Changers of money (xepyatictds). Only here in the New Testament. The kindred noun xépya, money, which occurs - only in ver. 15, is from xelpw, to cut into bits, and means there- fore small coin; “small change,” of which the money-changers would require a large supply. Hence changers of money means,
strictly, dealers in small change. Matthew and Mark use Kod AvBisTHs (see ver. 15), of which the meaning is substantially the same so far as regards the dealing in smad/ coin ; but with the difference that «6\AvBos, the noun from which it is derived, and meaning a small coin, is also used to denote the rate of ex- change. This latter word therefore gives a hint of the premi- um on exchange, which John’s word here does not convey. The money-changers opened their stalls in the country towns a month before the feast. By the time of the first arrivals of passover-pilgrims at Jerusalem, the country stalls were closed, and the money-changers sat in the temple (see on Matt. xvii. 94; xxi. 12; Mark xi. 15). John’s picture of this incident is more graphic and detailed than those of the Synoptists, who merely state summarily the driving out of the traders and the overthrow of the tables. Compare Matt. xxi. 12,13; Mark xi. 15-17; Luke xix. 45, 46.*
15. A scourge ($payéAdtov). Only here in the New Testa- ment. Only John records this detail.
Of small cords (€« cyowlwv). The Rev. omits small, but the word is a diminutive of oyotvos, a rush, and thence a rope of twisted rushes. The A. V. is therefore strictly literal. He- rodotus says that when Croesus besieged Ephesus, the Ephesians made an offering of their city to Diana, by stretching a small rope (cxowlov) from the town wall to the temple of the goddess, a distance of seven furlongs (i., 26). The schoene was an Egyp- tian measure of length, marked by arush-rope. See Herodotus, ii. 6. Some find in this the etymology of skezn.
Drove out (é&Banev). Lit., as Rev., cast owt. See on Matt. x. 84; xii, 85; Mark i. 12; Jas. ii. 25.
All. Referring to the animals. The A. V. makes the ref- erence to the traders ; but Rev., correctly, “cast all out—both the sheep and the oxen.”
* I do not raise the question whether the narratives of John and of the Synoptists refer to the same event.