And would not allow that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And He suffered not that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. Vessel, utensil, instrument, or furniture, for profane uses, such as basket, pot, ewer, or burden. Through the temple, i.e, through the outermost court of the temple, which was the court of the Gentiles, where the Gentiles might tarry and pray. For to those who wished to pass from the sheep-market, called Bethesda, or by corruption Bethsaida, to the upper city, or Solomon"s palace, the nearest way was through this porch or court of Solomon"s. For otherwise they would have to traverse the whole exterior boundary of this court. It was not surprising, therefore, that servants and children, who were carrying any burden, should take the nearer way through this court. But Christ forbade their doing Song of Solomon , both by His word and the gestures which He made with His hand, and compelled them to go back. What, then, would He have done with respect to the Holy Place itself? What with respect to our churches? (See V...
The vessels here spoken of as not allowed to be carried through the temple, were not any belonging to the temple, but only such as were brought by those who were buying and selling. Origen asserts, that our Saviour's driving so many thousands out of the temple, poor and humble as he appeared, was a more astonishing miracle than even his giving sight to the blind. So divine an effulgency flashed from his eyes and whole countenance, as affected every beholder with astonishment and awful terror. (Origen in Dionysius)
If Christ could not bear to see his Father's house profaned, even with those things which in another place were not unbecoming, how indignant must he be to see the temple of God defiled with blasphemous and heretical doctrines, and with that levity and inattention observed in thoughtless giddy Christians, who thus scandalize and pervert his devoted children. (Haydock)
