Description
According to Josephus, Herod’s Temple looked like a snow-clad mountain, for all that was not overlaid with gold was of the purest white and it lacked nothing that could astound either mind or eye. When the sun rose in the east, its fiery reflection blinded the people who watched the Temple from the Mount of Olives.
No wonder that some of Jesus’ disciples remarked “how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God” (Matthew 24.1; Luke 21.5).