Of all the great works executed by this King, the most important for several reasons was the Temple of Jerusalem. In the eighteenth year of his reign he convoked a national assembly, and set before them the necessity of rebuilding it, giving as his chief reason that, at the time of its restoration by Zerubbabel, it had not been made of the proper dimensions or on the right plan. No doubt a house, raised five centuries before, by a poor colony, with funds supplied by the King of Persia, must have had a paltry appearance, contrasted with the magnificent buildings erected by Herod in the highest style of Grecian art. The Jews hesitated to consent to his scheme, fearing that after he had demolished the old Temple, he might be unable or unwilling to finish the new. He reassured them by promising not to begin to pull it down, until he had collected all the materials required for so great an undertaking. He kept his word; two years were spent in preparation[234]; the sanctuary itself was completed in eighteen months, and the courts and their cloisters in eight years; but the works in the outer buildings were carried on for a much longer time[235]. This wonderful pile rose upon the summit of Moriah, now enlarged by the labours of many centuries, and surrounded by solid walls and deep valleys, more like an impregnable fortress than a house of prayer; therefore the Apostles, beholding with wonder the huge blocks of stone, bound with clamps of lead and iron into a mass as firm as the rock itself, said one day to our Saviour, "Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" The truth of His reply may still be seen at the place itself[236].