The Beginning of Jesus' Public Ministry (According to John)

Deuteronomy allows traveling worshipers to substitute cash value (plus 20%) for the tithe of foods. If a person cannot transport the tithe from their place of residence to the place of worship due to its size or the length of the journey, he is allowed to sell the tithe instead and bring the price to the place of worship. He can purchase the memorial meal while there, but the rest of the price is for the priest.

The practice described here in John is a perversion of the exception allowed in Deuteronomy.

1. While the worshiper was to eat a memorial meal with the priest when leaving his offering at the altar, the people here are selling animals to be sacrificed, not eaten. John details, "oxen and sheep and pigeons." By contrast, Deuteronomy had said, "oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink," which are intended to be consumed, not offered.
2. Although God clearly said, "you shall not neglect the Levite," the practice described here cuts the Levite out entirely. The money is going to the currency exchange and the sellers of sacrificial animals, and the Levites are getting no grain.
3. Nowhere in Deuteronomy--or anywhere else in Scripture--do we see provisions for a currency exchange or meat market inside the house of God. These secular matters were to have been taken care of ahead of time: "bind up the money in your hand and go to the place...."

Leviticus 27:30-31

Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD's; it is holy to the LORD. If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it.

Deuteronomy 14:22-27

You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire--oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

Proverbs 26:3-5

A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
and a rod for the back of fools.
Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes.

These are singled out as the most egregious example of wrongdoing because, unlike oxen or sheep, they are not plausible food items.

This word (ἐμπόριον) appears only here, but a close relative (ἔμπορος) appears in the Revelation of John several times. It is the root of our word, "emporeum."

The defining character for a merchant seems to be detachment. The merchant is not so concerned about the products he sells as he is about the profit he makes selling them. This detachment can be good--if it represents our ability to leave our own agendas to follow the Lord on finding Him (Matthew 13:45, "The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls....").

Detachment is clearly no virtue here, however; more concern about the Lord's things might have prevented them from sinning in this case.

Revelation 18:3

For all nations have drunk
the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,
and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.

Revelation 18:11

And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore....

Revelation 18:15

The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud....

Revelation 18:21, 23

Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more...;
for your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
and all nations were deceived by your sorcery."

Psalm 69:8-9, 30-33, 35-36

I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother's sons.
For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the LORD more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
For the LORD hears the needy
and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

For God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

The first sign was the water turned to wine at Cana. Why not believe that?

Consider that many who were present at this time in fact did understand the signs evident in all He was doing. John's contrast between "the Jews (literally Judaeans)" and "many" invites us to understand his use of the term "the Jews" as the Judaean authorities.

John 2:11

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

John 2:23

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

John 12:37

Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him.

Jesus teaches our bodies are vessels for the spirit, and the Temple corresponds to them--an earthly dwelling for the name of the Lord.

It is becoming a pattern in John that His words have a spiritual interpretation that trips up any who are not spiritual.

1 Corinthians 6:19

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

1 Corinthians 2:14

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

We do the same.

The disciples often did not understand His sayings at the time they were spoken, but remembered them later when they could reason with the Scriptures.

John 14:25-26

These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 20:30-31

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.