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Bible Dictionaries
Money-Changers
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or in the Gospels, were persons who exchanged native for foreign coin, to enable those who came to Jerusalem from distant countries to purchase the necessary sacrifices. In our Lord's time they had established themselves in the court of the temple; a profanation which had probably grown up with the influence of Roman manners, which allowed the argentarii [money-dealers] to establish their usurious mensas, tables, by the statues of the gods, even at the feet of Janus, in the most holy places, in porticibus Basilicarum, or in the temples, pone aedem Castoris. The following extract from Buckingham's Travels among the Arabs, is illustrative:—"The mosque at the time of our passing through it was full of people, though these were not worshippers, nor was it at either of the usual hours of public prayers. Some of the parties were assembled to smoke, others to play at chess, and some apparently to drive bargains of trade, but certainly none to pray. It was, indeed, a living picture of what we might believe the temple at Jerusalem to have been, when those who sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting there, were driven out by Jesus, with a scourge of cords, and their tables overturned. It was, in short, a place of public resort and thoroughfare, a house of merchandise, as the temple of the Jews had become in the days of the Messiah."
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Money-Changers'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/m/money-changers.html. 1831-2.
