“_He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen; and poured out the changer’s money, and overthrew the tables._”] 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. =15, 16. And when he had made a scourge of rushes.= The original indicates that the scourge was made of the rushes which were used to bed the cattle. Christ picked these up from the floor and wove them together into a whip. Of course this fragile lash would not do much real execution. It was used as one might use a switch to alarm and so drive out the animals. The original shows very clearly that it was used for this purpose alone, and not to threaten the men with physical chastisement.--=He drove all out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle.= This is the correct rendering; our English version is ambiguous and so misleading.--=And poured out the changers’ money.= Poured it out upon the floor. This prevented their resisting, for it occupied their energies to pick up and save the coin.--=And said unto them that sold doves.= It is noteworthy that he drove out the sheep and cattle, which the owners could reclaim in the streets, but did not set the doves free, which would thus have been lost to their owners. A true Christian indignation never blinds to the true rights even of the most flagrant wrong-doers.--=Make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.= Compare Christ’s language at the second expulsion, Mark 11:17, note. [Illustration: EASTERN MONEY-CHANGER.] 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written,[79] The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. [79] Psalm 69:9. =17. And his disciples remembered=, etc. At the time, not afterward; if this had been meant it would have been expressed, as in ver. 22. It is not here stated that the utterance in Ps. 69:9 was a prophecy which Christ fulfilled; simply that his course recalled the language there. The fact indicates the vigor and intensity of Christ’s zeal in the manner and spirit of his action, as well as in the act itself.