In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, Jesus spoke this discourse to his disciples privately on the Mount of Olives,[6] opposite the Temple. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus taught over a period of time in the Temple and stayed at night on the Mount of Olives.[7] The discourse is widely believed by scholars to contain material delivered on a variety of occasions.[4] The setting on the Mount of Olives echoes a passage in the Book of Zechariah which refers to the location as the place where a final battle would occur between the Jewish Messiah and his opponents.
