Ezra 3:12

12. Ancient men, that had seen the first house So not a few of the returned exiles were the same persons whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried captive more than half a century before.

When the foundation of this house was laid The Masoretic accent, and most natural grammatical construction of the Hebrew text, would require us to render thus Had seen the first house when its foundation was laid. But none of these ancient men could have been so old as to have witnessed the laying of the foundation of the first temple nearly five hundred years before, and hence some take יסד here in the sense of standing upon its foundation. The word, however, has nowhere else such a meaning, and it seems therefore better to disregard the accent, and construe ביסדו with what follows, as is done in our common version. Literally, then, the Hebrew reads: In its being founded this house before their eyes. Maurer refers the Hebrew suffix to Zerubbabel when he (Zerubbabel) laid the foundation of this house; but as he is not mentioned in the context, it is better to translate the passage impersonally, and the common version can hardly be improved.

When the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes When they witnessed the founding of this second temple the old men wept with a loud voice at the remembrance of the desolation of former glory, while others shouted aloud for joy in the strong hope and prospect of the restoration or former glory. Here, says Wordsworth, “is an apt emblem of every thing, however joyous, which is done in the Church militant on earth. Her march of victory is through a vale of tears; her restorations are memorials of sins which have caused the destruction of that which had been dissolved. Even when she celebrates the glories of the incarnation of Christ, who made our nature to be a temple of the Godhead, she may not forget to weep for the ruin into which the temple of that nature fell by sin.”