A favorite symbol of the transition from crass Jewish materialism to the Christian Temple of the Spirit has always been the New Testament episode of the driving out of the money-changers.53 Yet how much this “obvious transfer” (as St. Leo calls it)54 left to be desired is apparent from many a bitter comment that the church itself was as much “a den of thieves” as ever the temple was, with the obvious difference, already voiced by Origen, that “today Jesus comes no more to drive out the money-changers and save the rest!” Furthermore, it has often been pointed out that the purging of the temple, far from being its death sentence, was rather a demonstration by the Lord “that he would not tolerate the slightest disrespect” for his Father’s House.
In the same way the other classic scriptural arguments against the temple have either backfired or proven highly equivocal. The famous prophecy that not one stone should remain upon another, hailed by the churchmen as a guarantee of eternal dissolution,57 contains nothing to confirm or deny a future restoration, and may well have been spoken “with the sorrow of a patriot rather than the wrath of an iconoclast.” If the rending of the veil has been treated as a symbol of irreversible eradication,59 it has suggested with equal force a broadening and expanding of revelation.60 Jesus’ invitation to “destroy this temple” and his conditioned promise to rebuild the same are often taken—but only by a liberal revamping of the text—to mean the opposite, namely, that he will destroy the temple himself, and instead of rebuilding it bring something totally different in its place: “‘Finish then,’
Temple Cleansed; the Cursed Fig Tree (Saturday)
On the Monday of Passion week Jesus drives the traders out of the temple and calls it his Father’s house of prayer; on the way in and on the way out he curses a fig tree that carries leaves but no fruit, and teaches his disciples what faith, and forgiveness, can move.
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Note. Mark frames the temple cleansing inside the story of the fig tree, so that the barren tree and the trafficking temple interpret each other. The Joseph Smith Translation rewrites Mark’s account of the tree so that the expectation of fruit belongs to the disciples, not to Jesus.
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
12And 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, 13and said unto them, It is written: My house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.
14And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children of the kingdom crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they were severely displeased, 16and said unto him, Do you hear what these say? And Jesus said unto them, Yea. Have you never read the scriptures which say: Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, O Lord, you have perfected praise? 17And he left them and went out of the city into Bethany, and he lodged there.
18Now in the morning, as he returned into the city, he hungered. 19And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it. And there was not any fruit on it, but leaves only. And he said unto it, Let no fruit grow on you henceforth for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. 20And when the disciples saw it this, they marveled saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! 21Jesus answered and said unto them, Truly I say unto you, if you have faith and doubt not, you shall not only do this to the fig tree, but also, if you shall say unto this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, it shall be done. 22And all things, whatever you shall ask in prayer, in faith believing, you shall receive.
12And on the next day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13And seeing a fig tree afar off, having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon to it with his disciples. And as they supposed, he came to it to see if he might find anything thereon. And when he came to it, he found there was nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet as yet the figs were not ripe. 14And Jesus spoke and said unto it, No man eat fruit of you hereafter, for ever. And his disciples heard it him.
15And they came to Jerusalem. And Jesus went into the temple and began to cast out them who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of them who sold doves, 16and would not suffer that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. 17And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written: My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But you have made it a den of thieves. 18And the scribes and chief priests heard it him, and sought how they might destroy him; for they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his teachings. 19And when evening had come, he went out of the city.
20And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21And Peter, calling to remembrance, said unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which you cursed is withered away. 22And Jesus answering saith unto them spoke and said unto him, Have faith in God. 23For truly I say unto you that whoever shall say unto this mountain: Be removed, and be cast into the sea — and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass — he shall have whatever he says fulfilled. 24Therefore, I say unto you, whatever things you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them whatever you ask. 25And when you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against any, that your Father also who is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 26But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in Heaven forgive your trespasses.
45And he went into the temple and began to cast out them who sold therein and them who bought, 46saying unto them, It is written: My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. 47And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests, and the scribes, and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, 48and could not find what they might do, for all the people were very attentive to hear him.
