Said unto them that sold doves.

Cattle could be driven out, the money overturned, but the doves were in cages and could only be carried out, or released and lost. Christ's object was to cleanse the temple, not to destroy any one's property. Hence, he commands them to carry them out.

Make not my Father's house. house of merchandise.

His authority for his act is that this is his Father's house. He does not say our, but my Father, or in other words, he acts as the Son of God. His act is really. public proclamation of his divine authority. He still looks with indignation upon the desecration of his Father's House. How often still it is converted into. house of merchandise! This cleansing of the temple must not be confounded with the later one that occurred on his last visit to Jerusalem. His ministry in the Holy city very appropriately begins and ends with. protest against the desecration of the temple.

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