Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
John 2:13-25, Tables overturned at Passover
At Passover Jesus drives the animal sellers and money changers out of the temple courts. Asked for a sign, he tells them to destroy this temple and he will raise it in three days, and John explains that he meant his body.
John 2:13-25, in every translation this tool compares.
At Passover Jesus drives the animal traders and money changers out of the temple courts and objects to his Father's house being turned into a marketplace. When the authorities demand a sign to justify this, he talks about the temple being destroyed and raised in three days. John explains that he meant his own body, which the disciples understood only after the resurrection.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/temple-and-courts\/","n":"The temple and its courts","s":"Herod's huge rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, believed to be God's dwelling, laid out in courts that kept Gentiles, women and Jewish men at set distances.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/messiah\/","n":"The Messiah, son of David","s":"The anointed king most Jews expected from David's line, who would free Israel from its enemies. Nobody expected him to be killed.","r":""}
Pilgrims needed animals for the sacrifices and money changers to turn many currencies into the coinage the temple accepted (the cultural backgrounds notes; the ESV Study Bible). Josephus says Herod began rebuilding the temple "in the eighteenth year of his reign," and Keener dates the start to 20 or 19 BC, so the forty-sixth year falls in AD 27; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles give the alternative reading, built forty-six years ago, which refers to the sanctuary and points to AD 29 or 30. In Jesus and the Victory of God Wright notes, "It was the king who had ultimate authority over the Temple": a coming king was expected to rebuild and purify it (2 Samuel 7; Zechariah 6:12), so a temple action carried a royal claim. The other Gospels place a temple action at the end of Jesus' ministry; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles hold that there were two, while Wright leaves the question open and notes that an early action would explain why Jerusalem sent people to check on Jesus in Galilee. Carson, Moo and Morris point out that John's three Passovers (2:13; 6:4; 11:55) require a ministry of at least two years.
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 2:13, 2:14 and 2:20
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 2:12-13 and 2:18-20
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 15.11.1, trans. William Whiston
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on John 2:13-22, 2:14 and 2:20
- CSB Study Bible, notes on John 2:13 and 2:20
- N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part One, comment on John 2:13-25
- N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, ch. 11, Jesus and Israel: The Meaning of Messiahship
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 1, The Synoptic Gospels, Gospel Chronology, The Length of Jesus' Ministry
