The building of the temple was begun in 19 B. C.; it was finished and dedicated in 17 B. C.
129
Where did Jesus deliver his so-called Sermon on the Mount?
Matthew: “He went up into a mountain” ([v, 1]).
Luke: “He came down with them, and stood in the plain” ([vi, 17]).
Both Matthew and Luke represent him as being on a mountain; but while Matthew has him go up into the mountain to deliver his sermon, Luke has him come down out of the mountain to deliver it.
In regard to this discrepancy, the Dutch theologian, Dr. Hooykaas, says: “The Evangelist [Matthew] had a special motive for fixing upon a mountain for this purpose. He intended to represent Jesus laying down the fundamental laws of the kingdom of heaven as the counterpart of Moses who promulgated the constitution of the Old Covenant from Mount Sinai. Luke, on the other hand, not wishing Jesus to be regarded as a second Moses, or another lawgiver, just as deliberately makes the Master deliver this discourse on a plain” (Bible for Learners, Vol. III, p. 141, 142).