style="font-size:15px;"> names; the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias, and Lake Gen-
nesaret. It was a beautiful lake thirteen miles long and six miles
wide; and on it were thousands of boats of every kind. There
were the war-ships of the Romans, which were very tiny in com¬
parison with those of our time. There were the little rough boats
of the fishermen, and many gay pleasure boats.
The country around the lake was beautiful also. Mountains
and hills sloped down to the shore, and on these mountain-sides
anything that was planted would grow; for the soil was very rich.
Scattered about were fields of wheat, groves of palms, olives, figs,
and oranges. Where nothing else was planted, wild flowers
sprang up in great plenty. There are a great many kinds of
wild flowers in Palestine, many of them very beautiful, with
rich, gay colors. A field of these flowers is said to be a won¬
derful sight that no one ever forgets who has seen it once.
the MINISTRY OF THE CHRIST
31
All along the shores of the lake cities and larg^ towns had
been built; and Capernaum was one of the busiest of these cities.
Roman soldiers were always there on guard, and strangers were
coming and going all the time, for Capernaum was a central place,
through which people passed in going from one country to another,
and from every direction people came here to trade.
It was a place where Jesus could meet and talk with people
of many nations. Later in his life he spent much time in Caper¬
naum; for, besides the work which he could find to do right in
the city, it was easy to make short trips into the country around.
But now Jesus stayed in the city only a few days, for it was time
to go to the Passover Feast at Jerusalem.
You remember how delighted he was when his parents took
him for the first time to the Passover, when he was twelve years
old, and how he loved to stay in the temple? But this time
when he entered the temple courts, he was not at all pleased.
Site of Capernaum, Sea of Galilee
32
A CHILD’S STORY OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST
Instead of tjie quietness and respect which belong to the house
of God, there was the greatest confusion. Money was being
changed, doves and sheep and oxen were being sold, even inside
the temple wall. Such a noise as there was! And all the while
the temple service was going on!
Jesus saw some small cords which had probably been used to
tie the animals. Out of these curds he made a whip, and drove
from the temple the sheep
and oxen, and the men who
had charge of them. He
upset the tables of the
money-changers, and their
money rolled about on the
floor. Then he said to
those who sold the doves:
«Take these things away
from here, and do not make
my Father’s house a place
of business.» His voice
was stern, and no one dared
to disobey him; so the
temple court was soon
cleared.
You may wonder why
they ever thought of doing
such things as buying and
selling animals in the tem-
The Purification of the Temple pie. The reason Was that
many of the people who
came to worship lived a long way from Jerusalem, and could not
easily bring with them the animals for their sacrifices; it was
better that they should buy them in Jerusalem and near the
THE MINISTRY OF THE CHRIST
33
temple. Then, too, money had to be changed; for nothing but
Jewish money would be taken at the temple, and people from
different parts of the world had to bring the kinds of money that
were used where they lived.
If these things were true, what was there wrong about it?
Why was Jesus displeased? It was not because the things were
done, but because they were done in the wrong place; for the
temple, was built to worship God in, not for a place of business.
There was plenty of room outside of the temple, and if they had
cared about God’s house, and keeping it sacred, as God had told
them, they would not have wanted to do their selling there.
The priests should not have allowed such things to be done; but
probably they got a share
