Had seen the first house; which divers of them might very well do, because it was destroyed not quite sixty years ago, as is manifest from 2Ki 25 2Ch 36 Eze 40:1. Wept with a loud voice; partly, because of the poor and small preparations made for this in comparison of what was made for the other temple; partly, because this temple was divested and destitute of those things which were the principal glory of the former temple, to wit, the ark, and the Urim and Thummim, &c.; partly, because these foundation stones were far inferior to the former, both for quantity and price, 1 Kings 7:9,10; and partly, because these foundations were of a far narrower compass than the former; for although the foundations of this house of the Lord, strictly so called, were at least of equal largeness with those of the former, by comparing 1 Kings 6:2, and Ezra 6:1-3; yet the foundations of the whole building belonging to the first temple, and adjoining to it, or in the courts of it, were far larger than these.
Related Commentaries of Ezra 3:12
Ezra 3:12
12 But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: