Matthew stressed Jesus' cleansing of the temple as the work of David's Son (vv. 9, 15). This activity had great messianic significance.772
21:12 The Mosaic Law required that the Jews pay a half-shekel temple tax, which they paid in temple coinage (cf. 17:24-27). To accommodate out of town pilgrims, the religious leaders set up currency exchange tables in the temple courtyard. There people with Greek and Roman money could obtain temple currency. The religious leaders also accommodated worshippers by selling animals used in the offerings of Judaism there. Thus the temple courtyard had come to resemble an outdoor market. Probably greedy merchants cheated their buyers if they could, especially during the feasts when pilgrims from far away crowded the temple area.
"If one bought his animals here, had his money exchanged here, these would be accepted; otherwise he might have trouble on that score."773
Jesus entered the temple area (Gr. hieron) and proceeded to destroy the market.774
21:13 Jesus explained why He was doing what He did to the authorities. He quoted Scripture here similarly to the way He did in replying to Satan (4:1-10). First, He referred to Isaiah 56:7, a passage in which Isaiah looked forward to a time when the temple would be a house of prayer. Significantly Matthew omitted "for all the peoples"from Isaiah's statement focusing his readers' attention on Israel as the target of Jesus' ministry still. Second, Jesus referred to Jeremiah 7:11, a condemnation of superstitious reverence for the temple while the people dishonored it.
"No matter what they do even by violating the sanctity of their Temple, they imagine that their adherence to this Temple will protect and shield them from any penalty."775
In the context of Jeremiah's prophecy, the "robbers"in view were nationalist rebels. That is also the meaning of the Greek word lestaithat Jesus used here. Rather than being a house for prayer, Israel's leaders had turned it into a stronghold of Jewish nationalism that dishonored the temple while they maintained a superstitious respect for it.776
". . . for Jesus to raise the claim through his cleansing of the temple that the temple has, under the custody of the religious leaders, become a den of robbers' and that his purification of it from the desecration of merchants is its restoration to rightful use as Israel's house of prayer and worship, is for him to mount a massive assault on the authority and integrity of the religious leaders (21:12-13)."777
By coming to the temple and purifying it, Jesus was making another messianic claim (cf. Mal. 3:1-4). However the nation's rejection of her Messiah frustrated the cleansing of the temple and precluded the fulfillment of the blessing following purification (Mal. 3:5-6). This prophecy will finally find fulfillment when Messiah comes the second time.
21:14 This is the last reference to Jesus' healing ministry in Matthew's Gospel. The healing probably happened in the Court of the Gentiles. Some of these blind and lame people could not participate fully in worship activities at the temple (cf. 2 Sam. 5:8). However, Jesus made it possible for them to do so by healing them (cf. Acts 3:2). Jesus therefore cleansed both the temple and those who came to it. One greater than the temple had arrived (12:6). The authorities would later question His authority to do this cleansing (v. 23).
21:15-16 The popular response to Jesus' actions agravated the chief priests and teachers of the law further. The wonderful things that Jesus was doing had messianic significance, and the people realized this.
Jesus introduced the Psalm 8:2 quotation with a rebuke. Surely these experts in the Old Testament should have seen the messianic implications of what Jesus was doing and the words people were using as they responded to Him (cf. 12:3; 19:4; 21:42; 22:31). This psalm describes the praise that people, even little children, will give to God for the conditions that will prevail during the messianic kingdom. Ancient Near Eastern mothers often nursed their babes long after the children learned to talk, sometimes for as long as three years following their births.
Jesus' rebuke provided a basis for the children's continuing praise and temporarily stifled the leaders' criticism. It also declared His deity since Jesus accepted praise reserved only for God. Moreover it reinforced the truth that the humble and childlike often perceive spiritual truth more clearly than the sophisticated, though they are often unaware of its full significance (cf. 19:13-15).
"The Magi' (2:1) and the centurion' (8:5) serve as foils for Israel: the faith of these Gentiles contrasts with the unbelief of Israel (2:1-12; 8:5-13). The two blind men' (9:27), the Canaanite woman' (15:22), the other two blind men' (20:30), and the children' in the temple (21:15) also serve as foils for Israel: these no-accounts' see and confess what Israel cannot, namely, that Jesus is its Davidic Messiah."778
21:17 Jesus' withdrawal to Bethany each evening during the festival season was probably for practical reasons. Jerusalem was full of pilgrims, and Jesus had friends in Bethany, namely Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
