And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
Ver. 12. And cast out all them that sold] The zeal of God's house did ever eat him up. And (as revenge follows zeal, 2Co 7:11) he mars their markets, and drives them out of the temple with Procul o procul este profani. a And this deed of our Saviour's was altogether divine; while as another Samson, he lays "heaps upon heaps" (yet without bloodshed) with the jawbone of an ass. St Jerome extolleth this miracle above the raising of Lazarus, restoring the blind to their sight, the lame to their limbs, &c., and adds this mystical sense of the text, Quotidie Iesus ingreditur templum Patris, et eiecit omnes tam episcopos et presbyteros, quam laicos et universam turbam de ecclesia sua, et unius criminis habet, vendentes pariter et ementes. Christ is every day casting out of his Church all these money merchants, these sacrilegious simonists, both ministers and others, that make sale of holy things, which the very heathens abhorred, and others long since complained that benefices were bestowed non ubi optime, sed ubi quaestuosissime, as if a man should bestow so much bread on his ass because he is to ride on him.
The tables of the money changers] This he did also at his first entrance into the ministry, John 2:14,15. See my notes on that text. The reformation of religion was Christ's chief care, and so it shall be ours. And although little was done by his first attempt, John 2:13,17, yet he tries again: so should we, contributing what we can to the work continually, by our prayers and utmost endeavours; wishing at least, as Ferus did, that we had some Moses to take away the evils in Church and State. Non enim unum tantum vitulum, sed multos habemus, saith he, for we abound with idols and evils, Exodus 32:20 .
a In Graecorum sacris sacerdos exclamabat τις τηδε, quis hic? Respondebant qui aderant, πολλοι τ αγαθοι τε παρεισι. Eras. praefat, in Adag.