Introduction to the NT World

1. Introduction to the NT World • Money changers • Making sense of the New Testament requires navigating your way through a maze of different cultural, religious, political, and economic groups that existed in first-century Jewish society as well as in the Roman Empire at large. • Week 17, 12/7/2011 • Gene Wright, GeneLA@comcast.net

2. Money changers • Under the Law of Moses, every Israelite, rich or poor, who had reached the age of twenty, was obligated to pay a half shekel as an offering to Jehovah into the sacred treasury. • A month before the Passover Feast, booths were set up in all the towns and villages where the Temple Tax could be paid. • By far the greater part was actually paid by the pilgrims in Jerusalem when they came to the Passover Feast. • In Palestine all kinds of currencies were in circulation, and, for ordinary purposes, they were all equally valid – Greek, Roman Tyrian, Syrian, and Egyptian.

3. Money changers • Israel at the time of Jesus was under Roman control and Roman coins as well as those from Tyre were in common usage, among others such as Greek, Syrian and Egyptian. • Those coming to the Temple would have a variety of these, but those from Tyre were particularly common. • The coins of Tyre were considered of outstanding quality, being of 94% silver. • The front of the coin showed Baal Herakles, the god/king of Tyre and the back showed the Egyptian eagle. The inscription read “Tyre, the Holy and Incorruptible”

4. Money changers • To a Jew, these coins were doubly blasphemous, but they were the reliable money of the day. • The Jewish authorities only accepted payment of the Temple Tax with the Jewish Half Shekel since it did not have a pagan image on it, but the people coming more often than not had Tyrian coins. What to do? • If they accepted these coins, they would have a treasury full of pagan images. • If they did not, their treasury would be fairly empty. • Solution? • Enter the Temple Money Changers!

5. Money changers • Money Changers were allowed to set up tables and benches inside the Temple Court. The English word bank is derived from the word bench. • The word "moneychanger" means money-banker or money-broker. These men converted money from one type of currency to another, and they provided change within the same currency. • The money-changer sat behind a little clear-top table, under which his coins were on display. A charge of about 12% was made for the transaction. • These money changers were necessary because of the great variety of coinage in Israel, and Syria, and so many tourists from all over the known world at that time. • But note: They were under the control of the High Priest

6. Money changers • These Temple shops were known as the Booths of Annas and were the property of the family of the High Priest. • Annas, whose name means “The grace of Jehovah” was appointed high priest of the Jews in 6 A.D in his 37th year. • He was high priest from 6 to 15 A.D. but as long as he lived he was the virtual head of the priestly party in Jerusalem.

7. Money changers • The money changers used their monopoly on these coins to make exorbitant profits, forcing the Jews and Pilgrims to pay whatever these money changers demanded. • They had little choice, since they had to exchange their money for Jewish Half Shekels and they money changes controlled nearly all of the supply of the coinage! • To change a coin of exact value they charged a commission. If a larger coin was tendered a commission was charged for the required half shekel and another commission for the giving of change. • It has been computed that these money changers made huge profits during the 7-8 days of Passover. It was a deliberate trap, and an imposition on poor people who could afford it least of all.

8. Money changers • The Jewish Talmud says that the rate of twelve per cent was charged by the changers for each transaction. • In addition to the need for the half-shekel tribute money, the money-changers would provide the exact coins necessary to purchase the animals or doves required for the sacrifices for the temple.

9. Money changers • Almost every visit to the Temple involved a sacrifice. Animals could be bought outside at very reasonable prices; but the Temple authorities appointed inspectors, for a sacrifice must be without spot or blemish. • It was safer to buy sacrifices from the booths officially set up in the Temple. But there were times when a pair of doves would cost as much as 15 times more inside the Temple than outside. • It was deliberately planned victimization of poor pilgrims, and it was essentially legalized robbery.

10. Money changers • Matthew 21:12-13: “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you make it a den of robbers.’ ” • Mark 11:15-18: “And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers.’ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.” • Who are these Chief Priests? Annas and his family who own the money changing stations!

11. Money changers

12. Money changers

13. The Soreg – the middle wall of partition

14. Money changers • Jesus condemned these men because they brought their business into the Temple Courts, where men should have come in the spirit of true prayer and worship. • 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” • The Money Changers had been setting up in the very spacious Court of the Gentiles and carried on their business there. It was essentially a bazaar. • It was not simply that the buying and selling interfered with the dignity and solemnity of worship; it was that the very worship of the house of God was being used to exploit the worshippers. • It was the passion for social justice which burned in Jesus' heart when he took this drastic step.

15. Money changers • Jesus was particularly upset because the money changers and presidents were taking unfair advantage of the Gentiles, Samaritans, and the poor. • It must be remembered the half shekel was equal to nearly two days’ pay for a working man. • Deuteronomy 24:14-15: “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin.” • The “people of the land” – our final group next week • God has always wanted justice for the poor, the stranger, the weak and powerless. His people should beware allowing injustice to continue.