In the first year of Cyrus the king; the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be builded,.... See Ezr 1:1,the place where they offered sacrifices; to God in times past, ever since it was built by Solomon:and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; so as to bear and support the building erected on them, as the word signifies:the height thereof sixty cubits; which were thirty more than the height of Solomon's temple, 1Ki 6:2 though sixty less than the height of the porch, which was one hundred and twenty, 2Ch 3:4 and which some take to be the height of the whole house; and hence it may be observed what Herod said , that the temple then in being wanted sixty cubits in height of that of Solomon's:and the breadth thereof sixty cubits; whereas the breadth of Solomon's temple was but twenty, 1Ki 6:2, but since it cannot reasonably be thought that the breadth should be equal to the height, and so very disproportionate to Solomon's temple; many learned men understand this of the extension of it as to length, which exactly agrees with the length of the former temple, 1Ki 6:2.
Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 15. c. 11. sect.