he arbitrary monarch might abandon
his plan and the people would be left without a temple. To allay these
fears the king proceeded to reconstruct and restore the old edifice,
part by part, directing the work so that at no time was the temple
service seriously interrupted. So little of the ancient structure was
allowed to stand, however, that the temple of Herod must be regarded as
a new creation. The work was begun about sixteen years before the birth
of Christ; and while the Holy House itself was practically completed
within a year and a half, this part of the labor having been performed
by a body of one thousand priests specially trained for the purpose, the
temple area was a scene of uninterrupted building operations down to the
year 63 A.D. We read that in the time of Christ's ministry the temple
had been forty-six years in building; and at that time it was
unfinished.

"The Biblical record gives us little information regarding this the last
and the greatest of ancient temples; for what we know concerning it we
are indebted, mainly to Josephus, with some corroborative testimony
found in the Talmud. In all essentials the Holy House, or Temple proper,
was similar to the two earlier houses of sanctuary, though externally
far more elaborate and imposing than either; but in the matter of
surrounding courts and associated buildings, the Temple of Herod
preeminently excelled.... Yet its beauty and grandeur lay in
architectural excellence rather than in the sanctity of its worship or
in the manifestation of the Divine Presence within its walls. Its ritual
and service were largely man-prescribed; for while the letter of the
Mosaic Law was professedly observed, the law had been supplemented and
in many features supplanted by rule and priestly prescription. The Jews
professed to consider it holy, and by them it was proclaimed as the
House of the Lord. Devoid though it was of the divine accompaniments of
earlier shrines accepted of God, and defiled as it was by priestly
arrogance and usurpation, as also by the selfish interest of traffic and
trade, it was nevertheless recognized even by our Lord the Christ as His
Father's House. (Matt. 21:12; compare Mark 11:15; Luke 19:45.).... For
thirty 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,