Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 2 Study # 2
February 27, 2024
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(470)
1901 ASV
11:15 And they come to Jerusalem: and he entered into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and them that bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold the doves;
11:16 and he would not suffer that any man should carry a vessel through the temple.
11:17 And he taught, and said unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? but ye have made it a den of robbers.
11:18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, for all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.
11:19 And every evening he went forth out of the city.
11:20 And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots.
11:21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
11:23 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it.
11:24 Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
11:25 And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
11:26 [But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses.]
11:27 And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders;
11:28 and they said unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? or who gave thee this authority to do these things?
11:29 And Jesus said unto them, I will ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
11:30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? answer me.
11:31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; He will say, Why then did ye not believe him?
11:32 But should we say, From men--they feared the people: for all verily held John to be a prophet.
11:33 And they answered Jesus and say, We know not. And Jesus saith unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
- I. The Structure Of This Section.
- A. Following the chiasm of 9:1-11:11.
- B. The record of "rejection" begins with Jesus' curse upon the fig tree (11:12-26); a record that is structured in terms of "The Curse", "The Reason", and "The Necessity for Faith".
- C. The record of the "interruption" between the segments of Jesus' treatment of the fig tree.
- 1. "And they are coming into Jerusalem" [Note: the explanation of the asterisk].
- a. This is the second time (first time is in 11:11) we are told that He was entering into Jerusalem [Note: at this "season"] and into the Temple.
- 1) Jerusalem is the Capital City of the nation.
- 2) The Temple is the central focus for the City and the national status of Israel as "God's elect nation".
- b. It is the run up to Passover.
- 1) There are thousands upon thousands of people who live elsewhere who have been summoned ("all your males"; Exodus 23:17) to Jerusalem for the Passover events (it was one of three "festivals" of Israel in which all are called to attend (Exodus 23:14-17 -- The Feast of Unleavened Bread in Abib; The Feast of Harvest ((firstfruits)); The Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year).
- 2) Of all of the festivals, Passover is the first and most critical because it is the memorial of the deliverance of the nation by God from Egypt by reason of the death of all of the first-born of Egypt and the "passing over" of all of the first-born of Israel. Its central feature is the Passover Lamb whose blood is the mechanism for the angel of death passing over the homes of those with the blood on the lintel and door posts of the entrance into the house.
- 2. "And having entered (Aorist Singular Nominative) into the Temple..."
- a. In the pre-curse time of entrance into the Temple, Jesus "looked around at all things".
- b. An event, with the same details, is recorded in John 2:14-22 with a strong intimation that Jesus' outrage in the Temple took place shortly after the record of the "first sign".
- 1) If, in fact, Jesus did this same thing twice, it would serve as a kind of "book-ends" to His entire ministry.
- 2) There is no good reason to think that John, the author of this record, would pull something from the last week of Jesus' earthly life to put it into this beginning of his records regarding Jesus' "signs".
- c. In the pre-curse time, Jesus' "look around at all things", laid the ground work for the "explosion" on the following morning.
- 3. "He began (Aorist Singular Indicative) to cast out (Present Active Infinitive)..."
- a. "Those 'exchanging' (Present Active Participle Plural)..."
- b. "And those buying (Present Active Participle) in the Temple..."
- c. "And the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those 'exchanging' the doves to overturn (Aor. Act. Indica. Sing.)..."
- 4. "And He was refusing (Imperfect Active Indicative Singular) to permit..."
- a. "In order that anyone should carry (Aorist Active Subjunctive Singular) a vessel through the Temple..."
- b. "And He was teaching (Imperfect Active Indicative Singular) and He was saying (Imperfect Active Indicative Singular)..."
- 1) "Has it not been written (Perfect Passive Indicative Singular)..."
- a) "That (or the use of "hoti" as)..."
- (1) "The house of Me a house of prayer it shall be called (Future Passive Indicative Singular) to all the nations...": 1 Kings 8:41 and following.
- (2) "But you have made (Perfect Active Indicative Plural) it a cave of thieves."
- b) The original purpose "has been written" so that there is no good reason for violating the atmosphere of "prayer": the transactions indicated could have easily been done elsewhere.
- 2) From the beginning, the Temple was to be a "place where God placed His name" and everything about it should have been a reflection of God's true character.
