John 2:17

remembered Then and there. Who could know this but a disciple? Who would think of inventing it? See above on John 2:11.

was written Better, is written; in the Greek it is the perf. part. pass. with the auxiliary, which S. John almost always uses in quotations, while the Synoptists commonly use the perf. pass. Comp. John 6:31; John 6:45; John 10:34; John 12:14 (John 19:19).

hath eaten me up Rather, will devour, or consume me, i.e. wear me out. Psalms 69:9, a psalm referred to again John 15:25 and John 19:28.

It is difficult to believe that this cleansing of the Temple is identical with the one placed by the Synoptists at the lastPassover in Christ's ministry; difficult also to see what is gained by the identification. If they are the same event, either S. John or the Synoptists have made a gross blunder in chronology. Could S. John, who was with our Lord at both Passovers, make such a mistake? Could S. Matthew, who was with Him at the last Passover, transfer to it an event which took place at the first Passover, a year before his conversion? When we consider the immense differences which distinguish the last Passover from the first in Christ's ministry, it seems incredible that anyone who had contemporary evidence could through any lapse of memory transfer a very remarkable incident indeed from one to the other. On the other hand the difficulty of believing that the Temple was twice cleansed is very slight. Was Christ's preaching so universally successful that one cleansing would be certain to suffice? And if two years later He found that the evil had returned, would He not be certain to drive it out once more? Differences in the details of the narratives corroborate this view.