Mark 11:17

And he taught them, and said unto them, Is it not written, My, house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But ye have made it a den of robbers.

Here Christ quoted from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. For discussion of the messianic implications of what Jesus did in both these cleansings, see comment in my Commentary on John, John 2. What Jesus did in each of these cleansings was to present a dramatic claim upon his own behalf as God's Messenger who had suddenly come to his temple. One may only be amused at a comment like that of Grant who said that "`Den of thieves' ... does not necessarily imply extortion on the park of the merchants!"[12] Is such a commentator ignorant of the fact that Jesus here used the word "robbers" (not "thieves"),[13] and does he have any explanation of how robbers may be held "not guilty" of extortion?

[12] Frederick C. Grant, Interpreter's Bible (New York: Abingdon Press, 1951), Vol. VII, p. 830.

[13] Nestle Greek Text (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1972), p. 189.