in the four corners of the court were small courts, forty cubits long and thirty broad; the four were of the same size.
We have here a further discovery of buildings about the temple, which we did not observe before, and those were places to boil the flesh of the offerings in, Eze 46:20. He that kept such a plentiful table at his altar needed large kitchens; and a wise builder will provide conveniences of that kind. Observe, 1. Where those boiling-places were situated.
Commenting on Ezekiel 46:19-24
And there was a row of building round about in them,.... Within the courts, not on the outside of them: these were either chambers to eat the sacrifices in when boiled; or they were sheds which covered the cooks, and the meat they were boiling, from the rain, &c.: the Targum renders it, "and walls were made to them round about;'' to the court: and...
courts joined--FAIRBAIRN translates, "roofed" or "vaulted." But these cooking apartments seem to have been uncovered, to let the smoke and smell of the meat the more easily pass away. They were "joined" or "attached" to the walls of the courts at the corners of the latter [MENOCHIUS].