[CYM] 50.0 Do Not Make My Father’s House a Marketplace

Yeshua’ cleansing of the temple is a dramatic moment in all four Gospels, where He forcefully commands that God’s house be kept holy, not turned into a place of greed and corruption.

In John 2:13–17, early in His ministry, Yeshua goes to the temple in Jerusalem and finds merchants and money changers conducting business. He makes a whip of cords, drives them out, overturns their tables, and says:

And said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. (John 2:16)

The disciples recall Psalm 69:9:
For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me, showing Yeshua’ passion for pure worship.

In the Synoptic books of Gospels—Matthew 21:12–13, Mark 11:15–17, and Luke 19:45–46—this event occurs near the end of Yeshua’s ministry, during His final week in Jerusalem. In all three we find, He enters the temple and drives out those selling and buying. He declares:

It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. (Quoting Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11)

This is not only a rebuke of commercial exploitation in a sacred space, but also a prophetic judgment against the religious leaders who allowed such practices, corrupting worship.

Yeshua’ command is clear: the temple—God’s dwelling—must be a place of prayer, reverence, and spiritual integrity, not personal profit or exploitation. Though the physical temple no longer stands, His command remains relevant: God’s presence among His people must be honored with purity, not polluted by greed.