The Lord Jesus reminds the Israelites gathered in the temple that their religious concepts (understanding, vision), their endless sacrifices, their expensive (costly) and complex external cult without internal renewal was criticized by the ancient great prophets.
Isaiah prophesied: “Hear the word of the Lord, … To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says the Lord. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (see Isaiah 1:10-17).
No less clearly and understandably warned his people the prophet Jeremiah, pointing out that one cannot confuse two things – visiting the temple and worshiping with fulfilling God’s will: “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say: Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust you not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord. For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor; if you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever. Behold, you trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom you know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, says the Lord. But go you now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I spoke unto you, rising up early and speaking, but you heard not; and I called you, but you answered not; Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein you trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not you for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear you…” (see Jeremiah 7:1-16).
But even in the times of the Lord Jesus Christ, the temple cult, despite the numerous sacrifices and the singing of psalms, was not much different from the worship of the times of the prophet Jeremiah. Of course, all the Jews who gathered in the temple were believers (we are talking about trust – see more in part II), they believed in God, who gave His people the temple and the liturgy. But this faith was erroneous, misleading – not faith, but almost pagan ritualism. Those who prayed (performed various rites, prayers, psalm-singing, rituals) and sacrificed, without much thought, believed (trusted thoughtlessly, irresponsibly) in the automatic action of worship, that is, they believed in magic. And the fact that the temple should be “a house of prayer,” for the Lord Jesus Christ meant not that prayers should be recited in the temple – they were recited, even excessively, turning into magical verbosity, about which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke in His Sermon on the Mount: “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not you therefore like unto them: for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him” (see Matthew 6:7-8). And the point is not even that trade in the temple supposedly hindered prayer. Not at all. Both the one and the other, that is, the whole temple cult from the point of view of the Lord Jesus Christ was vain, futile, empty, devoid of meaning! The Lord condemns the whole existing custom of offering money or sacrificial animals in the Temple instead of a prayer of repentance and instead of a pure heart, as if buying from God automatic forgiveness of sins. In this profanation of worship, both the money changers, sellers, buyers, and the priests who perform the sacrifices are to blame.