Faith Works by Words; Forgive Before He Asks
Faith, Then, Works by Words
The Lectures on Faith do not expound this passage, and the lecture is shown as a resonance, not a comment on these verses. The seventh lecture, given to the elders’ school in Kirtland in 1834–35 and printed in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, quotes the mountain and the sycamine tree in the forms of Matthew 17 and Luke 17 and concludes that faith works by words, not by physical force. Mark 11:23 is the form of the saying that says it most plainly: whoever shall say unto this mountain, and believes that what he says will come to pass, shall have whatever he says.
Lectures on Faith, Lecture Seventh, ¶3, in Doctrine and Covenants (Kirtland, 1835), pp. [63]–64 · canonized in the CCE as Teachings and Commandments 110 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in Teachings and Commandments 110, Lecture 7:3.
Let us here offer some explanation in relation to faith that our meaning may be clearly comprehended: We ask, then, what are we to understand by a man’s working by faith? We answer: We understand that when a man works by faith he works by mental exertion instead of physical force: it is by words instead of exerting his physical powers, with which every being works when he works by faith—God said, Let there be light, and there was light— Joshua spake and the great lights which God had created stood still—Elijah commanded and the heavens were stayed for the space of three years and six months, so that it did not rain: He again commanded, and the heavens gave forth rain,—all this was done by faith; and the Savior says, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, say to this mountain, remove, and it will remove; or say to that sycamine tree, Be ye plucked up and planted in the midst of the sea, and it shall obey you. Faith, then, works by words; and with these its mightiest works have been, and will be performed.
Forgive Before He Asks
The section ends on the hardest line in it: “when you stand praying, forgive… But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in Heaven forgive your trespasses.” Joseph took that further. Instructing the Twelve at Montrose, Iowa Territory, on July 2, 1839, on the eve of their mission to England, he made forgiveness precede the asking, and staked God’s mercy toward us on it. The reading is the copy Wilford Woodruff made in his “Book of Revelations”; switch to “Scribal accounts” for his diary as he took it down that day.
Discourse, 2 July 1839, at Brigham Young’s dwelling, Montrose, Iowa Territory · Wilford Woodruff, “Book of Revelations,” pp. [21]–[23] (the text behind History of the Church 3:383–85; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 155–56) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗The following important items & plain & preciious principles were delivered unto the Twelve from Joseph in Montrose Ioway Territory July 1st [2nd] 1839 Ever keep in exercise the principle of mercy & be ready to forgive our brother on the first intimations of repentance & asking forgiveness, & should we even forgive our brother or Even our Enemy before they repent or ask forgiveness our heavenly father would be equally as merciful unto us.
Again let the Twelve & all Saints be willing to confess all their Sins & not keep back a part & let the twelve be humble & not be exalted & beware of pride & not seek to excell one above another but act for each others good & pray for one & another & honour our brother or make honourable mention of his name & not backbite & devour our brother. why will not man learn wisdom by precept at this late agee of the world where we have such a cloud of witnesses & Examples before us & not be oblieged to learn by sad experianc [experience] every thing we know. …
When the Twelve or any other witnesses stand before the Congragations of the Earth & they preach in the power & demonstratio[n] of the spirit of God & the people are asstonised [astonished] & confounded at the doctrin & say that that man has preached a powerful discours a great sermon then let that man or those men take care that they do not asscribe the glory unto themselves but be careful that they are humble & asscribe the praise & glory to God & the Lamb for it is by the power of the Holy Priesthood & Holy Ghost they have power thus to speak:
The Purging Was Not the Temple’s Death Sentence
Christian writers have long read the driving out of the money-changers as the moment the temple was abolished and replaced by something spiritual. Nibley, who traced that argument through the Fathers, found it turned inside out: an owner who clears his house is defending it, not condemning it.
