Jesus cleansed the temple twice

Jesus cleansed the temple twice

 

One of the supposed contradictions in the Bible that confused me more than most is the cleansing of the temple performed by Jesus. John records the cleansing of the temple at the start of the ministry of Jesus after he has performed his first miracle of changing water into wine.

This is found in chapter 2 of the Gospel of John.

John 2:13And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; 16And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. 17And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. 18Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21But he spake of the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 24But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

However, the synoptic Gospels, that of Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the cleaning of the temple being performed at the end of his ministry, after the triumphant entry into Jerusalem during his last week before he was crucified at the end of his ministry.

 

This is often used as evidence that the Bible, or at least the Gospel of John has errors and contradictions within it and that it is not accurate or reliable.

This troubled me for quite a while, I searched for an answer, I found numerous arguments and apologetics that offered a reconciliation to this problem.

1) Jesus cleansed the temple at the end of his ministry as the synoptic Gospels record and John changed the position for theological reasons.  John was not writing a chronological account of the actions of Jesus and so moved the cleansing to the start of his ministry for whatever theological reason John had in mind.

2) Jesus cleansed the temple at the start of his ministry as John records but the synoptic gospels move it to the end of the ministry of Jesus, for their own theological reasons.

3) Jesus cleansed the temple twice, once at the start of his ministry as per John and once at the end as per the synoptics, each gospel recording only one occurrence of the cleansing, again for their own theological or at least personal reasons.

NONE of these answers satisfied me.  While I do believe that it is possible that either John or the synoptic Gospels moved the cleansing of the temple, I would argue that this would much more likely be John than the synoptics, Matthew, Mark and Luke,  I am not convinced of any theological reason for either having done so. What theological reason could there be to move an event from one point of the ministry to the opposite point, either start to end or end to start.

As I say, this IS an answer, and one that if is the case, then I believe that it does reconcile the supposed contradiction. I may not (yet) understand why this was done, or the theological reasoning behind it, as I must admit, I do not know all things Biblical and am still on my journey of study, I am actually OK with this as an answer, even if I would obviously, wish that I had a better understanding.

The cleansing of the temple twice also did not convince me. Why would the synoptics not record the first instance of this and why would John not record the second occurrence?

After going back and studying this again, I am now convinced that the correct answer is 3), Jesus cleansed the temple twice. Once at the start of his ministry and again at the end.

Now, this could be due to me wanting to reconcile the contradiction, but, I think there is enough evidence to conclude that Jesus did, in fact, perform this action twice.

1) Jesus performed actions more than once throughout his ministry.

Let’s have a look at some examples.

 

Jesus feeding large crowds.

All 4 Gospels record Jesus feeding the 5000
(Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14

However, Jesus performed a similar miracle at least once more during his ministry, Jesus fed 4000 on another occasion as recorded in Matthew and Mark.
(Matthew 15:32-39; Mark 8:1-10
Luke and John do not record this second mass feeding.

 

Jesus calms the storm

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record Jesus calming the storm while on a boat with his disciples.
(Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25)

Jesus also calms the storm when he walks on water later in his ministry.
(Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52; John 6:16-21)

 

Jesus also performed many of the same healings throughout his ministry such as healing the blind

Healing a blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)  and then again Healing Bartimaeus and another blind man (Mark 10:46-52; Matthew 20:29-34; Luke 18:35-43)

Healing lepers Healing a man with leprosy (Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16 and again Healing ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19)

 

Jesus healed the sick numerous times.

Healing Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-15; Mark 1:29-31; Luke 4:38-39).Healing a paralytic man (Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26). Healing the multitudes (Matthew 12:15; Matthew 15:30-31; Mark 3:10; Luke 6:17-19).

 

Jesus heals the deaf on more than one occasion

Healing a man who was deaf and mute (Mark 7:31-37 and again Healing a mute demoniac (Matthew 9:32-34)

 

Jesus also casts out demons on numerous occasions

First Instance: Casting out demons from a man in the synagogue (Mark 1:23-28; Luke 4:33-37) Jesus commands an unclean spirit to leave a man during a synagogue gathering.
Second Instance: Casting out Legion into pigs (Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39)

Jesus drives many demons, collectively called “Legion,” out of a man and into a herd of pigs.

Additional Instances: Numerous exorcisms, including healing a boy possessed by a demon (Matthew 17:14-20; Mark 9:14-29; Luke 9:37-43).

 

Jesus raises at least 3 people from the dead.

Raising Jairus’s daughter (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56)

Jesus brings a young girl back to life after declaring she is only “asleep.”

Raising the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11-17)
Jesus raises a widow’s only son, restoring hope to her family.

Raising Lazarus (John 11:1-44)
Jesus raises His friend Lazarus after he has been dead for four days, demonstrating His power over death.

 

Prophets performing symbolic actions and then repeating them is something that is recorded in the Old Testament.

Moses for example struck the rock to produce water on at least two different occasions.

Exodus 17:6 Moses strikes the rock at Horeb to provide water for the Israelites.

