Judgment began when Jesus threw the merchants out of the temple courtyard. Jesus did this twice, once at the beginning of His ministry (John 2:13-22) and here at the end. Luke stressed the temple as a place of prayer. Jesus purified it quoting from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. Luke's interest in this incident, which he related briefly, was primarily as the introduction to Jesus' teaching that followed. It also explains the religious leaders' great antagonism toward Jesus (v. 47).
Perhaps Luke omitted Jesus calling the temple a house of prayer for the Gentiles because he thought this might confuse his Gentile readers. The temple had not become a house of prayer for the Gentiles. Was Jesus therefore wrong? The explanation that Luke did not want to digress to explain was that it will become such in the millennial kingdom.
Some interpreters have identified this incident as the fulfillment of Malachi 3:1, but none of the evangelists connected the event with that prophecy. Malachi 3:1 is a prediction of Jesus' coming to the Tribulation temple at His second coming (cf. Zech. 14:21).
