Matthew 24:1-51

The Destruction of Jerusalem and the End of the World Foretold

1. Jesus went out] RV 'Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way, and his disciples,' etc.

The buildings] The magnificent buildings, a mass of marble and gold, were not yet finished (see John 2:20). The rabbis said, 'He who has not seen the temple of Herod, has never seen a beautiful building. The sanctuary was made of green and white marble... Herod intended to have the building covered with gold, but the rabbis dissuaded him, saying that it was sufficiently beautiful as it was, for it appeared like the waves of the sea.' Josephus says, 'The front of the temple was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and at the first rising of the sun reflected back a fiery splendour, etc... The temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow, for those parts of it which were not gilt were exceedingly white. Of its stones some were 45 cubits in length, 5 in height, and 6 in breadth.' (A cubit = 18 in.)