Shabbat Shalom!
None of the four gospels mentions the weekly Sabbath before the crucifixion. It fits the timeline to place the clearing of the temple on the Sabbath for the following reasons. Traditional understanding places the crucifixion on Friday (hence, Good Friday), but John (12:1) states that six days before the Passover (which would make it the Sabbath), Yeshua and His disciples traveled to Bethany. That was after their stay in Jericho. The distance between the two is roughly 15 miles, too far for travel on the Sabbath. (cf. Acts 1:12, a Sabbath day’s journey from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, a distance of fewer than two miles.) Also, a meal was given upon their arrival in Bethany. While it is not forbidden to entertain guests and relax with friends on the Sabbath, Leviticus 23:3 says that no work is to be done. This includes preparing food. When God sent manna, He instructed them to gather twice as much as they needed on the sixth day and prepare it to be kept for the Sabbath (Exodus 16:21-26). No gathering or cooking was to be done on the day of rest. So, unless Mary, Martha, and the others in Bethany knew that Yeshua and His disciples were coming on the Sabbath, they wouldn’t have been able to cook anything by the Sabbath command. So, it seems unlikely that they traveled to Bethany on the Sabbath. The NIV Study Bible places their arrival on Friday and then says there is no mention of the Sabbath in the account, but concludes that Yeshua observed the Sabbath at Lazarus’ house and then journeyed to Jerusalem for the Triumphal Entry the next day on Sunday. There are two problems with this rendition. First, if the crucifixion were on Good Friday, the arrival in Bethany on the previous Friday would be seven days before Passover, not six as recorded in John. Secondly, John 12:12 says it was the next day that Yeshua rode the donkey into Jerusalem. If the arrival in Bethany were on Friday, the Triumphal Entry would have to be Saturday, not Sunday. The timing doesn’t fit. It’s more plausible for the Triumphal Entry to be on Friday, leaving the clearing of the temple on the Sabbath. Having said all that, let’s begin.
The day is now the 10th of the month. This is a significant day. Every household was to select a lamb on the 10th of the month (Exodus 12:1-6). They were to care for it until the 14th of the month, Passover, and slaughter it between the evenings. Let’s back up a little bit to put some things into perspective. We have to go back to John 11:55 which tells us that many came to Jerusalem prior to the Passover for ceremonial cleansing. According to the law, you could not participate in the Passover unless you were ceremonially clean. Some of the cleansing rituals took seven days. Now, I’m just making a guess here, but if you were not clean before the 10th, then any animal you picked out would be considered unclean and could not be sacrificed for Passover. The point is, some of these people might have come to Jerusalem on the 1st or 2nd of the month (not the 3rd because it would be a Sabbath). Jerusalem would be teeming with people. Josephus records that “not less than three million” lambs were slaughtered at the time of Passover. With the count of 10 people for each lamb, there would have been more than 30 million people in Jerusalem for the Passover. With all of this in mind, let’s get to today’s text.
Mark first records that the next morning while leaving Bethany, Yeshua sees a fig tree but curses it because there is no fruit on it (Mark 11:12-14). Then He heads to the temple. Luke records that while Yeshua is approaching Jerusalem, He weeps over the city because they would not recognize Him (Luke 19:41-44). Then he goes to the temple.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Yeshua cleansing the temple of those buying and selling there, and turning the tables of the moneychangers and those selling doves (Matt. 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46). Remember that Mark records that after the Triumphal Entry, Yeshua went to the temple to look around but it was already late so He left for Bethany. If you’ve ever been to a vendor fair, you know that the vendors take some time to set up their tables to display their wares. Surely Yeshua was looking at all the tables and the animals that were already in the temple courtyard waiting for the buying and selling the next day.
The moneychangers were there because people were coming to the Feast from many different regions with various types of currency. But why exchange the money in the courtyard of the temple? The answer is convenience. The people were there to buy a lamb for the Passover, so why not exchange the money and buy the lamb at the same place?
That brings us to the practice of buying a lamb for sacrifice rather than carrying one of your own. If you’ve heard the song “Watch the Lamb” by Ray Boltz, you know that a man brings his two young sons to Jerusalem for the Passover and they have a lamb with them for the sacrifice. It was their responsibility to watch the lamb. It was a chore to bring livestock with you on a long journey. Why bother with doing the extra work if you could just buy one when you got there? It became a big business. The sacrifices people were bringing were not their own. Yeshua said they were turning God’s House from a house of prayer into a den of robbers. But who were they robbing? It was a simple bartering process. You give me money, I’ll give you an animal. It was a fair deal. But Yeshua knew that the people were being robbed of a blessing because the sacrifice they brought to the Lord was not their own. They had turned the Passover into a business and missed the point of the ritual. This compares to Malachi 3:6-12 where God tells His people that they are robbing Him with their tithe. He didn’t say they were robbing Him of money because they weren’t bringing the whole tithe, but they were robbing God of being able to bless them for their giving. They only gave a portion of their tithe because they didn’t really trust God. Likewise, they didn’t care enough to bring their own sacrifice. They just purchased a sacrifice that someone else had provided.
Matthew records that afterward, He healed the blind and the lame that came to Him at the temple and that the children were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matt. 21:14-16). It was the day of selecting a lamb and the children had unknowingly selected Yeshua as their Passover Lamb, though the teachers of the Law were indignant and sought a way to kill Him. Isn’t that what you are supposed to do to the Passover Lamb?
Tomorrow, and the next few days, His passion is to teach.