Texts in Conversation
Matthew 21 describes Jesus cleansing the temple, which resembles messianic traditions in Psalms of Solomon, where the messiah is described as cleansing Jerusalem. Matthew reverses the expectations of those traditions when Jesus pronounces judgment.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalms of Solomon 17:30
Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
28 And he shall divide them according to their tribes on the land, And neither a temporary resident nor a foreigner shall live with them anymore. 29 He shall judge peoples and nations in the wisdom of his righteousness. Selah. 30 And he shall have the foreign nations serve him under his yoke; And he shall glorify the Lord in a place visible to (?) the whole earth; And he shall cleanse Jerusalem, making it holy as in ancient times: 31 So that nations shall come from the ends of the earth to see his glory, bringing as gifts her sons who had fainted, And to see the glory of the Lord, with which God has glorified her. 32 And he (shall be) a righteous king, taught by God, over them, And there shall be no unrighteousness among them during his days, For all shall be holy and their king the anointed of the Lord.
Date: 65–30 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 21:12
New Testament
10 As he entered Jerusalem the whole city was thrown into an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” 12 Then Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13 And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are turning it into a den of robbers!” 14 The blind and lame came to him in the temple courts, and he healed them.
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Verses 15-19 have often been called the’ cleansing’ of the temple. Cleansing, however, implies a removal of impurities and restoration to a rightful function, as envisioned, for example, in Isaiah 55:1-8 or Psalms of Solomon 17:30: “He [Messiah] will purge Jerusalem (and make it) holy as it was even from the beginning (for) nations to come from the ends of the earth to see his glory.” But Jesus is not restoring the temple; he is pronouncing its doom! The fig tree, symbolizing Israel (see 13:28), has been found wanting and judged. Like the fig tree, the temple’s function is now “withered from the roots” (v 20: see Hos 9:16). Here more than elsewhere the A-episodes admittedly also interpret the B-episode, for the cursing and withering of the fig tree do, in fact, foreshadow the destruction of the temple ..."
James R. Edwards, “Markan Sandwiches the Significance of Interpolations in Markan Narratives,” NovT 31.3 (1989): 193–216.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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