Numbers 20:11 Moses strikes the rock again at Meribah, though this act includes Moses’ disobedience by striking it instead of speaking to it as God commanded.

 

Elijah called down fire from heaven twice

 

1 Kings 18:20-40 Elijah calls fire from heaven to consume his offering on Mount Carmel, proving that the LORD is the true God and exposing the false prophets of Baal.

2 Kings 1:10-14 Elijah calls fire from heaven twice to consume soldiers sent by King Ahaziah. On the third occasion, the captain humbles himself, and Elijah spares him.

 

Elisha also raised the dead on more than one occasion

 

1 Kings 17:17-24 Elisha raises the son of the widow of Zarephath.
2 Kings 4:32-37  He raises the Shunammite woman’s son.

 

Repetition is something that is done both by the Old Testament prophets and Jesus during his ministry.

So now we need to look at why I believe that there are two occurrences of Jesus cleansing the Temple.

While at first it may seem that all 4 Gospels are recording the same event just placing them at different times of Jesus’s ministry, when we look at the details recorded in the accounts it becomes evident that despite their similarities, they are in fact, recording two different occurrences of the temple cleansing.

It is true that often the gospels will record the same event but with different details included in the narratives, one Gospel will include more details than another. However, as we have already seen, sometimes a Gospel will include or exclude an event recorded in another Gospel, even within the three synoptic Gospels.

Such as the second occurrence of the feeding of the multitudes where all 4 Gospels record the first occurrence but only  Mathew and Mark record the second

We see this throughout the Gospels.

So it is biblically possible and supported by evidence that the same action could have been performed by Jesus on more than one occasion and that both occurrences of the event were not recorded in all the gospels.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all recorded the occurrence at the end of the ministry of Jesus while not recording the first occurrence while John decided to include the first occurrence while choosing not to include the second.

One thing we must keep in mind when reading the gospels is that they are all recording events within the life of Jesus. But not all of them record all the events. Matthew and Luke for example are the only two Gospels that mention the birth of Jesus. All 4 Gospels are written by different people and for different purposes and to different audiences. While there are many similarities between them, especially between the 3 Synoptics, they all record details that are not found in other gospels, including stories and events. The raising of Lazarus is only found in John.

So the fact that John records one occurrence of the temple cleansing and the synoptic Gospels record the second is certainly not an impossibility.

What we need to do is look closer at the Gospel narratives themselves are there enough differences to be able to identify that they are 2 separate events.

Obviously, the first piece of evidence is the difference in the timing of the temple cleansing,  between the synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John. We cannot ignore this and it would be wrong to do so.

John very clearly places this near the beginning of the ministry and the synoptics very clearly put this at the end. Either the synoptics or John have deliberately moved the timing of the event. Seeing the importance of this event in relation to the Pharisees seeking to have Jesus killed as depicted by the synoptics, it is highly unlikely that John would ignore this and move it to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus removing any connection to the event and the Pharisees wanting to use it against Jesus. It is also just as unlikely that the synoptics would move the event from the beginning of his ministry to the end and making up the importance of the event in relation to the eventual crucifixion of Jesus.

Thus on this alone, it is far more likely that there were two temple cleanses done by Jesus and not just one.

When it comes to the text itself we will see even more differences.

Both narratives (synoptic and John) have the event happening around the time of the Passover.

John 2:13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,

The synoptics have the cleansing of the temple when Jesus went to Jerusalem duiring his last week where he ate the passover meal before being crucified.

The Passover is an annual event and thus this cannot be used as proof they are the same passover. In fact, John makes no mention of the triumphal entry prior to Jesus cleansing the temple and has this performed long before the last week of Jesus’s life. John records the triumphal entry in chapter 12 of his Gospel.

All 4 Gospels have Jesus chasing out the money changers and those that bought and sold the sacrificial animals in the temple. John adds a detail about Jesus making a scourge of ropes before doing so,, this is not recorded in any of the other Gospels

John 2:15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

This could just be an extra detail in John not recorded in the synoptics, but could also be a detail that was present in the first cleansing and not in the second.

John also has Jesus making a statement that is different from that of the Synoptic Gospels.

In John Jesus says :

John 2:16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

This brings to the mind of the disciples Psalm 69:9

John 2;17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Psalm 69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

 

The Synoptic Gospels all have Jesus making a different statement.

Matthew 21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Mark 11:17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves

Luke 19:46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.

This is a quotation of Isaiah 56:7 Jeremiah 7:11

Isaiah 56:7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

Jeremiah 7:11 Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.

 

 

In John Jesus tells those selling doves to take them and leave

John 2:16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise

Mark records Jesus not allowing anyone to carry anything through the temple.

Mark 11:16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

 

In Johns account of the temple cleansing, the Jews immediately challenge Jesus and seek a sign for his actions

John 2:18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

No such challenge is recorded within the synoptic gospels.

Jesus references the destruction of the temple (of his body) where he states that he would raise it up after three days.

