[Charles Henrickson]

As I recall the FIRST Temple was destroyed about 786BC by The Caldeans (Persians). The Second Temple was built 70 years later the remains of which are visible in the wailing wall. could someone verivy?

The first temple was completed by King Solomon around 960 B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. After the Babylonian Captivity, the second temple was built, under Zerubbabel's leadership, and dedicated in 516 B.C. That temple was renovated and expanded by Herod the Great, starting around 20 B.C. The temple was destroyed finally by the Romans, under Genreal Titus, in A.D. 70. It has never been rebuilt. All that remains are some stones visible in the Western ("Wailing") Wall.

[Ancesthntr]

FYI, the Western Wall (also called the "Wailing Wall") was not part of the 2nd Temple or the Temple complex itself. When Herod's workers/slaves expanded the Temple complex, his engineers found that expanding the upper portion would require the reinforcement of the mountain, in order to make certain that all of that additional earth (and the buildings on top) didn't collapse due to lack of support.

This small portion of the retaining wall around the entire Temple complex has been revered by Jews for nearly 2 millenia because a) it is all that is left; and b) a portion of the Wall is the closest that one can come to where the Holy of Holies (which, in the First Temple, is where the Ark of the Covenant rested) is believed to have been.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Am I correct that the reason the Romans tore apart the stones of the Temple, as Jesus predicted would happen, was in order to retrieve the gold which had melted and run down between the stones when they burnt it?