John 2:13

2:12-22 The first public work in which we find Christ engaged, was driving from the temple the traders whom the covetous priests and rulers encouraged to make a market-place of its courts. Those now make God's house a house of merchandise, whose minds are filled with cares about worldly business when attending religious exercises, or who perform Divine offices for love of gain. Christ, having thus cleansed the temple, gave a sign to those who demanded it, to prove his authority for so doing. He foretells his death by the Jews' malice, Destroy ye this temple; I will permit you to destroy it. He foretells his resurrection by his own power; In three days I will raise it up. Christ took again his own life. Men mistake by understanding that according to the letter, which the Scripture speaks by way of figure. When Jesus was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered he has said this. It helps much in understanding the Divine word, to observe the fulfilling of the Scriptures.

And the Jews' passover was at hand,.... That feast which was kept on the fourteenth day of Nisan, in commemoration of the Lord's passing over, and by the houses of the Israelites, when he slew the firstborn in Egypt: and it is called the Jews' passover, because they only were obliged to keep it: nor was it obligatory upon the Gentiles; and, besides, was now abolished when John wrote this Gospel, though still retained by the Jews. And moreover, John was now among the Gentiles, and for whose sake he penned this Gospel; and therefore so distinguishes this feast, which was typical of the Christian passover, or of Christ our passover that is sacrificed for us. This was the first "passover" after Christ's baptism, which is generally thought to have been about half a year before; though so much time cannot be made out from the scriptural account; for from his baptism, to his return out of the wilderness to John, were forty days; and from thence, to his coming to Cana, four or, five days more; and perhaps he might be seven days in Cana; for so long a wedding was usually kept; and his stay at Capernaum was but a few days; all which do not amount to above eight or nine weeks at most: the second passover after this, is, by some, thought to be the feast mentioned in John 5:1 , and the third in John 6:4 , and the fourth and last, at which he suffered, in John 18:28 .

The Jews' passover On John's use of the term Jews, see on John 1:19. So it is used here with an under-reference to the national religion as consisting in mere ceremonies. The same hint underlies the words in John 2:6, "after the Jews' manner of purifying." Only John mentions this earliest passover of Christ's ministry. The Synoptists relate no incident of his ministry in Judaea, and but for the narrative of John, it could not be positively asserted that Jesus went up to Jerusalem during His public life until the time of His arrest and crucifixion.

Concerning the Jewish passover we have once and again spoken in our notes on the other evangelists. The institution of it was Exodus 12:1-51 . It was to be solemnized yearly in the place which the Lord should choose, according to the law, Deu 16:6 . Christ, though he was not naturally subject to the law, yet to fulfil all righteousness, and to redeem his people from the curse of the law, Galatians 4:5 , kept the passover yearly, taking also advantage from the conflux of the people to Jerusalem at that time, to make himself and his doctrine more known. None of the other evangelists make mention of more than one passover between the time of Christ’s baptism and death: John plainly mentions three, one here, another in John 6:4 , the last, John 18:39 ; and some think that he mentions another, though more obscurely, John 5:1 . Our Lord was at them all.

John 2:13 to John 3:36. The Work among Jews 13 . And the Jews’ passover ] Or, the Passover of the Jews . An indication that this Gospel was written outside Palestine: one writing in the country would hardly have added ‘of the Jews.’ It is perhaps also an indication that this Gospel was written after a Passover of the Christians had come into recognition. Passovers were active times in Christ’s ministry; and this is the first of them. It was possibly the nearness of the Passover which caused this traffic in the Temple Court. It existed for the convenience of strangers. Certainly the nearness of the Feast would add significance to Christ’s action. While the Jews were purifying themselves for the Passover He purified the Temple. S. John groups his narrative round the Jewish festivals: we have (1) Passover; (2) Purim (?), John 5:1 ; (3) Passover, John 6:4 ; (4) Tabernacles, John 7:2 ; (5) Dedication, John 10:22 ; (6) Passover, John 11:55 . John 2:13 to John 11:57. The Work We here enter on the second portion of the first main division of the Gospel, thus subdivided:—The Work (1) among Jews , (2) among Samaritans , (3) among Galileans , (4) among mixed multitudes .

(13) And the Jews’ passover was at hand. —Here, again, we are on common ground with the earlier Gospels. They place a cleansing of the Temple at the close of our Lord’s ministry at the only Passover which comes within the scope of their narrative. The subject has been dealt with in Notes on Matthew 21:12 et seq. (Comp. also Introduction: The Chronological Harmony of the Gospels, p. 35) The careful reader will not fail to observe the graphic touches peculiar to this narrative—the money-changers sitting, the sacrificial animals, the making of the scourge, the money poured out, the order to remove the doves which could not be driven out. We feel all through in the presence of an eye-witness. It is worth remembering that on the eve of the Passover the head of every family carefully collected all the leaven in the house, and there was a general cleansing. He was doing in His Father’s house, it may be, what was then being done in every house in Jerusalem. The remark will be seen to have an important bearing on the question of the repetition of the cleansing.

The Jews' passover - The feast among the Jews called the Passover. See the notes at Matthew 26:2-17 . And Jesus went up to Jerusalem - Every male among the Jews was required to appear at this feast. Jesus, in obedience to the law, went up to observe it. This is the first Passover on which he attended after he entered on the work of the ministry. It is commonly supposed that he observed three others one recorded Luke 6:1; another John 6:4, and the last one on the night before he was crucified, John 11:55. As his baptism when he entered on his ministry had taken place some time before this - probably not far from six months - it follows that the period of his ministry was not far from three years and a half, agreeably to the prophecy in Daniel 9:27.

John 2:13-16 . Καὶ ] Simply the continuative and, i.e . during this short stay at Capernaum. For John 2:14-16 , see on Matthew 21:12-13 . πάντας ] refer not to the persons , but to the animals named immediately afterwards with the τὲ καί , i.e. not only, but also (see Bäuml. in loc ., and Partik . 225). Thus the unseemliness which some have found in the use of the scourge,—certainly intimated by the connection of ποιήσας and ἐξέβαλεν ,—and along with it every typical explanation of the scourge (Grotius, Godet, and others regard it as the symbol of God’s wrath), disappear. Ἐξέχεε ] uncontracted form, to be taken as the aor . Lobeck, ad Phryn . p. 222. τὸ κέρμα ] coin , especially small coin. Mostly in the plural in Greek. The singular here is collective . καὶ τοῖς τὰς περιστερὰς , κ . τ . λ .] He could not of course drive out the doves like the other animals, and He therefore says to those who sold them, ᾄρατε ταῦτα ἐντεῦθεν . John is here more minute than the Synoptics; but we must not regard the words as indicating greater mildness towards the sellers of the doves, because these were used by the poor (Rupertius, De Wette). The command μὴ ποιεῖτε , κ . τ . λ ., addressed to them applied to all . τοῦ πατρός μου ] Admiranda auctoritas , Bengel; the full consciousness of the Son manifested itself already (as in Luke 2:49 ) in the temple. οἶκ . ἐμπορίου ] a house of, a place of, merchandise .

The holy temple house had, in the Lord’s view, become this, while the temple court had been made a place of buying and marketing ( ἐμπόριον , Thuc. i. 13. 3; Dem. 957, 27; Xen. de red . iii. 3; Herodian. viii. 2. 6; Ezekiel 27:3 ; Isaiah 23:17 , not the same as ἐμπορία ). Possibly Zechariah 14:21 was in His thoughts.