Destruction of the Temple Foretold: Matthew 24:1-2
“1) Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2) And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”” Matthew 24:1-2
This is an unfortunate place for a chapter division. The eight Woes that Jesus pronounced on the Scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:13-39 were directly connected to His prophecy of the destruction of the temple in Matthew 24:2.
And so it happened. Let me quote from Barns Notes on the New Testament. He does an exceptional job of expounding this history. “The buildings of the temple. The temple itself, with the surrounding courts, porches, and other edifices. See Barnes ” :”. Mark says, that they particularly pointed out the stones of the temple, as well as the buildings. “In that temple,” says Josephus, the Jewish historian, “were several stones which were forty-five cubits in length, five in height, and sixth in breadth;” that is, more than seventy feet long, ten wide, and eight high. These stones, of such enormous size, were principally used in building the high wall on the east side, from the base to the top of the mountain. They were also, it is said, beautifully painted with variegated colours.
There shall not be left here one stone upon another. At the time this was spoken, no event was more improbable than this. The temple was vast, rich, splendid. It was the pride of the nation, and the nation was at peace. Yet in the short space of forty years all this was exactly accomplished. Jerusalem was taken by the Roman armies, under the command of Titus, x. D. 70. The account of the siege and destruction of the city is left us by Josephus, an historian of undoubted veracity and singular fidelity. He was a Jewish priest. In the wars of which he gives an account, he fell into the hands of the Romans, and remained with them during the siege and destruction of the city. Being a Jew, he would of course say nothing designed to confirm the prophecies of Jesus Christ. Yet his whole history appears-almost like a running commentary on these predictions respecting the destruction of the temple. The following particulars are given on his authority:
After the city was taken, Josephus says that Titus “gave orders that they should now demolish the whole city and temple, except three towers, which he reserved standing. But for the rest of the wall, it was laid so completely even with the ground by those who dug it up from the foundation, that there was nothing left to make those believe who came hither that it had ever been inhabited.” Maimonides, a Jewish writer, has also recorded that “Terentius Rufus, an officer in the army of Titus, with a ploughshare tore up the foundations of the temple,” that the prophecy might be fulfilled, “Zion shall be ploughed as a field,” Micah 3:12. This was all done by the direction of Divine Providence. Titus was desirous of preserving the temple; and frequently sent Josephus to the Jews to induce them to surrender and save the temple and city. But the prediction of the Saviour had gone forth; and, notwithstanding the wish of the Roman general, the temple was to be destroyed. The Jews themselves first set fire to the porticoes of the temple. One of the Roman soldiers, without any command, threw a burning firebrand into the golden window, and soon the temple was in flames. Titus gave orders to extinguish the fire; but, amidst the tumult, none of his orders were obeyed. The soldiers pressed to the temple, and neither fear, nor entreaties, nor stripes, could restrain them. Their hatred of the Jews urged them on to the work of destruction; and thus, says Josephus, the temple was burnt against the will of Caesar.–Jewish Wars, book vi., chap. iv. 5, 6, 7.”
Quoted from Barns Notes on the New Testament
