At the beginning of His ministry, Christ had driven from the temple those who defiled it by their unholy traffic; and His stern and godlike demeanor had struck terror to the hearts of the scheming traders. At the close of His mission He came again to the temple, and found it still desecrated as before. The condition of things was even worse than before. The outer court of the temple was like a vast cattle yard. With the cries of the animals and the sharp chinking of coin was mingled the sound of angry altercation between traffickers, and among them were heard the voices of men in sacred office. The dignitaries of the temple were themselves engaged in buying and selling and the exchange of money. So completely were they controlled by their greed of gain that in the sight of God they were no better than thieves.

Dette kapitel er bygget op over Matt 21,12-16.23-46; Mark 11,15-19.27-33; 12,1-12; Luk 19,45-48; 20,1-19

Straks ved begyndelsen af sin gerning havde Kristus uddrevet dem af templet, der besmittede det med deres gudløse færd, og hans strenge og guddomelige optræden havde vakt rædsel blandt de ugudelige kræmmere. Ved afslutningen af sin virksomhed vendte han atter tilbage til templet og fandt det stadig vanhelliget. Tilstanden derinde var endog værre end før. Templets forgård var som en stor kvægfold. Dyrenes brølen og den lydelige pengeraslen blandede sig med de handlendes vrede stemmer, og midt i det hele lyder stemmer fra mænd, som var ansat i hellige embeder. Templets høje embedsmænd var selv beskæftiget med at købe og sælge og med pengevekslingen. Så fuldstændigt var de beherskede af deres pengebegærlighed, at de i Guds øjne ikke var bedre end tyve.