What did the poor people in Jerusalem have to do to fulfill the demands of their religion?
Because they could not afford a lamb from the Judean hills, the poor in Jerusalem had to purchase some kind of sacrifice, such as a turtle dove or imperfect lamb, at whatever price the temple marketplace charged, in order to fulfill the demands of their religion.
Les explains that the poor people living in the small alleys and huts of Jerusalem could not afford to go out to the Judean hills, buy a nice beautiful lamb, and bring it to the temple. They had to buy some kind of sacrifice for a peon's wage in order to fulfill the demands of their religion. The religious leaders set up a marketplace and charged inflated prices for whatever these poor people had to have, whether a turtle dove or a little lamb that had something wrong with it. God required a lamb without blemish, but these rascals took advantage of the poor, selling them off-scouring and charging bloated prices.