9. Jesus drives out the money chargers from the temple                                                  

Site information: Shops of the temple

 

  The photo above is of the Herodian shops in the Southern wall, Jerusalem. The structure, excavated recently in the south-west side of the old city, was a base of a staircase and bridge that let the pilgrims above the paved street (seen on the left side) and into the temple. Behind those ancient doors were shops that sold merchandise to the visitors of the temple, including the money changers.

 

   The money changers sold the temple tax - the half-shekel - since the custom was that all visitors were to pay their tribute in the official Jewish coin, and had to buy it from them. Jesus was angered about the commercialization of the house of God and drove the merchants away. This may have actually happened in the Herodian street above.

 

 Click here to see more information.

 

 

John 2: 14-16: "And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise".