The door for the lowest 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.
All Commentaries on 1 Kings 6:8 Go To 1 Kings 6
Bede
AD 735
The way to the upper and third [parts of the] building was made through the innermost part of the southern wall, as if by an invisible entrance, so that only its beginning might be evident from the eastern corner of the before-mentioned [southern] wall. Only he who could climb [it] knew the progress of this ascent, of which Scripture recalls: “The door in the center of the side was on the right [i.e., southern] part of the house, and they ascended by a circular stairway to the middle room and from the middle room to the third.” When our Lord was suffering on the cross, “one of the soldiers opened his side with a lance, and immediately there came forth blood and water.” This [prefigured] the water of baptism by which we are cleansed [from sin] and the blood of the Lord’s chalice by which we are sanctified. Through these holy mysteries of his side, as a consequence of our invisible faith, we ascend from the present life of the church, in its pilgrimage on earth, to the life of heavenly blessedness that the souls of the righteous enjoy once they have laid aside their bodies. When we have recovered our [earthly] bodies at the [general] resurrection, we will pass over from that life even to the supreme glory of eternal bliss, with our faith in our Lord’s passion leading the way. It is undoubtedly of this glory that Isaiah says, “In their own land they will come into possession of a double portion, undying happiness will be theirs,” that is, they will receive the eternal joys of an immortal body and a happy soul together in the land of the living, which is the only land of the saints. The lowest [part of the] building signifies the present way of life of the saints; the middle [part signifies] the repose of souls that is acquired after this life; and the top [part signifies] the glory of the [final] resurrection, which will never be changed and will last forever. The door in the center of the side, which was situated in the right [i.e., southern] part of the building, and which opened up the way to the upper parts, [represents] our faith in the passion of Christ, from whose pierced right side, [while he was hanging] on the cross, there flowed forth the sacraments, by receiving which we will be able to ascend to the joys of heavenly life.
