Jesus and the act of driving out the Moneychangers
Some Christians are quick to point
to the example of Jesus when he went to the temple in Jerusalem at the Passover
season mentioned in the Gospel of John[1] as
Jesus’ endorsement of bodily punishment. At that time, Jesus responded to the
scene of rampant commercialism that had taken over the Temple area. In response
to this scene, Jesus made “a scourge of cords.”[2] This
scourge of cords was not, as the context clearly shows, designed to be used on
people. The Bible indicates that “he [Jesus] made a scourge of cords, and cast
all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen.”[3] He
then “poured out the money of the changers, and overthrew their tables; and to
the dove sellers he said; ‘Take these hence; make not the house of my Father a
house of merchandise.”[4]
The
strong indication we get from this story was that the scourge of cords was
directed at the animals, not the people. There is little evidence here that
Jesus used the scourge to hit the people. In fact, it is quite possible that
according to the Law of Moses, it would have been forbidden for Jesus to do so.
This is because according to the Law of Moses, it is forbidden for one Jew to
strike another outside of the legally sanctioned environment of the court of
justice.[5] Had
Jesus struck one of the people with the scourge, he could have been convicted
of a crime at that time on the basis of the above-mentioned law. Those who are
quick to point to this as evidence for Jesus’ approval of bodily punishment may
need to reconsider this position in light of the laws that governed the actions
of the Jewish people at that time. People could not just go around beating
other citizens. Such behaviour was illegal at that time as it is now.
[1] John
2:13-17
[2] John
2:15
[3] ibid.
[4] John
2:16
[5] Exodus
21:18
This text is an excerpt from Samuel Martin's free ebook - "Thy Rod and Thy Staff, They Comfort Me: Christians and the Spanking Controversy - Available free here: whynottrainachild.com/2013/06/22/download-martins-book/ or endhittingusa.org/resources/sam-martin-s-biblical-studies-about-spanking
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