John 2:17

The outstanding impression that Jesus’ acts presented to His disciples was one of zeal for the proper use of the temple and ultimately for God’s glory. They may have recalled Psalms 69:9 then, or they may have thought of it later. John’s description does not make this clear. This is the third most frequently quoted Psalm in the New Testament (cf. John 7:3-5; John 15:25; Matthew 27:34; Matthew 27:48; Romans 11:9-10; Romans 15:3). [Note: Cf. Bernard, 1:91.] In Psalms 69:9 David meant that zeal for the building of the temple had dominated his thoughts and actions, and he implied that others had criticized him for it. John changed the quotation from the past to the future tense implying that it was a prophecy concerning David’s great Son. He undoubtedly saw it as such. However, was he not misquoting the verse?

The Hebrew language does not have past, present, and future tenses as English does. It has a perfect tense indicating complete action and an imperfect tense indicating incomplete action. In Psalms 69:9 the tense of the Hebrew verb is perfect. One can translate a Hebrew perfect tense with an English past, present, or future tense depending on the context. Here an English past tense was appropriate for David’s statement about himself, but the Hebrew also permits an English future tense that is appropriate for Messiah, the so-called prophetic perfect tense.

"We should not miss the way this incident fits in with John’s aim of showing Jesus to be the Messiah. All his actions imply a special relationship with God. They proceed from his messianic vocation. The citation from Scripture is important from another point of view, for it accords with another habit of this Evangelist. While John does not quote the Old Testament as frequently as do some other New Testament writers, it is still the case, as Richard Morgan says, that ’the Old Testament is present at every crucial moment in the Gospel.’ It is one of John’s great themes that in Jesus God is working his purposes out. Every critical moment sees the fulfillment of Scripture in which those purposes are set forth." [Note: Morris, p. 172.]

"When Jesus cleansed the temple, He ’declared war’ on the hypocritical religious leaders (Matthew 23), and this ultimately led to His death. Indeed, His zeal for God’s house did eat Him up!" [Note: Wiersbe, 1:292-93.]