As Jesus wandered silently through the courts and chambers of the Temple, His indignation was aroused by a sight which seemed to Him to portray more forcibly than aught else the degradation which had fallen upon the Temple by reason of the corruption of the priesthood.  Grouped around the steps and outer courts of the Temple He saw the groups of brokers, money-changers and merchants who were doing a thriving business with the thousands of strangers attending the Feast.  The money-changers were exchanging the coins of the realm for the inferior coins of the outlying regions, charging a large commission for the exchange.  The brokers were buying articles, or loaning money on them, from the poor pilgrims, who were sacrificing their personal belongings for cash with which they might purchase the animals for the sacrifice.  The merchants had droves of cattle, flocks of sheep and cages of doves within the sacred precincts of the Temple, which they were selling to the pilgrims who wished to offer sacrifices.  Tradition has it that the corrupt priesthood profited by the sale of these “privileges” granted to this horde of traffickers in the Temple precincts.  The vile practice had gradually crept in and established a firm foothold in the Temple, although contrary to the ancient practice.

To Jesus the horrible scenes of the Temple sacrificial rites seemed to focus in this final exhibition of greed, materialism and lack of spirituality.  It seemed to be blasphemy and sacrilege of the most glaring type.  And His very soul felt nauseated and outraged by the sight.  His fingers twitched, and laying hold of a bundle of knotted cords which had been used by some cattle-driver to urge forward his herd, He rushed forward upon the horde of traffickers, whirling His instrument of chastisement over the shoulders and backs of the offenders, driving them out in a frantic rout, upsetting their benches and paraphernalia, crying in a voice of authority, “Out, ye wretches!  This is the House of the Lord, and ye have made it a den of thieves.”  The “Meek and lowly Nazarene” became an avenger of the prostitution of the Temple.

The brokers, money-changers and merchants fled before His mighty charge, leaving their scattered money over the floors of the Temple.  They dared not return, for Jesus had aroused the wrath of the people against them, and a cry arose for the old practice of protecting the sacred place against such invasion.  But the traffickers sought out the High-priests and complained bitterly of this annulment of their “privileges” and “franchises,” for which they had paid so highly.  And the High-priests, being compelled to refund the price paid for the concessions, were much wrought up over the matter, and then and there swore vengeance against the Master who had dared interfere with their system of what the world now calls by the suggestive name of “graft.”  And this vengeance and hatred waxed stronger each moment, and was to a great extent the moving factor in the schemes and intrigues which two years later resulted in the frightful scene on Calvary.