irty or more years after the
death of Christ, the Jews continued the work of adding to and
embellishing the temple buildings. The elaborate design conceived and
projected by Herod had been practically completed; the Temple was
well-nigh finished, and, as soon afterward appeared, was ready for
destruction. Its fate had been definitely foretold by the Savior
Himself. Commenting on a remark by one of the disciples concerning the
great stones and the splendid buildings on the Temple hill, Jesus had
said, 'Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one
stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.' (Mark 13:1, 2; see
also Matt. 24:1, 2; Luke 21:5, 6.) This dire prediction soon found its
literal fulfilment. In the great conflict with the Roman legions under
Titus, many of the Jews had taken refuge within the Temple courts,
seemingly hoping that there the Lord would again fight the battles of
His people and give them victory. But the protecting presence of Jehovah
had long since departed therefrom and Israel was left a prey to the foe.
Though Titus would have spared the Temple, his legionaries, maddened by
the lust of conflict, started the conflagration and everything that
could be burned was burned. The slaughter of the Jews was appalling;
thousands of men, women and children were ruthlessly butchered within
the walls, and the temple courts were literally flooded with human
blood. This event occurred in the year 70 A.D.; and according to
Josephus, in the same month and on the same day of the month as that on
which the once glorious Temple of Solomon had fallen a prey to the
flames kindled by the king of Babylon. (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, vi,
4:5, 8. For a detailed and graphic account of the destruction of the
Temple see chapters 4 and 5 in their entirety.) Of the Temple furniture
the golden candlestick and the table of shewbread from the Holy Place
were carried by Titus to Rome as trophies of war; and representations of
these sacred pieces are to be seen on the arch erected to the name of
the victorious general. Since the destruction of the splendid Temple of
Herod no other structure of the kind, no Temple, no House of the Lord as
the terms are used distinctively, has been reared on the eastern
hemisphere."--_The House of the Lord_, pp. 61, 62.

Josephus ascribes the destruction of the Temple of Herod to the anger of
God, and states that the devouring flames "took their rise from the Jews
themselves, an