Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 6:8
The door for the middle chamber [was] in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle [chamber], and out of the middle into the third.
8. The door for the middle chamber ] R.V. middle side-chambers. The LXX. and Targum here give ‘lowest’ instead of ‘middle;’ doubtless because otherwise there is no mode of access to the lower side-chambers specified. The manner of reaching the middle story is sufficiently indicated in the next clause. On the contrary the compiler of Kings may have considered that there was no need to mention any entrance to the lower row of chambers. That would be a matter of course, and there may have been more than one, but the place and way of reaching the other two flights of rooms did need notice. There may also have been some access from the lowest side chambers into the Temple, if these chambers were used for storing the sacred oil and other provisions for the service.
in the right side of the house ] The word rendered ‘side’ is literally shoulder, and may indicate that part of the building nearest the porch, which would be considered the face of the Temple.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The door for the middle chamber – i. e., the door which gave access to the mid-most set of chambers. The chambers on the ground-floor were possibly reached each by their own door in the outer wall of the lean-to. The middle and upper floors were reached by a single door in the right or south wall, from which a winding staircase ascended to the second tier, while another ascended from the second to the third. The door to the stairs was in the outer wall of the building, not in the wall between the chambers and the temple. That would have desecrated the temple far more than the insertion of beams.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The door for the middle chamber, i.e. by which they entered to go up to the middle chamber or chambers, to wit, such as were in the middle story.
In the right side, i.e. in the south side, called the right side here, and in the Hebrew text, Psa 89:12, and in other authors; because when a man looks towards the east, or sun-rising, which is esteemed the most glorious part of the heavens, and to which men most frequently look for divers reasons, the south is on his right hand; whereby it is implied that there was another door on the left, or the north side, leading to the chambers on that side, though for brevity sake it be not mentioned here.
With winding stairs; which were either,
1. Within the thickness of the temple wall, as many think; which is not probable, as tending to the great weakening of the wall; especially in the upper parts, where the wall was much narrower. And if such care was taken to preserve the walls entire and unbroken, that there might not be small holes made into it for the fastening of the beams of the chambers, 1Ki 6:6, it seems very absurd and incredible that there should be made such great breaches within them, as the stairs would require. Or rather,
2. Without the wall, and without the chambers too, as leading up to the gallery out of which they went into the several chambers.
Into the middle chamber, or rather, into the middle story, or row of chambers, and so in the following words, out of the middle story; for these stairs could not lead up into each of the chambers, nor was it needful or convenient it should do so, but only into the story, which was sufficient for the use of all the chambers.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
The door of the middle chamber [was] in the right side of the house,…. The south side of it:
and they went up with winding stairs into the middle [chamber]; which were outside the chambers, and which winded about for the sake of taking up less room, and which led up to the door of the middle chamber, on the south of which they went into it; according to the Vulgate Latin and Tigurine versions, they went up in the forth of a cockle, or the shell of a snail; in like manner as was the ascent of the temple of Pan at Alexandria, as Strabo u relates:
and out of the middle into the third; the third chamber, and by winding stairs up to that; and the like might be on the north side, though not expressed, and on the west: the Jews say w, that in the second temple, these winding stairs went from the northeast to the northwest, whereby they went up to the roof of the chambers, and so to the south and west; with this compare Eze 41:7; and which may represent the windings and turnings of God’s people in this present state, their many afflictions and tribulations, through which they pass from one state to another.
u Geograph. l. 17. p. 547. w Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 5. See Lightfoot’s Prospect of the Temple, &c. c. 12. p. 1071.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8. The door for the middle chamber was in the right side The middle chamber of the lower story is here meant. The right side of the house would be the south side, and is to be understood of a person facing the same way as the temple, namely, the east. So far as the scripture text gives us any information, this one door in the south side seems to have been the only entrance into all of the side-chambers. (D in plan.)
They went up That is, persons who entered the upper stories went up these stairs.
Winding stairs Marked s in plan.
Middle That is, the middle chamber of the middle story.
Out of the middle into the third Out of the middle chamber of the middle story into the middle chamber of the third story. So the staircase was not on the outside of the house, as is usual in the East, but on the inside. No mention is made of windows in the side-chambers, but this is naturally inferred from 1Ki 6:4, where see note.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 6:8 The door for the middle chamber [was] in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle [chamber], and out of the middle into the third.
Ver. 8. And they went up with winding stairs. ] We must also aspire to perfection: there should be continual ascensions in our hearts, neither may we rest till we have set our feet upon the battlements of heaven. See St Paul’s eagerness, Phi 3:12-14 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
side: Heb. shoulder
went up: Eze 41:6, Eze 41:7
Reciprocal: 2Ki 11:2 – in the bedchamber Eze 40:6 – stairs Eze 40:38 – the chambers Eze 42:6 – General Eze 43:17 – look toward
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 6:8. The door for the middle chamber That is, by which they entered to go up into the middle row of chambers; was in the right side That is, in the south side, called the right side, because, when a man looks toward the east, the south is on his right hand. There was another door on the left, or the north side, leading to the chambers on that side. They went up with winding stairs Without the wall, leading up to the gallery, out of which they went into the several chambers. Into the middle chamber Or, rather, into the middle story, or row of chambers; and so in the following words, out of the middle story: for these stairs could not lead up into each of the chambers, nor was it needful, but only into the story, which was sufficient for the use of all the chambers.