Temple Commerce and John 2:13–22

This study argues that attention to the Gospel of John with a focus on its economic context makes a significant contribution for its interpretation. Turning to John 2:13– 22 to prove this thesis, this dissertation uses literary and historical analytical methods to examine Jesus’ disruption of the commercial activity in the Jerusalem temple with close attention to the economic realities that affect its interpretation. This study explores textual and archaeological evidence relevant to the contexts of John’s readers with the text of John 2:13–22 in order to analyze its interpretative effects. It does so with respect to one topic—temple commerce—in relation to Judea, Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor. For each of these contexts the following components of temple commerce are investigated, because they are all present in John 2:13–22: commerce related to religious pilgrimage; the sacrificial animal trade; moneychangers and their role in temple commerce, which includes changing coins for the purchase of sacrifices and for deposit into the treasury; temples as sources and centers of trade and commerce; the economic effects of temple construction and maintenance. Reading John 2:13–22 in light of its economic context shows the passage to be a cohesive unit, in which John’s explicit attention to the temple’s economic aspects reinforces the passage’s claim for Jesus’ authority as God’s Son. Moreover, the commercial elements of John 2:13–22 speak across cultural contexts, enabling audiences more familiar with temple commerce outside Jerusalem to come to the same conclusions regarding Jesus’ authority as those familiar with the sacred economy of the Jerusalem temple.