John 2:16

And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. AND SAID UNTO THEM THAT SOLD DOVES, TAKE THESE THINGS HENCE; MAKE NOT MY FATHER'S HOUSE AN HOUSE OF MERCHANDISE. How close is the resemblance of these remarkable words to those in , "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business!" or 'at my Father's' (see on that passage). Both express the same consciousness of intrinsic relation to the Temple, as the seat of His Father's most august worship, and so the symbol of all that is due to Him on earth. Only, when but a Youth with no authority, He was simply "a Son IN His own house;" now He was "a Son OVER His own house" (), the proper Representative, and in flesh "the Heir," of His Father's rights. There was nothing wrong in t...

16._Make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise. _At the second time that he drove the traders out of the Temple, the Evangelists relate that he used sharper and more severe language; for he said, that they _had made _the Temple of God _a den of robbers_, (Matthew 21:13;) and this was proper to be done, when a milder chastisement was of no avail. At present, he merely warns them not to profane the Temple of God by applying it to improper uses. The Temple was called _the house of God_; because it was the will of God that there He should be peculiarly invoked; because there He displayed his power; because, finally, he had set it apart to spiritual and holy services. _My Father’s house. _Christ declares himself to be _the Son of God_, in order to show that he has a right and authority to cleanse the Temple. As Christ here assigns a reason for what he

12-22 The first public work in which we find Christ engaged, was driving from the temple the traders whom the covetous priests and rulers encouraged to make a market-place of its courts. Those now make God's house a house of merchandise, whose minds are filled with cares about worldly business when attending religious exercises, or who perform Divine offices for love of gain. Christ, having thus cleansed the temple, gave a sign to those who demanded it, to prove his authority for so doing. He foretells his death by the Jews' malice, Destroy ye this temple; I will permit you to destroy it. He foretells his resurrection by his own power; In three days I will raise it up. Christ took again his own life. Men mistake by understanding that according to the letter, which the Scripture speaks by way of figure. When Jesus was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered he has said this. It help...

EXPOSITION VERSES 2:1-3:4 _The testimony of signs to the glory of the Word made flesh._ JOHN 2:1 (1) _The first sign, the beginning of signs, Mastery over the old creation. Sign of love and power. _The description of the preceding narrative, given in John 2:11, is the true key to it. It is impressive on several accounts. Christ had not yet given any "sign" of the invisible and eternal glory which the evangelist in his prologue had claimed for him. He had not in his own person "manifested" the unique majesty of his will, nor revealed the direction in which the power he wielded would most freely move. John, by this statement, (1) puts down a positive disclaimer of the whole cycle of portents which, whe

AND SAID UNTO THEM THAT SOLD DOVES,.... For as these were kept in coups, or cages, they could not be drove, as the sheep and oxen, nor could they be let out, and fly, without the loss of the owners: and therefore Christ said to them, TAKE THESE THINGS HENCE; not only the doves, but the pens, coups, or cages, in which they were, and both together: MAKE NOT MY FATHER'S HOUSE AN HOUSE OF MERCHANDISE; so he calls the temple, which was built as an house for God, and where he took up his residence; where were the symbols of his presence; where his worship was kept, and sacrifices offered to him: and he asserts God, whose house this was, to be his Father, and himself to be his son, as none of the prophets that went before him did; and in such sense as neither men nor angels are; and which carries in it a reason why he was so much concerned for the honour of God, and so much resented the profa...

CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 2:1-22 _ 1. The Marriage in Cana. (John 2:1 .)_ 2. The Temple Cleansed. (John 2:12 .) The second chapter gives the record of the first miracle reported in this Gospel. He manifested His omniscience in the previous chapter and here, in turning water into wine, He reveals Himself as the omnipotent Creator. What harmony there is between the opening of the first two Chapter s of the Gospel of John. The first chapter speaks of Him as the Creator of all things and in the second chapter He manifests the power of the Creator. He needed no wine, no grapes, no mellowing process, to furnish the best wine. He but commanded and it was so. This is omnipotence. In John 2:17 of the previous chapter there is a

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE. The Passover of the Jews as an author writing for Christians naturally describes it without special significance or bias, was near. Jesus, following the custom of the religious party in His nation, goes up with His disciples (John 2:17; John 2:22) to keep the feast (_cf._ Exodus 23:15). He finds the Temple desecrated by an illicit traffic in animals for the sacrifices, and sacred shekels of the heavy Phœ nician standard (pp. 116f.), in which alone the Temple tax could be paid. The expulsion is described with a fullness and correctness of detail (notice especially the _driving out_ of the cattle and (?) their attendants, the _overturning_ of the moneychangers-' tables, and the _telling_ the

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 desecra...

THE NEW EXHILARATION (John 2:1-11)...

NOT. Greek. _me._ App-105. Not the same word as in verses: John 2:2; John 2:9; John 2:12; John 2:24; John 2:25. MY FATHER'S HOUSE. This was at the beginning of His ministry. At the end He called it "your house" (Matthew 23:38). MY FATHER'S.. characteristic expression in this gospel. Occurs thirty-five times. See p. 1511. MERCHANDISE. Greek. emporion. market-place (not _emporia,_ which. the traffic itself). On the later occasion the words naturally differ. Comp