Since the Temple is the parent and original, it is only to be expected that one should find ruins and fragments of it surviving everywhere, along with more or less ambitious attempts to recapture its lost glory and authority. And since Evil cannot create or beget but can only pervert, corrupt, wrest, and destroy what Good has accomplished, it is not surprising that the most depraved of practices take their rise in the Temple. Let us recall that the mysterious “Watchers” in Enoch’s day carefully kept the ordinances that had come down from Adam, and claimed sanctity by reason of possessing a knowledge which they had completely subverted. How roundly Isaiah rebukes and denounces the ordinances of the temple—the new moons, the fasts, the prayers, the offerings, and so on, when performed by the Jews in the wrong spirit! While the temple still stood in Jerusalem, the brethren of Qumran looked forward for the coming of “a true Temple” after God’s own heart. When Satan assayed to try the Lord, it was to the pinnacle of the temple that he took him; did the Evil One, then, have access to the holy place? For answer we need only recall that Jesus declared that the House of his Father had been turned into a den of thieves as he drove the money changers from its courts—a reminder that large financial institutions today, as well as government buildings, occupy structures faithfully copied from the classical fanes of ancient temples and add to the bronze and marble the sanctimonious hush of holy places. Thus the temple economy has been perverted along with the rest.
When the symbolic killing and eating of beasts were supplanted by lustful and vengeful rites of human sacrifice; when the feasts of joy and abundance became orgies, and the sacred rites of marriage were perverted to the arts of the temple hierodules; when the keepers of the records and teachers of wisdom became haughty and selfrighteous scribes and Pharisees—then was demonstrated the principle that any good thing can be corrupted in this world, and as Aristotle notes, as a rule, the better the original, the more vicious the corrupted version. When “two men went up into the temple to pray” (Luke 18:10 [Luke 10:7]), both were ostensibly going about their devotions; yet the one was bringing hypocrisy and vanity into the holy place. So we might seriously consider the proposition that whatever we see about us in the way of the institutions of civilization, good or bad, may in the end be traced to the temple.
Ellipses and bracketed matter are Nibley’s own; the inner quotations are from Origen and St. Leo.
The High Priest Cleanses His Temple
Barker reads the cleansing not as a protest but as a priestly act. On the Day of Atonement the high priest alone entered the holy of holies with blood and came out to sprinkle the temple “to cleanse it and hallow it”, and the surviving rubric says he sprinkled the blood as though wielding a whip. John’s account of Jesus with a whip of cords is, on that reading, the high priest doing his one exclusive office.
There was a fashion, some years ago, for New Testament scholars to say that all the claims about Jesus were fabricated by the early Christian community, and that Jesus himself would have been surprised at what they made of him. There is good evidence in the gospels that Jesus did see himself as the great high priest, and that his ministry was shaped by that ideal.
One task that only the high priest could perform was the blood-offering ritual on the day of atonement. He had to take the blood of a goat into the holy of holies, and when he emerged, he had to sprinkle the blood around the temple. This was the symbolic purification of the temple - ‘to cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanness of the people’57 and it was called ‘making atonement’. Details of this sprinkling ritual have survived. One is that the high priest had to ‘sprinkle the blood as though wielding a whip.’
Jesus cleansed the temple. The synoptic gospels have this at the beginning of holy week, but St John set it symbolically at the start of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus cleansed the temple, said St John, with a whip of cords. 59 This is a clear reference to the day of atonement, and a sign that Jesus was fully aware of his role as the true high priest and that his ministry was to cleanse and restore the temple. The temple authorities also recognised what he was doing. St Mark records: ‘The chief priests and scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished as his teaching ‘ 60 This invites us to look closely at other symbolic actions in Jesus’s ministry, in the light of the role of the high priest.
The greatest of Jesus’s symbolic acts was at the Last Supper, when he took bread and wine from the table and made of them something entirely new. There would have been many other items on a Passover table - if it was a Passover table: bitter herbs, roasted lamb, salt water and the mixture of nuts and fruit. Jesus took just wine and bread.
Many details of temple ritual are lost, but we know that the goat sacrificed on the day of atonement represented the LORD. Again, the prescription in Leviticus is usually translated differently from the way people understood it in the time of Jesus. The ritual required two goats, ‘one for Azazel and one for the LORD.’ This translation implies that the people had to make an offering to Azazel, the chief of the fallen angels, which is very unlikely. But the Hebrew here can [and does] mean something different. It means that the two goats represented Azazel and the LORD: ‘one as Azazel and one as the LORD.’ That is how Origen, the great Christian biblical scholar, understood the words, and he had contact with Jewish scholars in Caesarea in the early third century.
Barker places the cleansing at the start of the ministry with John; the Synoptics place it here, in Passion week. Her point about the priestly gesture holds for either.