Melachim Alef 6:8

8 The door for the middle story was in the right side of the Beis [Hamikdash]; and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.

Melachim Alef 6:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 6:8

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 ^F21 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 ^F23, 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 ( Ezekiel 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Geograph. l. 17. p. 547.
F23 Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 5. See Lightfoot's Prospect of the Temple c. 12. p. 1071.

Melachim Alef 6:8 In-Context

6 The lowest story was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad; for without in the wall of the Beis [Hamikdash] he made narrow ledges round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the Beis [Hamikdash].

7 And the Beis [Hamikdash], when it was under construction, was built of stone made ready before it was brought there; so was neither hammer nor chisel nor any tool of iron heard in the Beis [Hamikdash], while it was under construction.

8 The door for the middle story was in the right side of the Beis [Hamikdash]; and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.

9 So he built the Beis [Hamikdash], and finished it; and covered the Beis [Hamikdash] with beams and boards of cedar.

10 And then he built chambers against all the Beis [Hamikdash], five cubits high; and they rested on the Beis [Hamikdash] with timber of cedar.