John 2:15 Commentary and Bible Study

What were the small cords? Well, maybe there were plenty of pieces of rope left around because of the number of animals being sold and taken and used, but it is ‘small cords’. This was a token scourge. The Lord was not actually whipping anyone with this; it was a symbol, a token of judgement and of punishment. We should understand that this whip could never have accomplished the cleansing of the temple – one man with a small, token, symbolic, whip. The place was jostling, packed with determined tradespeople and farmers. They were not going to give up their positions, their takings, their money. They had been allowed by the temple staff to take up their position. This was an entrenched occurrence, and yet one man, was somehow able to drive them all out of the temple precinct. Did any of them prevent him? They couldn’t. The money changers too were driven out; their coinage was just tipped on the floor. We are not told by what means, but Christ as the Son of God who became man was able to reveal in some form his authority and his power, and it was irresistible. They fled headlong, and furniture was turned over. He drove them out, and the Greek word translated ‘drove’ there is literally ‘threw them out’. The language is powerful to indicate that they went reluctantly, and it was almost by force – but there was no force except the power of his being. There were hundreds of them! And yet everything was accomplished without resistance; and Christ did it so majestically, and yet his action was completely invincible.