Why Did Jesus Cleanse the Temple in Jerusalem?

What was the temple whip? Who were the money-changers? And what lessons do we learn from the story of Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem?

By Marie-Claire De Villiers

Edited by Joel Taylor

Published February 28, 2022.

When Jesus saw that men had started changing money at the temple—imbuing it with corruption, fraud, and greed—He knew that He had to cleanse it. The poor people of Jerusalem were being taken advantage of by being charged for converting Roman coin to Jewish coin. This act, along with several other businesses springing up around the temple and its practices, were harmful to the community and dirtied the sacredness of the temple.
Jesus condemned the money-changers for turning God’s house of prayer into “a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13). 
How Did Jesus Cleanse the Temple?He drove out the sellers, sheep, and oxen with a whip, overturned the tables, and scolded all the money-changers.
Jesus cleansed the temple twice: Once when He had just begun His public ministry, and again when He re-entered Jerusalem after His crucifixion.
Jesus wanted the temple to be a place of prayer; a House of God only. He also wanted to illustrate a lesson about greed. 
The Bible tells us:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
-Matthew 6:19-21
In a way, Jesus was destroying the old (sinful) temple and rebuilding a new one. There is also a theory that these events were the fulfillment of an earlier prophecy.
What Do We Learn From Jesus Cleansing the Temple?Places of worship are meant for God and sacred proceedings only. The acts committed in the temple by the money-changers (cheating others) broke the 10 Commandments, but doing so in a holy place made this even worse. We can learn that it is acceptable to harness righteous anger in actions for good—as Jesus did by turning the money-changers out—so long as we are not sinning when we do so.