Bible Dictionary
Money-changer
Money-changers exchanged foreign currency for the half-shekel required for temple offerings. Jesus drove them from the temple because their commercial activity had profaned the place of worship.
Definition
A money-changer was a person who exchanged foreign currency for the Hebrew half-shekel required for the temple offering. Such exchanges were made for Jews arriving in Jerusalem from different regions.
Biblical Usage
Jesus drove the money-changers from the temple courts, overturning their tables and expelling them because their commercial activity had profaned the place of worship.
Historical Background
Every Israelite twenty years old or more was required to pay a half-shekel into the sacred treasury. The money-changers supplied the exact Hebrew coin, charging a premium for the exchange.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:15). Every Israelite from twenty years and upwards had to pay (Ex. 30:13-15) into the sacred treasury half a shekel every year as an offering to Jehovah, and that in the exact Hebrew half-shekel piece. There was a class of men, who frequented the temple courts, who exchanged at a certain premium foreign moneys for these half-shekels to the Jews who came up to Jerusalem from all parts of the world. (See PASSOVER.) When our Lord drove the traffickers out of the temple, these money-changers fared worst. Their tables were overturned and they themselves were expelled.