“He is not going to the palace, but to the Temple?”
many asked in surprise. “To the Temple?”
“To the Rabbis and Pharisees? Then we’ll
see what we shall see.”
Jesus, with serious determination, quickly ascended
the steps of the Temple, without even glancing at
the shouting people. A part of the crowd pressed
after Him, the rest gradually dispersed. But
the shout: “Praised be He who has come
to-day!” never ceased the whole day.
When he entered the forecourt of the Temple and looked
in. He stood still in dismay. It was full
of life and movement. Hundreds of people of
all kinds were tumbling over each other’s heels,
in gay-coloured coats, in hairy gowns, with tall caps
and flat turbans. They were all offering goods
for sale with cries and shrieks; there were spread
out carpets, candlesticks, hanging lamps, pictures
of the Temple and of the ark of the covenant, fruit,
pottery, phylacteries, incense, silken garments, and
jewels. Money-changers vaunted their high rate
of exchange, the advantage of Roman money, broke open
their rolls of gold and let the pieces fall slowly
into the scales in order to delight the eyes of the
pilgrims. Buyers made their way through, looked
scornfully at the goods, haggled, laughed, and bought.
Rabbis glided round in long caftans and soft shoes
so that they were not heard. They wore velvet
caps on their heads below which hung their curly black
or grey hair. They carried large parchment scrolls
under their arms—for the Sabbath was about
to begin—slipped around with a dignified
yet cunning manner, bargained here and there with
shopkeepers or their wives, vanished behind the curtains
and then reappeared.
When Jesus had for some time observed all this confusion
from the threshold, anger overcame Him. Pushing
the traders aside with His arms, He cut Himself a
way through. At the nearest booth He snatched
up a bundle of phylacteries, swung them over the heads
of the crowd, and exclaimed so loudly that His voice
was heard above everything: “Ye learned
teachers and ye Temple guards, see how admirably you
understand the letter of the Word! It is written
in the Scriptures: My house is for prayer!
And you have turned Solomon’s Temple into a
bazaar!” Hardly had He so spoken when He overturned
a table with His hand, and upset several benches with
His foot so that the goods fell in confusion to the
ground under the feet of the crowd which began to give
way. They stared at one another speechless, and
He continued to thunder forth: “My house
shall be a holy refuge for the downcast and the suffering,
said the Lord. And you make it a den of assassins,
and, with your passion for lucre, leave no place for
men’s souls. Out with you, ye cheats and
thieves, whether you higgle over your goods or with
the Scriptures!” He swung the phylacteries high
over the Rabbis and teachers so that they bent their
