The first temple in Jerusalem was built by King Solomon, son of King David. Before his death David had "with all his might" provided materials in great abundance for the building of the temple on the summit of Mount Moriah (1Chronicles 22:14, 29:4; 2Chronicles 3:1), on the east of the city, on the spot where Abraham had offered up Isaac (Genesis 22:1-14).
The first temple was burned, pillaged and destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (2Kings 24:13; 2Chronicles 36:7), who carried all the temple's treasures with him to Babylon.
What is known as the second temple was built in the same location as the first temple. The foundations of the second temple were laid about 535 B.C. by Jewish exiles returning from captivity in Babylon. When Herod the Great became king of Judea the second temple had stood for about five hundred years. The building had suffered considerably from natural decay over the years as well as from the assaults of hostile armies, and Herod, desirous of gaining the favor of the Jews, proposed to rebuild it. This offer was accepted, and the work was begun (18 B.C.), and carried out at great labor and expense, and on a scale of surpassing splendor. The main part of the building was completed in ten years, but the erection of the outer courts and the embellishment of the whole were carried on during the entire period of Jesus' life on earth (John 2:16, John 2:19-21). The temple was completed in A.D. 65.
The temple, however, was not long permitted to exist. The Roman legions took the city of Jerusalem by storm, and notwithstanding the strenuous efforts Titus made to preserve the temple, his soldiers set fire to it in several places and it was utterly destroyed in 70 A.D.
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