Mark 11:16

And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) And would not suffer that any man.—Peculiar to St. Mark. The vessels referred to included, probably, the baskets and other common implements of traffic. Men were using the courts of the Temple as a short cut from one part of the city to another.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:12-18 Christ looked to find some fruit, for the time of gathering figs, though it was near, was not yet come; but he found none. He made this fig-tree an example, not to the trees, but to the men of that generation. It was a figure of the doom upon the Jewish church, to which he came seeking fruit, but found none. Christ went to the temple, and began to reform the abuses in its courts, to show that when the Redeemer came to Zion, it was to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The scribes and the chief priests sought, not how they might make their peace with him, but how they might destroy him. A desperate attempt, which they could not but fear was fighting against God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Any vessel - Any vessel used in cooking, or connected with the sale of their articles of merchandise.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever—That word did not make the tree barren, but sealed it up in its own barrenness. See on [1477]Mt 13:13-15.

And his disciples heard it—and marked the saying. This is introduced as a connecting link, to explain what was afterwards to be said on the subject, as the narrative has to proceed to the other transactions of this day.

Second Cleansing of the Temple (Mr 11:15-18).

For the exposition of this portion, see on [1478]Lu 19:45-48.

Lessons from the Cursing of the Fig Tree (Mr 11:20-26).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 11:11"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And would not suffer that any man,.... He was more strict and severe than the day before; and gave orders, that they should be so far from being allowed to sit and trade in that sacred place, that no man

should carry any vessel through the temple; should make a, thoroughfare of it, by carrying through to any other place, any vessel that was for common use, or any sort of burden whatever: and this they could not well find fault with, nor complain of, since it was agreeable to one of their own canons; for they say (h),

"a man may not go into the mountain of the house, with his staff (in his hands); nor with shoes (on his feet); nor with his girdle, and his money in it; nor with a bag thrown over his shoulders; nor with dust upon his feet; nor might he make it, "a thoroughfare", and much less spit in it.''

(h) Misn. Beracot, c. 9. sect. 5. Vid. T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 62. 2. & Yebamot, fol. 6. 2. & Midrash Kohelet, fol. 70. 3. & Maimon. Hilch. Beth Habbechira, c. 7. sect. 1, 2, 3.

Geneva Study Bible

And would not suffer that any man should carry any {c} vessel through the temple.

(c) That is, any profane instrument (of which those men had many) that made the court of the temple a marketplace.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 11:16. ἤφιεν: vide Mark 1:34. The statement that Jesus did not allow any one to carry anything (σκεῦος, Luke 8:16) through the temple court is peculiar to Mk. It does not point to any attempt at violent prohibition, but simply to His feeling as to the sacredness of the place. He could not bear to see the temple court made a bypath or short cut, not to speak of the graver abominations of the mercenary traffic He had sternly interrupted. In this feeling Jesus was at one with the Rabbis, at least in their theory. “What reverence is due to the temple? That no one go into the mountain of the house (the court of the Gentiles) with his staff, shoes, purse, or dust on his feet. Let no one make a crossing through it, or degrade it into a place of spitting” (Babyl. Jevamoth, in Lightfoot, ad loc.).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. any vessel] i. e. a pail or basket. He would not allow laden porters and others to desecrate the honour due to His Father’s house by crossing the Temple courts as though they were public streets, “quasi per plateam.” Bengel. This particular is peculiar to St Mark.

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 11:16. Διὰ τοῦ ἱεροῦ, through the temple) As if through a street.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - And he would not suffer that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. It was a great temptation to make the temple, at least the great court of the Gentiles, a thoroughfare. It was so extensive that a long and tedious circuit would be avoided, in going from one part of the city to another, by passing through it. To those, for example, who were passing from the sheep market, Bethesda, into the upper part of the city, the shortest cut was through this court and by Solomon's Porch. The distance would be greatly increased if they went round it. So the priests permitted servants and laborers, laden with anything, to take this shorter way through the great court of the temple. But our Lord hindered them, forbidding them with the voice of one that had authority, and restraining them with his hand, and compelling them to go back. He would have the whole of his Father's House regarded as sacred. Mark 11:16

Vincent's Word Studies

Vessel (σκεῦος)

See on Matthew 12:29; and Mark 3:27.

Temple (ἱροῦ)

See on Matthew 4:5. The temple enclosure, not the ναός, or sanctuary. People would be tempted to carry vessels, etc., through this, in order to save a long circuit. The court of the Gentiles, moreover, was not regarded by the Jews as entitled to the respect due to the other part of the enclosure. This our Lord rebukes.