Page:As others saw Him.djvu/143

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THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.
137

again were agreeable to this, for none that had not the favor could sell the Paschal lambs. Whence it was that the price of a lamb in the Paschal week was more than three times as much as at any time of the year, and the poorer people murmured greatly.

Thus it happened that upon this day, when Jesus came into the courts of the Temple, these were crowded with all the householders of Jerusalem, and much chaffering and haggling was going on in the purchase of the lambs for the Passover. But Jesus, with the favor he had won from the people, was for this day at least Ruler of Jerusalem, and men wondered what he would do with regard to this sale and purchase of the beasts of sacrifice; for on his first coming to Jerusalem, as I have told thee, he had driven the sellers away, but afterwards, when they had been restored to their places, he had seemed to acquiesce. What would he do now, men thought, as they saw him advancing over the Xystus Bridge, the head of a vast concourse of people who would do all that he told them?