“But there was another layer here, one that Jesus specifically called out in the two Old Testament Scriptures He quoted. The first was Isaiah 56:7 which reminded Israel that God’s plan was not to isolate the Jews, but that ultimately all the Gentile nations would be brought into the family of faith.
But instead of being a light to the Gentiles, the leaders of Israel made it impossible for any Gentile God-fearers to join in. The temple of Jesus’ time was segregated into various courts. You had the court of the men, for Jewish men, the court of the women, and then the court of the Gentiles. It was a big area where anyone seeking the God of Israel could come in and pray. But now it was overrun with commerce. All these booths, all the animals, all the transactions happened there.
So, you’re a Gentile, who God really loves and wants to come and find faith, but instead of being able to pray, you’re dealing with thousands of sheep and birds and merchants and pilgrims and animal poop and noise. Gentile worshippers were effectively pushed out though God wanted to graft them in, like the Tree of 40 fruits!
Jesus had already cleared this nonsense out once at the beginning of His ministry. But they went right back to it. Now, at the end of His ministry, He does it again. This time He also quotes Jeremiah 7, “where Jeremiah condemns the idea that the temple is a safe haven for Judah in its sin.”
Sadly, the leaders of Israel rejected God’s mercy and His patience and His warnings. They kept bringing robbers into the temple. And in the end they would reap what they sowed. In 66 AD, Josephus records that “robbers” took possession of the temple and slaughtered the priests. Josephus used the same word for robbers that Mark used.”
