“Adjoining the territory
Of Judah,
From the east side
To the west side,
Shall be the portion
That you shall set apart,
Twenty-five thousand cubits
In width.
In length,
It shall be equal
To one of the tribal portions,
From the east side
To the west side.
The sanctuary
Shall be in the middle of it.”
However, the similarity of Judah with the other tribes ends with the importance of the Temple sanctuary. Once again, there is a mention of east and west of Judah as in the earlier comments about the other tribal territories. However, the width of this sanctuary territory was 25,000 cubits, about 1,500 yards or a mile wide. The length was unspecified, which in itself is unusual. Nevertheless, it should be the size of one of the portions given to the other tribes. That could be very large. The sanctuary was to be right in the middle of this territory. Obviously, this was not part of the Joshua distribution, since there was no planned temple there.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 