This was an act of Messianic symbolism, fulfilling three Old Testament prophecies, Malachi 3: 1-4, Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7: 11. 'The Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger you long to see will come and proclaim my covenant. But who will be able to endure the day when he comes?.. ; 'My Temple will be called a house of prayer for the people of all nations.'; 'Do you think that my Temple is a hiding place for robbers? .' The High Priest had allowed the Court of the Gentiles to be turned into a market where the animals for sacrifice were sold at enormous profit and where money-changing took place; the courtyard was also used as short cut by people passing from one side of Jerusalem to another.

A Gentile entering the outer courtyard (the only place in the Temple area where non-Jews could enter) might well 'ask what all the activities of the place had to do with God. The crowds of pilgrims around the Temple area were amazed at what Jesus did but his action made the religious leaders determined that Jesus must be finally removed (11: 18).