Mark 13:1; And as he [Jesus] went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! Referring to the great temple in Jerusalem that was started in the year 2219 B.C. by Herod the Great. It became one of the wonders of the ancient world. It took over fifty years to construct. Herod the Great was never able to complete it himself. Herod the Great, as we have mentioned before, was fond of using great stones in his building projects. But according to Josephas, some of the greatest stones that he used in his building projects were used in the temple itself. Josephas records that some of the stones were forty-seven feet long, eight feet high and twelve feet thick. Now that seemed preposterous and just totally unreal, until recent archaeological excavations that have been going on along the Western Wall down at the southwest corner of the Western Wall, they have found these tremendous cornerstones that are about thirty-five feet long, about six feet high and eight feet thick. But then, as they were excavating along the Western Wall towards the fortress of Antonio, theyve come across a huge stone; its about forty-five feet long. I stood beside the thing. Its about ten feet thick and about eight feet tall. Almost as large as some of those that he used in the temple building itself. They estimate that these stones weigh up to four hundred tons. They still marvel at how they were able to hew out these stones, carve them so perfectly smooth, and then move them in place. How they actually got them into place is still a mystery; it is a matter of speculation. But theyre not really certain how in the world they could ever move such large stones and get them in place in a building. These stones are so perfectly hewn out that they did not need mortar between them; they just lie flat one on another. And even to the present day, with all of the erosion, you take a knife blade and you try to insert it between the stones, and theyre so perfectly carved you cant push a knife blade in. The dome of the building was then covered with sheets of gold. So that in looking at the building, it reflected that sun and you couldnt really look at it if you were in that angle where the sun would reflect and hit your eyes. Brilliant building. One of the marvels of the ancient world. So, as the disciples were coming out of the temple, they were noting these huge stones and this marvelous building that was constructed by Herod. At this point, having begun some twenty years before the birth of Christ, and Christ now being around thirty-three years old, take off the four years that they feel is an error in the calendar, and you get about forty-seven years in construction at this point. So, the building was pretty well completed. It only took another eighteen years to finish it.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 18:42:31 +0000
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