John 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up

No such statement is mentioned in the synoptic Gospels. The only reference we get to this is in the synoptics is found at the trial of Jesus where it is remembered what Jesus had said

Matthew 26: 61 And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days

Mark 14:58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands

 

Interestingly, John doesn’t record this at the trial of Jesus.

While Jesus is challenged immediately in John, Mark and Luke record that the chief priests, scribes and chief of the people all sought to have him killed but do not challenge him

Mark 11:19 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

Luke 19:47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him,

 

Matthew has Jesus healing the blind and lame in the temple after he cleansed it, something John does not record.

Matthew 21:14  And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them

After Jesus heals we find Matthew recording the priests and scribes being displeased with what he had done and the people saying that he was the son of David, and thus asking if he had heard what they were saying. Jesus then quotes Psalm 8:2 before leaving for Bethany.

Matthew 21:15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, 16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? 17 And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.

Psalm 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

 

 

Jesus, being a Jew, would have gone to Jerusalem for the passover every year. As the practice of buying and selling in the temple was likely also something that was happening each year, it is likely that Jesus would have cleansed the temple each time he was there after his ministry had started.In fact, it would be very unlikely that Jesus would not have cleansed the temple on more than one occasion. The sellers and the money changers should not have been within the temple, they were corrupting the house of the LORD. It would be strange if Jesus addressed them on his final visit but previously he ignored them. 

 

The act would only have caused the demand of the sign the first time as Jesus was not yet fully known to the Pharisees and priests. However, when Jesus did the same act later in his ministry he was now known and hated by the pharisees and priests. After he has entered into Jerusalem this time on the donkey to the triumphant cries of the people as recorded before the cleansing of the temple in the synoptics the response this time was much more in line with them wanting him dead.

 

Jesus cleansing of the temple was also symbolic,  Zechariah 14:21 which that there would be no trader left in the house of the LORD

Zechariah 14:21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

Jesus cleansing the temple was a symbolic act that demonstrated the ending of the temple sacrifices and the trading and the unification of the Jews and gentiles.

The Hebrew word translated as Canaanite here is Kna`aniy meaning Canaanite, but this word is also a Jewish slang word associated with traders and trading. It is translated as traders(or merchants) in a number of verses

Isaiah 23:8 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth?

Proverbs 31:24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.

And we see that in the context of the passage in Zechariah, it is talking about this very thing that would happen, in that day.

Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.20 

on that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar. 21Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

The prophecy of the nations coming to worship the LORD and that no longer just the pots at the alter would be clean for sacrifice but all pots would be clean, symbolic of the removal of the temple and temple sacrifices.

God warned the Israelites that if they did not drove out all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan that they would return and be a thorn in their side.

Numbers 33:53 And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. 54 And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man’s inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit. 55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.

The Bible tells us that the Canaanites were not totally driven out 

Joshua 17:12 Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 13 Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them out.

 

Jesus cleanses the temple at both the beginning and end of his ministry symbolically introducing the Lord coming to his temple and then the coming of the judgement. I dont want to focus too much here on the why Jesus cleansed the temple more than once, but I shall also point out this is also symbolic of Gods long suffering and patience. Jesus cleansing the temple at the start of his ministry demonstrates that God gives opportunity to repent and change but also shows that despite the action of Jesus things did not change and so judgement has to come. God would often call the Jews back to him, warning of coming judgement of they did not repent from their ways. But like so often, they did not change, they did not repent, but rather continued on in their sinful ways bringing about the judgement of God against them.  Jesus at the first temple cleansing warning them of the coming judgement if they did not repent and at the second cleansing was now proclaiming that it was going to happen because they had not repented.  Jesus had inspected the house of the LORD and found it to be corrupt.

I would recommend reading Leviticus 14:33-57 and the cleansing of a contaminated house to see even more symbolism within the two temple cleanses, where when a house was suspected of having contamination the priests would inspect the house and if contamination was found the priests would remove the contamination from the house but then return later to see if the contamination had returned, In verse 45 we see that if the contamination has returned when the priests visit again the house would be torn down and destroyed. When Jesus inspected the house of the LORD he found corruption, on returning to inspect the house of the LORD he found the corruption had returned and so the whole house had to be torn down and removed.

 

When we look at the details of each narrative, I think there is enough evidence to say that there were likely two temple cleanses and while I don’t think we can say there is no way this can be argued against, there isn’t enough evidence against the two cleansings to be able to say that this is not the answer. Thus I think without more proof it is not honest to say that there is a definitive contradiction.

Mathew, Mark and Luke all record the more relevant temple cleansing that came at the end of the ministry of Jesus that had a major part to play in his crucifixion, choosing to leave out the lesser occurrence. John often recorded different details and narratives than the synoptics chose to include the first temple cleansing as a supplement to the already recorded second cleansing.

Remember, John tells us (even if it is hyperbolic language) that if all the works of Jesus were recorded then there would not be enough books in the world to hold them.

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