Mark 11:15-19 Feast of Unleavened Bread: Yeshua was acting in accordance with His new office as King of the Jews. Passover is ushered in on the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Prior to this feast, each person will clean their house of yeast that is in it. Cleaning the yeast out of the house does not take place on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it takes place before it. Remember, read the passage!

Prophecy declares that when the millennial kingdom is ushered in, there will be many changes. One of the changes during the reign of the Messiah will be a return to the festivals of the Lord. Zechariah declares that when the kingdom is in place, there will be no merchants in the house of the Lord:

Zechariah 14:20–21 (NLT) “On that day even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words: HOLY TO THE LORD. And the cooking pots in the Temple of the LORD will be as sacred as the basins used beside the altar. In fact, every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. All who come to worship will be free to use any of these pots to boil their sacrifices. And on that day there will no longer be traders in the Temple of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”

Yeshua was ushering in His Kingdom. He was not bringing in the kingdom of physical reign but that of moral reign. Context shows us that Jesus rode into Jerusalem as a King on coronation day. He allowed himself to be crowned King and was now acting in accordance with that crowning. He was cleaning house by removing the filth from the Temple. The symbolism is tremendous.

When a scripture is quoted in Hebrew thinking, the context of that scripture is expected to be understood. Yeshua declared that His house was to be a “house of prayer” (Isaiah 56:7). Let’s look at that passage for a moment, we will use the New Living Translation since it captures the thought so well:

Isaiah 56:6–8 (NLT) “I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the LORD, who serve him and love his name, who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest, and who hold fast to my covenant.  I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.  For the Sovereign LORD, who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says: I will bring others, too, besides my people Israel.”

This passage does not point to the Hebrew people alone! Yeshua was declaring a change to Temple practices. He was declaring that both Jew and Gentile would be entering the house of prayer together! Yeshua then quotes from another scripture declaring that the religious leaders had allowed the temple to become a den of robbers, let’s continue with the New Living Translation:

Jeremiah 7:8–11 (NLT) “Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie!  Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again?  Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears my name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

The essence of the verse captures the attitude of the religious leaders during Jesus’ day. The idea of these two passages that Yeshua quotes carries the connotation of change. Yeshua was declaring change during His new kingdom.

When Yeshua turned over the money tables and ran the merchants out of the temple, He was sending a clear message to the religious authorities. The game was going to change. The chief priest and scribes knew the scriptures well. They were aware of the context of the passages quoted and the implications of those passages. Yeshua was not just bringing change, He was threatening their very jobs. They began looking harder at how to eliminate Jesus from the scene.

Mark 11:19-21 Remember from the earlier discussion in the passage on the fig tree from Jeremiah 8? The crux of the discussion was that paganism would be judged and the pagan and Hebrew mix of religion would be eliminated leaving behind a withered and dead fig tree. The idea was that the prosperity of the religion would dry up. Perversion of Torah would be removed. Sandwiching the two passages of the fig tree with the cleansing of the temple in the middle emphasizes the application to Jeremiah 8. The cleansing of the temple is emphasized by the discussion of the fig tree.