life of Christ

Jesus cleanses the temple in Passion Week

Jesus drove the merchants and money changers from the temple, declaring that God's house was to be called a house of prayer rather than a den of robbers. The blind and lame came to Him there, and He healed them (Matthew 21:12-17).

synchronism dating
📖 Matthew 21:12–14

12Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. 13And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” 14The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them.

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Connections

Quotation

A house of prayer, not a den of robbers

As Jesus cleansed the temple in Passion Week, He quoted Isaiah's description of God's house as a house of prayer and Jeremiah's rebuke that it had become a den of robbers.

Isaiah 56:7

I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”

Jeremiah 7:11

Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.

Isaiah 56:7 calls God's house a house of prayer for all nations, and Jeremiah 7:11 asks whether the house bearing God's name has become a den of robbers. Matthew 21:13 and Mark 11:17 bring the two passages together in Jesus' words.

Read Isaiah 56:7 (BSB) →Read Jeremiah 7:11 (BSB) →
Sources: AiG: Timeline of the Bible (chart PDF, 2005)
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