men to help, there was no threat of war and other nations were glad to trade needed materials and supplies. King Herod built a temple, or temple buildings, just before the time of Christ. It is recorded in the Bible as taking 46 years to construct. The book of John states, "The Jews then said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days" (John 2:20 NASB)? Whether this number includes any enlargements done by Herod is not certain since it is not mentioned in the Bible. This type of time frame for building construction is unheard of today, displaying how different construction actually was in Biblical times. There is no information in the Bible on the details of this temple although it is mentioned a few times in passing. Jesus' disciples mention how massive it was and well adorned with beautiful stones, "As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!" [2] And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down" (Mark 13:1-3 NASB). Since this verse refers to numerous buildings, it is logical to assume that it took 46 years to construct all of the buildings in the temple area. In the early Biblical period most buildings only took about 4 to 13 years to construct. It is very unlikely that the reference to Herod's temple stating that it took 46 years to build did not also include some other temple buildings as it states in the book of Mark, chapter 13. The construction schedules in Biblical times are vastly different from current construction schedules. Using two of the four buildings to determine how long buildings took on average in the Biblical period gives some idea as to how many square feet could be built in a year. The average comes to 1840 square feet per year. The range starts at 1142 square feet per year for Solomon's temple to 2538 square feet per year for Solomon's personal house. An exact number