He was for the most part, yeah...
I often think that the episode involving the turning over of the money changers' tables is one of the more easily misunderstood ones in the Gospels. In particular it seems as though Jesus is flipping out and begins to whip people.
But there's several things happening here:
1) The grammar of the text. In some English translations where this is mentioned in John's Gospel (John 2:15) the article τε (te) is translated as "and", the primary function of the article is connective. Thus the issue in translation is whether the animals are in addition to, or a clarification of, the πάντας (pantas) which are driven out. Rendering the particle as "and" suggests that the animals are driven out in addition; one problem with this rendering is that since the text says "all" were driven out, rather than "them" as is indicated in some English translations. By rendering "pantas" as "them" it is an interpretative choice to say Jesus was driving the money changers out with a whip, just as much as rendering "te" as "and".
How these things are rendered into English changes the meaning significantly, here are several different translations:
"So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables." - NIV
"And having made a whip of cords, He drove out all from the temple, both sheep and oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overthrew the tables." - BLB
"And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;" - NAB
"After making a whip out of cords, He drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers' coins and overturned the tables." - HCSB
"And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew." - Douay-Rheims
2) The system going on here was one which was intentionally oppressive against the poor. As the name suggests the role of the money-changers was to change money, that is, to take Roman coins and exchange them for Temple coins. Since Roman coins bore sacrilegious images and phrases, they were considered unacceptable for use within the Temple grounds, and so had to be exchanged. That itself isn't a problem, the problem arises when the exchange rate amounted to little more than extortion. Further, notice animals are being kept on the Temple grounds, these animals are there for purchase so that they could be offered as sacrifice; the Torah has rigorous standards for what sorts of animals are acceptable for sacrifice and such unblemished animals were kept on the grounds. Again, not itself a problem, but if you are a peasant shepherd and you bring your own sheep, lamb, goat (etc) to offer as sacrifice and while your animal is acceptable the corrupt beaucracy at the Temple tell you that yours isn't good enough so you have to sell yours and buy another at completely unfair prices, it's not exactly a system in your favor. The entire system was being operated to scam the poor. It's this system of oppression that Jesus condemns, and is what is meant by saying they had turned a house of prayer into a den of thieves. By knocking over the money-changers' tables and driving the animals out Jesus, at least for one day, ensured that the faithful coming to do their religious duty at the Temple would be unhindered by that corruption.
-CryptoLutheran
