X-DreamersReading A
Two cleansings
PlausibleInterpretation
Jesus cleared the temple near the start of his ministry, as John tells it, and again in his last week, as Matthew, Mark and Luke tell it.
Enter from a verse
John 2:19
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up
19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Scripture: King James Version (1769).
Jesus has just driven the traders out of the temple courts. Asked for a sign, he points to the temple itself. Four doors open the time, the place, the building and the ways the saying is read.
When: a Passover, forty-six years in
John sets this early in Jesus' ministry, at a Passover in Jerusalem. His hearers answer that the temple has been under construction for forty-six years; Herod had begun rebuilding it about 20 BC, which points to about AD 27 or 28.
Scripture
13And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
What we know, and how sure
Strongly supportedBiblical textJohn 2:20 says it had been building for 46 years; Jesus foretold that no stone would be left on another. Its plan comes from Josephus (War 5.184–237) and the Mishnah tractate Middot.
Where: the temple courts
The traders and money changers worked in the vast outer court, open to all, most likely in or near the Royal Stoa along its south side. Gentiles could come this far but no further.
What we know, and how sure
PlausibleThe money-changers and sellers worked in the Temple courts; the Royal Stoa is the likeliest place.
Strongly supportedGentiles could enter the outer court but not the inner courts.
The space: Herod's temple
Herod's sanctuary rose a hundred cubits high, gleaming with white stone and gold, on a platform he doubled in size. It was one of the great buildings of the Roman world, and it stood only about forty years after this conversation.
What we know, and how sure
Strongly supportedThe sanctuary was 100 cubits high and 100 wide at the front, and the front was covered with heavy plates of gold, with a golden vine above the entrance.
Strongly supportedBiblical textJosephus gives 162 columns in four rows (Antiquities 15.411–416). The Gospels place the money-changers in the Temple's outer court.
Readings: which temple, and when?
John explains the saying himself: Jesus spoke of the temple of his body, and the disciples remembered it after he rose. A second question is how this cleansing relates to the one the other Gospels place in Holy Week. Both views are set out below; we do not choose.
Scripture
21But he spake of the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
Reading B
One cleansing, placed by theme
PlausibleInterpretationThere was one cleansing, in the last week; John places it at the opening of his Gospel to show from the start what Jesus came to do.
What we know, and how sure
Textually statedBiblical textJohn says Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body.
Stated in John 2:21–22.
See it in the Labs
Doors into the verse
Back to the verse
19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
For discussion
- 1John says the disciples only understood the saying after the resurrection. What else in Scripture became clear to you only later?
- 2If Jesus' body is the true temple, where do we meet God now?
See this verse's connections in the Knowledge Graph
Read John 2 in full
Every door is drawn from the Bible Labs knowledge graph: each claim keeps its evidence level, and readings that link one passage to another are marked as interpretation. King James Version (1769).