“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.”
(Matthew 24:1, KJV)
“Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.”
(Matthew 24:1, ESV)
Table of Contents
- Matthew 24:1 Meaning – Summary
- Matthew 24:1 Meaning – Jesus went out, and departed
- Matthew 24:1 Meaning – The Temple
- Matthew 24:1 Meaning – His Disciples Came to Him to Show Him the Buildings of the Temple
Matthew 24:1 Meaning – Summary
The disciples, moved at Christ’s words, do regrate [regret] in a manner the
destruction of such building.It is a hard thing to yield our minds to the Lord when he threatens to overthrow such things as we esteem much of in the world, as to destroy potent people, to plague a visible Church and such like, as here the disciples show to him the buildings of the temple, as it were pitying that it should be destroyed.
Dickson, David – A Brief Exposition of the Evangel of Jesus Christ According to Matthew (1651
And – of the temple. When they heard: Behold, your house is left to you desolate, they wondered if this temple was to be desolate: and therefore they came to show him the structures of the temple as if they were to be admired.
Euthymius Zigabenos
Matthew 24:1 Meaning – Jesus went out, and departed
The clause ‘from the temple’ stands in the Greek (The earliest MSS. and nearly all the early versions give this order, and the internal probabilities are at least not against it; so there need be no question.) between the participle rendered ‘went out’ and the verb ‘was going,’ and could be connected with the latter, as in Com. Version [KJV], but is more naturally connected with the former, as in Revised Version. The preposition ‘from’ makes the temple the point of departure; the other expression, ‘going out,’ shows distinctly that he had been in the temple, which would be plain from the nature of the case. (Compare on Matthew 3:16.)
Broadus, John – Commentary on Matthew (1886)
Matthew 24:1 Meaning – The Temple
The temple is here hieron, the general sacred enclosure, see on Matthew 4:5.
Jesus went into the Court of the Gentiles and the Court of Israel, but never into the central building (naos) and the surrounding Court of the Priests. (Compare on Matthew 21:12.)
Broadus, John – Commentary on Matthew (1886)
Matthew 24:1 Meaning – His Disciples Came to Him to Show Him the Buildings of the Temple
Was going on his way (Revised Version), doubtless returning towards Bethany, whence he had come that morning (Matthew 21:17f.; Luke 21:37); and the disciples interrupted his progress to show him the buildings of the temple (hieron).
In Mark 13:2 they are expressly called ‘great buildings,’ and in Mark and Luke special attention is directed to the vast “stones” employed.
Josephus says (“Antiquities,” 15, 11, 3) that Herod built the sanctuary (naos} of stones that were “white and strong,” probably meaning a hard variety of white limestone still much used in Palestine, and that they were about twenty-five cubits long, eight in height, and twelve in breadth, or in our feet about forty by twelve by twenty, which is even larger than the stones now found in the southern angles of Herod the Great’s outer wall. (See on Matthew 21:42.)
Broadus, John – Commentary on Matthew (1886)
So Herod took away the old foundations, and laid others, and erected the temple upon them: being in length an hundred cubits; and in height twenty additional cubits: which [twenty], upon the sinking of their foundations, fell down. And this part it was that we resolved to raise again in the days of Nero. Now the temple was built of stones that were white and strong: and each of their length was twenty-five cubits; their height was eight, and their breadth about twelve. …
Josephus, Antiquities 15.11.3
In “Wars,” 5, 5, 6, Josephus even says that some of the stones were forty-five cubits long (eighty-five feet).
Broadus, John – Commentary on Matthew (1886)
Now the outward face of the temple in its front wanted nothing that was likely to surprize either mens minds, or their eyes. For it was covered all over with plates of gold, of great weight: and at the first rising of the sun reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it, to turn their eyes away: just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays. But this temple appeared to strangers, when they were coming to it at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow. For as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding white. … Of its stones some of them were forty five cubits in length, five in height, and six in breadth. …
Josephus, Antiquities 5.5.6
Doubtless the inner walls also, and pillars of the colonnades (see on Matthew 21:12), presented very large and ‘beautiful’ stones. (Luke 21:5, Bib. un. ver.) It is doubtful whether any other pile of sacred buildings on earth has been so vast or to contemporaries so imposing as Herod’s temple.
Talmud Bab. says : “He that never saw the temple of Herod, never saw a fine building.”
Broadus, John – Commentary on Matthew (1886)
“He that never saw the Temple of Herod never saw a fine building. What was it built of? Rabba saith, Of white and green marble. But some say, Of white, green, and spotted marble. He made the laver to sink and to rise” (that is, the walls were built winding in and out, or indented after the manner of waves), “being thus fitted to receive the plaster, which he intended to lay on; but the Rabbins said to him, ‘O let it continue, for it is very beautiful to behold: for it is like the waves of the sea’: and Bava Ben Buta made it so,” &c. See there the story of Bava Ben Buta and Herod consulting about the rebuilding of the temple.
Lightfoot, J.B., From the Talmud and Hebraica
Luke’s other expression, ‘the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and offerings’ (Bib. Un. Ver.), recalls Josephus’ statement that “fastened all around the temple (hieron) were barbaric spoils, and all these King Herod offered up, adding whatever he took from the Arabians also.” (Comp. Revelation 21:26.)
Broadus, John – Commentary on Matthew (1886)
… And round about the intire temple were fixed the spoils taken from barbarous nations. All these had been dedicated to the temple by Herod; with the addition of those he had taken from the Arabians.
Josephus, Antiquities Book XV, Chapter 11, Paragraph 3
There were doubtless also many votive tablets, and other beautiful objects offered by the people, to adorn all the courts and colonnades, as well as the central sacred building. Tacitus says (“Hist.,” V., 8, 12), that it was “a temple of immense wealth,” and so constructed as to be “an excellent fortress.”
Broadus, John – Commentary on Matthew (1886)
A great part of Judea is covered with scattered villages, but there are some towns also; Jerusalem is the capital of the Jews. In it was a temple possessing enormous riches. …
Tacitus, Histories Book V, Paragraph 8
Our Lord seems to have been outside of the temple when his attention was called by the disciples, but this does not show that they were observing only the stones of the outer wall, for the central building rose high above the outer court and its wall, and was visible to a great distance, as Josephus states. (“Ant.,” 15, 11, 3.)
Broadus, John – Commentary on Matthew (1886)
