The statement of Jesus regarding Jerusalem's stoning the prophets is revealing. According to tradition, Isaiah was sawn asunder. There probably is in this statement a knowledge on the part of Jesus that official Jerusalem would execute Him. Jesus exclaims that He often would have gathered scattered Israel as a hen does her chickens, but they willed not. If the leaders of Israel had accepted Him, He would have, during His personal ministry, gathered them to the homeland, but they willed not that He should do so.
Some expositors think that it refers to the temple.
This surmise is possible. This second interpretation is also possible, for the literal building of the Sanhedrin was destroyed, and the Sanhedrin itself soon ceased as an institution. Even so, Amen. Jesus came in the name of the Lord, and the leaders of Israel rejected Him-without proper investigation concerning His claims. He will come again in the name of the Lord, according to Psalm 118.