Money Changers

The money-changers appear in the UPDV inside John's temple scene, as the target of an action by Jesus. The scene describes tables overturned, coins poured out, and the temple traffic in animals and currency driven out by force.

The Tables Overturned

The Synoptic passion-week temple-action placements are not printed in the UPDV under the source-history decision recorded in Variant Exceptions. The money-changers topic therefore follows the retained Johannine account.

The Scourge of Cords

John places a similar scene at a Passover early in the ministry. "And the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting" (Jhn 2:13-14). Here a tool is named: "and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers' money, and overthrew their tables; and to those who sold the doves he said, Take these things from here; don't make my Father's house a house of merchandise" (Jhn 2:15-16). The disciples' recollection — "Zeal for your house will eat me up" (Jhn 2:17) — frames the act as scriptural fulfillment.

What the Money Changers Were Doing

John pairs the changers with sellers of animals — oxen, sheep, doves. The changers' tables, the dove-sellers, and the animal-merchants' goods are all swept out together. The temple precinct is being treated as a market, and the action against the money-changers is one part of a single judgment on the trade as a whole: making the Father's house "a house of merchandise."