‘And Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way, and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.'
We are probably to see here the idea that Jesus is leaving the Temple for the last time. Like the Scribes and Pharisees it too has rejected Him. Nothing now remains but the working out of that rejection. Thus we can understand why, when His disciples drew His attention to the grandeur and beauty of the Temple He was unimpressed. Had they but realised it the Temple of His body was now far more important (John 2:19; John 2:21; compare Matthew 12:6).
It is difficult to overstress humanly speaking the splendour of the Temple. It was a huge edifice built on top of the Temple mount. The building of it commenced in 19 BC and the main structure was completed within ten years, but the finishing touches went on and were still in progress at this time, not being completed until 64 AD (just in time for its destruction). It was enclosed by a wall of massive stone blocks, each block on average about 1 metre high and five metres long. The front of the Temple was covered in gold plating that shone brilliantly in the sun, and its stones were of glistening white marble. There were stones in the Temple measuring 20 metres by Matthew 2:5 metres by 2.25 metres (68 feet by 9 feet by 7.5 feet), while the Temple area itself was about 450 metres (1450 feet) by 300 metres (950 feet). All was on a vast scale. The large outer court, the Court of the Gentiles, which surrounded the inner courts and the Sanctuary on three sides, was surrounded by porticoes built on huge pillars. It was in these colonnades that Rabbis held their schools and debates (Luke 2:46), and the Temple trading took place (Matthew 11:15). It would be here that the early church came together for worship (Luke 24:53; Acts 2:1; Acts 2:46; Acts 3:11; Acts 4:1 etc).
Steps leading up to the first inner court, the court of the women, demonstrate that that court was at a higher level than the outer court. The court of the women was surrounded by balustrades on which were posted the signs warning death to any Gentile who trespassed within. (Two of these inscriptions have in fact been dug up). Beyond this balustrade was the Court of the Women, through which men had to go to reach the court of Israel, and in which were found the thirteen ‘trumpets' for collection of funds for the Treasury. A further court, raised above the court of the women, and reached by further steps, was the Court of Israel which was for the men of Israel, and beyond that again was the Priests' Court which contained the great Altar built of unhewn stone, where offerings and sacrifices were offered.
Within that Court, raised above all and up further steps, was the holy shrine itself, entered through a porch that was 100 cubits high and 100 cubits wide (a cubit was 44.45 centimetres or 17.5 inches). The doorway that gave entry was 40 cubits high (seventeen metres or around sixty feet) and 20 cubits wide, and another door, half the size, led into the Holy Place. The Holy Place was 40 cubits long and 20 cubits wide, and separated from the Most Holy Place by doors over which hung a curtain (the veil). The Most Holy Place was 20 cubits square and 40 cubits high. But the height of the sanctuary was increased by an additional empty room above it which raised the height of the whole to 100 cubits.
Josephus described the holy shrine and its magnificence thus. ‘Now the outward face of the Temple in its front wanted nothing that was likely to surprise men's 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 splendour, and made those who forced themselves to look on it 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 at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow, for as to those parts of it which were not gold they were exceeding white.' Some of these great white stones have been unearthed within the past few years.
This was the magnificence that so drew the attention of the disciples as they left the Temple, and then later as they gazed at it from the Mount of Olives. They had seen it before but they had never ceased to marvel at its massiveness and splendour, and as they were walking away from it as the sun went down they seemingly turned to survey it and were again struck by the sight of it and began to discuss its marvellous stonework of massive white stones, and the glistening gold of the offerings made by Herod and others that shone in the setting sun. It drew a sense of wonder from their hearts. These gifts had been made by great and powerful men, and they never ceased being filled with awe at them, while the Temple was so solid that it seemed to them eternal, and to them it represented the heart of Judaism. But Jesus saw it all totally differently, for He knew it all for what it was.