When did Jesus chasing out the money changers from the temple?

[friend of]

Okay so I have some major confusion here. It says Jesus did this in John 2:13-15, at the very beggining of the book, which i can only assume would be the very beggining of His ministry. but it also says in Matthew 21:12 that He chased out the money changers from the temple, presumably at the end of His ministry due to how close that story is to the end of Matthew. Did He do this twice? Like when he fed the crowds twice? Thanks

 

[Soyeong]

I have heard it taught that it was something that Jesus did more than once. However, it is good to keep in mind that modern people tend to place a much greater value on a strict chronological order than the authors of the Bible, so we should be careful not to try to get out of the Bible something that they were never intending to communicate. For instance, a chiasm is where there a sequence of thoughts are are expressed and then expressed in the reverse order. For example, in Joel 3:17-21:

“‘Then you will know that I, the Lord your God,
dwell in Zion, my holy hill.
Jerusalem will be holy;
never again will foreigners invade her.
In that day the mountains will drip new wine,
and the hills will flow with milk;
all the ravines of Judah will run with water.
A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house
and will water the valley of acacias.
But Egypt will be desolate,
Edom a desert waste,
because of violence done to the people of Judah,
in whose land they shed innocent blood.
Judah will be inhabited forever
and Jerusalem through all generations.
Shall I leave their innocent blood unavenged?
No, I will not.’
The Lord dwells in Zion!”

The ideas presented in this prophecy follow this arrangement:

A - God dwells in Zion (verse 17a)
B - Jerusalem is holy (verse 17b)
C - Foreign invaders are banished (verse 17c)
X - The blessings of the Kingdom (verse 18)
C - Foreign enemies are destroyed (verse 19)
B - Jerusalem and Judah are preserved (verses 20–21a)
A - God dwells in Zion (verse 21b)

The Bible is full of chiasms and many of its books form complex chiastic patterns. Chiasms are helpful in correctly understanding a passage by knowing that the parts that mirror each other expressing the same thought, so they allow the authors of the Bible to give commentary as well as to draw our attention to something by emphasizing the center of a chasm. The point is that it can be easy for someone who is trying to get a strict chronological order out of a passage to miss that the second half is mirroring the first half and thus miss what was being communicated. Furthermore, there are a number of instances in the Bible where parts of it are not in chronological order.

 

[Unqualified]

Twice.

 

[Hank77]

Okay so I have some major confusion here. It says Jesus did this in John 2:13-15, at the very beginning of the book, which i can only assume would be the very beginning of His ministry.

I don't think we need to make any assumptions here. I believe you are correct that this is at the beginning of His ministry.

Clarke's Commentary
"Jesus works his first miracle at Cana of Galilee, John 2:11; then he passes a few days at Capernaum, which bring him on his way to Jerusalem, John 2:12. The Passover being near, he goes up to Jerusalem, John 2:13, and casts the traders out of the temple, John 2:15, John 2:16, At the Passover, he works many miracles, John 2:23. While he is in Jerusalem, which city he does not leave till, John 3:22, Nicodemus comes to him by night, John 3:1, John 3:2...After these things, Jesus departs from Jerusalem, and dwells and baptizes in Judea, John 3:22. And all these incidents take place before John was cast into prison, John 3:24...

but it also says in Matthew 21:12 that He chased out the money changers from the temple, presumably at the end of His ministry due to how close that story is to the end of Matthew.

But the second cleansing of the temple happens most clearly during the last week of our Lord's life, after the death of the Baptist, and at a time when it would be absurd to say that afterward, Jesus dwelt and baptized in Judea."

Matthew
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,...
...
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?
And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany, and he lodged there.
Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
And when he was come into the temple,

Did He do this twice?

Yes, at least twice that the scripture tells us about.

 

[Clare73]

Okay so I have some major confusion here. It says Jesus did this in John 2:13-15, at the very beggining of the book, which i can only assume would be the very beggining of His ministry. but it also says in Matthew 21:12 that He chased out the money changers from the temple, presumably at the end of His ministry due to how close that story is to the end of Matthew. Did He do this twice? Like when he fed the crowds twice? Thanks

The NT shows him doing it both at the beginning and at the end of his ministry.

 

[Petros2015]

Did He do this twice? Like when he fed the crowds twice? Thanks

Maybe. Those things are worse than pigeons.

 

[PloverWing]

Note that none of the gospels states that Jesus cleansed the temple twice.

A simpler explanation is that the gospels are not strictly chronological accounts. The gospel writers agree that Jesus cleansed the temple, but we do not know when in Jesus' ministry the event occurred.

 

[PsaltiChrysostom]

Even though as Plover notes, not everything is chronological, John states that Jesus first miracle is turning water into wine at Cana. He then spends a few days in Capernum, then goes to Jerusalem for the Passover. This is also when Jesus first asserts his authority when he says, "Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!". Since he probably does not have much of a following at this point, He is probably viewed as a rabble-rouser rather than any serious threat. A few years later, after the crowds followed him into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, now He triggers the Temple merchants into pushing for some kind of action.