Maccabees at Modin (1 Macc. xiii. 27, and following).]

[Footnote 3: Matt. xxiii. 27, 29, xxiv. 1, and following; Mark xiii.
1, and following; Luke xix. 44, xxi. 5, and following. Compare _Book
of Enoch_, xcvii. 13, 14; Talmud of Babylon, _Shabbath_, 33 _b_.]

The temple, at the time of Jesus, was quite new, and the exterior
works of it were not completed. Herod had begun its reconstruction in
the year 20 or 21 before the Christian era, in order to make it
uniform with his other edifices. The body of the temple was finished
in eighteen months; the porticos took eight years;[1] and the
accessory portions were continued slowly, and were only finished a
short time before the taking of Jerusalem.[2] Jesus probably saw the
work progressing, not without a degree of secret vexation. These hopes
of a long future were like an insult to his approaching advent.
Clearer-sighted than the unbelievers and the fanatics, he foresaw that
these superb edifices were destined to endure but for a short time.[3]

[Footnote 1: Jos., _Ant._, XV. xi. 5, 6.]

[Footnote 2: Jos., _Ant._, XX. ix. 7; John ii. 20.]

[Footnote 3: Matt. xxiv. 2, xxvi. 61, xxvii. 40; Mark xiii. 2, xiv.
58, xv. 29; Luke xxi. 6; John ii. 19, 20.]

The temple formed a marvelously imposing whole, of which the present
_haram_,[1] notwithstanding its beauty, scarcely gives us any idea.
The courts and the surrounding porticos served as the daily rendezvous
for a considerable number of persons--so much so, that this great
space was at once temple, forum, tribunal, and university. All the
religious discussions of the Jewish schools, all the canonical
instruction, even the legal processes and civil causes--in a word, all
the activity of the nation was concentrated there.[2] It was an arena
where arguments were perpetually clashing, a battlefield of disputes,
resounding with sophisms and subtle questions. The temple had thus
much analogy with a Mahometan mosque. The Romans at this period
treated all strange religions with respect, when kept within proper
limits,[3] and carefully refrained from entering the sanctuary; Greek
and Latin inscriptions marked the point up to which those who were not
Jews were permitted to advance.[4] But the tower of Antonia, the
headquarters of the Roman forces, commanded the whole enclosure, and
allowed all that passed therein to be seen.[5] The guarding of the
temple belonged to the Jews; the entire superintendence was committed
to a captain, who