MARK 11:12-21

MARK 11:12-21

MARK 11:12-14 - Jesus said, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever”—or, for the age. This fig tree was a type or symbol of Israel nationally, and its fruitless condition pictured the state of the nation—much religion but no fruit for God. So it remains barren and fruitless all through these centuries since Christ’s rejection. 

MARK 11:15-21 - This was the second time Jesus had cleansed the temple of those who were commercializing the holy things of the Lord. In John 2:13–16 we read of the first occasion, just shortly after He began His public ministry. But the abuses then corrected had soon taken advantage of His absence to be reinstated. No doubt in the beginning the sale of birds and beasts in the temple courts was intended simply as an accommodation for visitors to Jerusalem, who had come from distant lands to attend the annual feasts. The same was true of the money-changers. They were there to make it easy for these strangers to obtain the money which was used in Palestine, in place of the coins of other lands. But what may have begun innocently enough had degenerated into a system of extortionate gains for those thus carrying on; and those of the dispersion who came to worship the God of their fathers were being systematically robbed of their savings—and that in the name of Jehovah!

   Jesus dealt drastically with these covetous and dishonest merchants, overthrowing the tables of the money-changers, and driving out the sellers of doves and sacrificial lambs and other cattle.

One can visualize Him as He stood before the amazed and frightened mob, His holy eyes flashing with righteous indignation as He exclaimed, “Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? But ye have made it a den of thieves.” 

   Naturally, this aroused counter-indignation, but of unholy character, on the part of those who had upheld and profited by this commercializing of sacred things; and these scribes and chief priests formed a cabal with the express purpose of seeking to lay hold of Jesus and to destroy Him. But they did not dare act openly as yet, because the people generally were stirred by the teaching and works of Jesus and inclined to think of Him as the promised Messiah. Therefore, He was allowed to continue teaching that day in the temple courts, no one daring to interfere