12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they were there not more than two or three days.
13 The time of the Passover of the Jews was near and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And there in the Temple he saw men trading in oxen and sheep and doves, and he saw the changers of money in their seats: 15 And he made a whip of small cords and put them all out of the Temple, with the sheep and the oxen, sending in all directions the small money of the changers and overturning their tables; 16 And to those who were trading in doves he said, Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a market. 17 And it came to the minds of the disciples that the Writings say, I am on fire with passion for your house. 18 Then the Jews put this question to him: What sign of authority have you to give us, seeing that you do these things? 19 And Jesus said to them, Send destruction on this Temple and I will put it up again in three days. 20 The Jews said, The building of this Temple took forty-six years; and you will put it up in three days! 21 But his words were about that holy building which was his body. 22 So when he had come back again from the dead, the memory of these words came back to the disciples, and they had faith in the holy Writings and in the word which Jesus had said.
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, a great number of people came to have faith in his name, after seeing the signs which he did. 24 But Jesus did not have faith in them, because he had knowledge of them all. 25 He had no need for any witness about man; for he himself had knowledge of what was in man.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on John 2:12-25
Commentary on John 2:12-22
(Read John 2:12-22)
The first public work in which we find Christ engaged, was driving from the temple the traders whom the covetous priests and rulers encouraged to make a market-place of its courts. Those now make God's house a house of merchandise, whose minds are filled with cares about worldly business when attending religious exercises, or who perform Divine offices for love of gain. Christ, having thus cleansed the temple, gave a sign to those who demanded it, to prove his authority for so doing. He foretells his death by the Jews' malice, Destroy ye this temple; I will permit you to destroy it. He foretells his resurrection by his own power; In three days I will raise it up. Christ took again his own life. Men mistake by understanding that according to the letter, which the Scripture speaks by way of figure. When Jesus was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered he has said this. It helps much in understanding the Divine word, to observe the fulfilling of the Scriptures.
Commentary on John 2:23-25
(Read John 2:23-25)
Our Lord knew all men, their nature, dispositions, affections, designs, so as we do not know any man, not even ourselves. He knows his crafty enemies, and all their secret projects; his false friends, and their true characters. He knows who are truly his, knows their uprightness, and knows their weaknesses. We know what is done by men; Christ knows what is in them, he tries the heart. Beware of a dead faith, or a formal profession: carnal, empty professors are not to be trusted, and however men impose on others or themselves, they cannot impose on the heart-searching God.