“And he cast out all them that sold and bought.” It should be known that in obedience to the Law, in the Temple of the Lord venerated throughout the whole world, and resorted to by Jews out of every quarter, innumerable victims were sacrificed, especially on festival days, bulls, rams, goats; the poor offering young pigeons and turtle-doves, that they might not omit all sacrifice. But it would happen that those who came from a distance would have no victim.
The Priests therefore contrived a plan for making a gain out of the people, selling to such as had no victim the animals which they had need of for sacrifice, and themselves receiving them back again as soon as sold. But this fraudulent practice was often defeated by the poverty of the visitors, who lacking means had neither victims, nor whence to purchase them. They therefore appointed bankers who might lend to them under a bond. But because the Law forbade usury, and money lent without interest was profitless, besides sometimes a loss of the principal, they bethought themselves of another scheme; instead of bankers they appointed ‘collybistae,’ a word for which the Latin has no equivalent.
[ed. note: “ St. Jerome here gives a different sense of the word, from what is commonly received among ancient writers. Hesychius, as far as I know, is the only one who agrees with him, and he interprets “collyba”, sweetmeats. At the same time Hesychius himself makes its proper sense to be “a kind of coin, with an ox stamped on the brass.” Pollux and Suidas and others agree with this interpretation, so far as to make the word stand for a small coin. Hence Collybists were those who gave change in small coin. Origen too, to whom St. Jerome is indebted for a great part of his exposition, understands by Collybists those who change good coin for bad, to the injury of those who employ them.” Vallars, in loc.]
Sweetmeats and other trifling presents they called ‘collyba,’ such, for example, as parched pulse, raisins, and apples of divers sorts. As then they could not take usury, they accepted the value in kind, taking things that are bought with money, as if this was not what Ezekiel preached of, saying, “Ye shall not receive usury nor increase.” [Ezek 18:17] This kind of traffic, or cheating rather, the Lord seeing in His Father’s house, and moved thereat with spiritual zeal, cast out of the Temple this great multitude of men.
Reproduced in full. Translation: Oxford 1841 (Newman), public domain (Public domain).