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“A Cave of Robbers”

● When driving out money changers and sellers of sacrificial animals from the temple area, Jesus Christ said: “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a cave of robbers.” (Matt. 21:13) Thus Jesus, in effect, called the money changers and those selling sacrificial animals “robbers.” This suggests that they were making excessive profits. The Jewish Mishnah shows that Jesus’ words were no exaggeration. It reports about the time when a pair of doves cost a golden denar or twenty-five silver denars. This exorbitant price moved Simeon the son of Gamaliel to swear by the temple, saying: “I will not suffer the night to pass by before they cost but a [silver] denar.” This evidently means that doves were being sold at a rate twenty-five times higher than they were actually worth. That indeed was “robbery.”