The External Dimensions of the Temple Area (Ezekiel 42:15-20).
‘Now when he had finished measuring the inner house he brought me out by way of the gate whose prospect is towards the east, and measured it round about. He measured on the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about. He measured on the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. He measured on the south side, five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. He measured it on the four sides.'
Finally the heavenly visitant measured outside the temple. Note here that ‘the inner house' probably means the whole temple complex. The use of ‘inner' can vary depending on where the person is starting from.
The whole is stated in the Hebrew to be 500 reeds by 500 reeds. The measuring reed was six long cubits (Ezekiel 40:5) which would make this an excessive amount (3,000 cubits by 3,000 cubits) if it referred to the outer wall of the temple (500 cubits by 500 hundred cubits). But it may in fact be the measurement which includes a space of separation, the part of the surrounding area which had to be set apart to separate the common from the holy (compare Ezekiel 43:12 where it says, ‘the whole limit around it (the temple) will be most holy'). Such a space of separation is found in Joshua 3:4, where the people were not allowed to come within two thousand cubits of the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh; in Exodus 19:12 where a bound was set away from the holy mount which people must not cross; and in Numbers 35:4-5 where such an area was set apart round Levitical cities. It is enlarged in this case to demonstrate the added holiness of this temple. Some have suggested a further wall built to enclose this area.