Did you know the week Jesus was crucified, he went to Jerusalem for Passover and entered into the temple with a whip, flipped over tables of coins and chased out money changers who were charging interest?
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The Full Story
"Take these things hence"
John 2:13-16, KJV
"13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 And found in the temple... the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them... make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.”
Charging of Interest
Only Tyrian shekels would be accepted for the annual half-shekel Temple tax. Tyrian shekels had a higher percentage of silver and the money changers would take lesser-value coins in exchange for these shekels--extracting a profit (usury).
Jesus wove cords into a small whip, knocked over the thick, stone tables of the money changers, spilling the coins to the ground.
Jesus, as he drove greed from the Temple, quoted from Isaiah 56:7:
"My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers." (Matthew 21:13)
Model replica of King Herod's Temple where Jesus drove out the money changers.
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