1 Kings 6:8

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, Php 3:12-14.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, Gallery.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Middle side. Septuagint, "lower story." (Calmet) --- "The door of the lower story (rib or side, Greek: pleuras; Chaldean, the lower appendage) was under the right wing of the house, and a winding staircase led to the middle, and from the middle to the third story. (Haydock) --- This sense is very clear. Hebrew intimates that the staircase was round like a screw, and was formed in the wall, at one end of the rooms. --- Right hand of those who entered the temple, or on the north; though the south is commonly thus designated. The doors opened into the porch, as the temple was not to be made a thoroughfare. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After recording this interesting and singular fact, the historian resumes his description of the side building. The door or entrance, doorway, jtp as in ver. 31 for Heb. of the middle chamber generally understood to mean "the middle side chamber of the lower story." But this is by no means necessary, for

(1) lxe may signify the suite of rooms, i.e., the entire story or flat, as well as a single lean to or compartment, and

(2) hnko yTih is used in the next clause of the middle story. This has led Thenius, Keil, Ewald, Bahr, al. to substitute jnTj (following the LXX and Targum), which would give the sense of lower story" (as in Eze_41:7) Bahr says this "must necessarily be read." That this emendation has much in its favour must be allowed, but it seems also certain that we get a perfectly clear meaning from the text as it stands, viz., that "the door (leading to) the middle floor was (on the ground floor) on the right side," etc. It is hardly likely that all the compartments on the ground floor had only one approach, and the doors which communicated with them may well have been passed over as requiring no special notice. But the historian feels it necessary to state how the second and third stories were reached, and the staircase which led to them causes him to speak of the position of the door which opened upon it was in the right side Heb. shoulder. This word (ptK) almost implies that the door was in the external wall of the side structure, not in the wall of the holy place (as Bottcher, al. ) The fact that the floor joists were not inserted into the temple walls, as being inconsistent with the dignity of the sanctuary, makes it almost a certainty that there was no direct communication between the building and its dependance. It is very improbable that the walls of the house were anywhere broken through. The "right side" was the south side, (1Ki_7:39) i.e., the right, not as one faced the oracle, but, like the building, faced east. What was the exact position of the door, whether in the centre, or at either angle, it is impossible to say of the house: and they went up with winding stairs is only found here and in 2Ch 3. The staircase was obviously unlike those of most Eastern buildings, within the side structure. Even if the outer wall was five cubits thick, of which we have no proof, it is very doubtful whether the staircase would or could be constructed within it into Heb. upon the middle Chamber or story, and out of the middle into the third.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The door - That is, by which they entered to go up to the middle chamber or chambers; such as were in the middle story. Right side - That is, in the south-side, called the right side; because when a man looks towards 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. Winding stairs - Without the wall, leading up to the gallery out of which they went into the several chambers. 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 stair's 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.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The entrance of the bottom chamber was in the right side of the house. [Targum] Yonoson rendered תיכונה as the “bottom,” and not as “between” the upper and lower [ones], because the five chambers on the southern side had an opening to the outside in the bottom story. And this (is the meaning) “and by a winding stairway they went up to the middle [chamber].”

The bottom. [Targum] Yonoson rendered “the middle,” because these chambers were not open to the outside. There were three openings to each. Thus is this taught in Maseches Midos, “One was to the chamber on the right and one was to the chamber on the left and one to the chamber above.” And it teaches us here that one of the lower [chambers] on the southern wall had an opening to the outside and through that opening they entered all the chambers. And the “middle chamber” of the verse, is not the middle one between the upper and the lower [ones], but the middle one of the five chambers on the southern side which had an opening to the outside in the bottom story. And this is the meaning of, “and by a winding stairway they went up to the middle [chamber],” which was above it, signifying that the תיכונה chamber was below.

And by a winding stairway. [Targum] Yonoson rendered, a winding staircase [=מסיבתא], and that is called in our language [O.F.] vis, and in German, vindelstein, and the commonly used name is schvindel stieg. It is a structure of stone pillars made [in the form] of many stairs, and one who goes on them is likened to one spiraling around a column, ascending many amohs on it without needing the inclination of an ordinary ladder, because its spiral serves as its incline.

To the third. [שלישים means the same] as to the third [=שלישיים]

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.