Moneychangers in the Temple

Th MoneyChangers in the Temple.. The Pharisees

The only mention of moneychangers in the Bible is when Jesus the Messiah entered the temple with cords and drove them out.

He said to them: "It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves (Mt. 21:13)."

This was the only violent act that the Messiah performed in His ministry.

The moneychangers had total control of the money and finances in the Temple.

Under the Law of Mose every male of Israel twenty years old and older was required to give a half-shekel of gold, when a census was taken of Israel.

No man was exempt. "This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs a half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD, Ex. 31:12-14."

The purpose of this money was for the maintenance of the tabernacle and later the Temple.

The moneychangers exchanged a person's foreign coins or Roman coins for a fee into coins that were acceptable within the temple.

The moneychangers were one the most powerful sects in Israel because they raised a great deal of money for the Temple.

The Pharisees sect was a lover money (Lue. 16:13) The moneychangers had a monopoly on the half shekel and buying and selling in the sanctuary. So they could charge what they wanted for those coins.


http://bible.cc/matthew/21-12.htm

 

I always understood that the purpose of the money changers was so that the those w/o acceptable sacrifices (lambs, bullocks, birds, etc.) could purchase an 'acceptable sacrifice' for temple worship, as the Priests also lived off of the sacrifices..And the money changers took advantage of the common ppl (similar to usury) who were reqd to make the temple sacrifices per the Jewish religion....

 

The Pharisees sold acceptable sacrifices.. but you couldn't buy a critter with a Roman coin so they "changed" the money and took a fee for doing so. Yes.. they ripped off the poor.. that's why Jesus was so put out with the Pharisees.

They made money on all the ritual purification as well.. That's why there are so many laws upon laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy...

The moneychangers WERE Pharisees and Priests.

 

Sounds like it may be 2 diff groups of ppl:

John 2:13-25

And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”

And the scripture states following the event in the temple:

John 2:17

His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.”

But also scripture states:

Ephesians 4:26, 31

26 BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN ( quoted from Psalm 4:4)....Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

And so, Jesus being w/o sin was proclaimed as still being so for His 'righteous indignation' in cleaning them out of His Father's house.

 

They were the same people..

The Levites had no land.. They were the custodians of the Temple and wrote the laws.. To support their families they sold animals for sacrifice.. and their relatives were the money changers who changed Roma coins to sheckels for a fee. The Pharisees were the inheritors of the Levites. You can look that up.

Its NOT in doubt.

 

Sounds like you just watched "The King of California," starring Michael Douglas, which has been on cable recently?! Was his verbatim challenge to his daughter whenever he made an outlandish, questionable statement..

 

Sorry.. I have never even heard of that movie.

Many Pharisees were in the ruling class. (Acts 23:6, Jn. 3:1)

Many of the Priests and Levites Scribes were Pharisees. (But not All of them, some were Sadducees or Herodians) (Acts 23:9)

In Acts 5:34, Gamaliel was called a doctor of the law

 

You shud rent it---he played an 'eccentric' in the movie...hmmmmmm

 

I was at a lecture about Sabeel in Galillee about 5 or 6 years ago when it came to my attention that the Pharisees were inheritors of the Pharisees.. so I looked it up for myself some time later.

 

Well, I just 'imprinted' your memory from here on and there after, such that whenever you post (think) the phrase "You can look it up," you will think of Michael Douglas---you're welcome.

 

Probably not.. I am not really a fan.

 

Makes no difference....I've got stuff imprinted in my brain from when I was a kid that is 'useless,' but situations occurred which burned them into it! And if not Michael Douglas, then for sure that phrase will 'conjure up' "OverDrive!" Sorry, but it's a 'curse' you'll have to live with!....

 

LOLOLOL.. If you say so.

 

Oh! Really? You are submissively acquiescing to his comments? How nice.

 

He's playing.. Its of no consequence.

Why get one's shorts in a bunch?

 

I agree.


So...what is it you want to discuss about the money-changers and this episode in Jesus' life?

My understanding is that it is fulfillment of an OT Scripture prophesy.

 

You got it, Margot. All in good fun....not EVERYTHING is 'life-or-death!'

Inc needs a Christmas vacation from this place.....I know that "I" need one!

(altho methinks he was just using some dry 'gotcha' humor..?!)

 

Which prophesy?

 

Exactly....

 

http://bible.cc/psalms/69-9.htm

 

I cant get 'too serious' this time of year, for it is my favorite time, with great memories as a kid, as well as with my kids, and now my grandkids.

But indeed, some ppl are just 'too serious;' such as Wolfie doesnt appreciate my playing around with him---he is on his own personal 'crusade' to save the world from the threatening Christian horde, and cant be bothered with any 'all-in-good-fun' leg pulling to sidetrack him from his mission!!

 

Well, Merry Christmas to you and yours.

 

And likewise to you & family. Maybe I'm different from many on this forum, but I can get into heated debate and not look at them as my enemy or have hateful feelings toward them. And, BTW, I kid you, but I do appreciate all your historical input to this section, and will give you a 'temporary' pass on the 'seemingly' anti-Semite (rather, anti-Zionist) stuff ...

 

Oh I am definitely NOT an anti-semite.. That would be an impossibility for me.

 

So then you are anti-Zionist and of middle-eastern heritage (Jewish, Arab,, etc.)?