Mark 13:1

This discourse evidently followed Jesus’ departure from the temple on Wednesday with His disciples. The stones that caught the disciple’s eye were probably those above the floor of the temple courtyard. Herod the Great had enlarged the temple esplanade and supported it with huge foundation stones. At the southeast corner, the temple complex rose about 200 feet above the Kidron Valley below. Some of these stones are still in place. In view of what Jesus predicted and what happened, the disciples apparently referred to the stones of the buildings and porches, not the foundation stones. The colonnades that surrounded the temple courtyard were also very beautiful. The whole temple complex was magnificent. [Note: See Josephus, Antiquities of . . ., 15:11:3-7; and Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, ch. 2.] Mark probably called attention to the stones in view of what Jesus would say about them (Mark 13:2).