The dimensions of the temple in Ezra 6:3 are larger than the dimensions of the temple of Solomon, which was only sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and thirty cubits high (1 Kings 6:2).1 The new temple would be twice as high and three times as wide as the temple of Solomon. It would thus be six times larger. Perhaps Cyrus wanted the glory of this new temple to surpass the glory of Solomon’s but the Jews were content to keep the same dimensions as Solomon’s temple.
3 In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be sixty cubits and its breadth sixty cubits,