The first story is in Book 22 of Homer's The Odyssey , while the second is in Chapter 11 of Mark . Odysseus went into his house to drive away those who are occupying his home. He began to drive out the people who were buying and selling in the temple. Tables are kicked over. Hero refers to the thievery that goes on in his house.
Invaders become fearful.
Reference to killing hero. They wanted to find some way to kill him. No foundation is laid for such an accusation, and merchants obviously provided an important service or else the priests wouldn't have allowed them to do business in the temple. MacDonald implies it was because the usurpers of Odysseus's house were stealing from him, so in borrowing that story from Homer, Mark allowed Jesus to say that the merchants in his house were stealing, too, expecting his readers would read into his Jesus fable background information from the Odyssean tale. Thus, Mark seems here to be more concerned with constructing a parable which would evoke memories of the fictional Homeric tale than he was historical accuracy.