The preceding chapter gave us the surroundings of the temple; we now come to the temple itself. The door is its first feature. How reassuring that God should put entrance before us right away. Then comes the measurement of “the most holy place” (Ezek. 45:3) and an elaborate description of the “many mansions” for the priests, such as were referred to in reference to the temple of that day by our Lord in John 14:2.
The holiest of all was foursquare, so was the temple as a whole, answering on the earthly side to the heavenly city when we read, “And the city lieth foursquare” (Rev. 21:16).
The whole sanctuary, including courts and outer wall, was five hundred reeds square, or a little over one mile square.