John 2:15-17 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And when he had made a scourge of small cords Εκσχοινιων, of rushes, rather, which he found strewed on the ground. This circumstance, seemingly slight, was inserted to show that the instrument could not be the cause of so wonderful an effect as is here mentioned. He drove them all out Namely, out of the court of the temple; both the sheep and the oxen Though it does not appear that he struck even them, much less any of the men. But a terror from God, it is evident, fell upon them. And poured out the changers' money Upon the ground; and overthrew the tables At which they were sitting. And said to them that sold doves, Take these things hence Greek, ταυτα, the cages wherein the pigeons were exposed to sale, pointing to them. Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise Make not the temple, which is dedicated to the worship of God, a place for carrying on low traffic. It is remarkable, that the guilty persons did not offer to make the least resistance; probably, a consciousness of guilt restrained them, or the wonderful things which Jesus had performed at this festival, though not recorded, with the influence of Christ's miraculous power on their minds, made them afraid to resist him. Nevertheless, in the apprehension of the disciples, he exposed him self to great danger, by turning out a body of factious men, whom the priests and rulers supported. On this occasion, therefore, they called to mind, Psalms 69:10, The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up Imputing their Master's action to such a concern for the purity of God's worship, as the psalmist of old was animated by. The truth is, it certainly was an evidence of a very extraordinary zeal indeed; a zeal nothing inferior to that for which the prophets were famed.