Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 24:2

"But he answered and said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." — Matthew 24:2 (ASV)

There shall not be left here one stone upon another. When this was spoken, no event was more improbable than this. The temple was vast, rich, and splendid. It was the pride of the nation, and the nation was at peace. Yet within forty years, all this was exactly accomplished.

Jerusalem was taken by the Roman armies under the command of Titus in AD 70. The account of the siege and destruction of the city has been left to us by Josephus, an historian of unquestionable truthfulness and remarkable faithfulness. He was a Jewish priest. In the wars he describes, he fell into the hands of the Romans and remained with them during the siege and destruction of the city. Being a Jew, he would naturally say nothing intended to confirm the prophecies of Jesus Christ. Yet his whole history appears almost like a running commentary on these predictions concerning the destruction of the temple. The following details are given on his authority:

After the city was taken, Josephus says that Titus "gave orders that they should now demolish the whole city and temple, except three towers, which he left standing. But for the rest of the wall, it was leveled so completely with the ground by those who dug it up from the foundations, that there was nothing left to make those who came there believe that it had ever been inhabited." Maimonides, a Jewish writer, has also recorded that "Terentius Rufus, an officer in the army of Titus, with a ploughshare tore up the foundations of the temple," so that the prophecy might be fulfilled, Zion shall be ploughed as a field (Micah 3:12).

This was all done by the direction of Divine Providence. Titus desired to preserve the temple and frequently sent Josephus to the Jews to persuade them to surrender and save the temple and city. But the Savior's prediction had been proclaimed; and, despite the Roman general's wish, the temple was to be destroyed.

The Jews themselves first set fire to the porticoes of the temple. One of the Roman soldiers, without any command, threw a burning firebrand into the golden window, and soon the temple was in flames. Titus gave orders to extinguish the fire; but, amid the tumult, none of his orders were obeyed.

The soldiers pressed toward the temple, and neither fear, nor pleas, nor beatings could restrain them. Their hatred of the Jews urged them on to the work of destruction; and so, Josephus says, the temple was burned against Caesar's will.—Jewish Wars, Book VI, Chapter IV, sections 5-7.