Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(cover). Prevailing Oriental style, low, flat roofed, with court in center. A tent, palace, citadel, tomb, family (Gen. 12:17); property (1 Kings 13:8); lineage (Luke 2:4); place of worship (Judg. 20:18).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
There are but few things mentioned in scripture that throw light upon the construction of the houses in the East. Of modern eastern houses it may be said the backs of the houses are in the street. There is a door, with perhaps a lattice over it, and one or two lattices high up, with all the rest a blank wall. A house may be watched all day, and not a soul be seen, unless some one comes to the door, though all going on in the street may be seen from the lattices. The door opens into a porch or passage, which leads into an open court, but so arranged that no one can see into the court when the door is opened. The court is large, sometimes open to the sky, in which visitors are received and business transacted: some have two courts, or even three. Often there is a fountain and trees in the court. Around the court are entrances to more private rooms, where meals are served and to chambers where the inmates repose. The “parlor” where Samuel entertained Saul would be one of such rooms.
Stairs in the corner of the court lead to upper private rooms; and often there are stairs outside the house that lead to the roof. These enabled the sick man to be carried to the roof in Mark 2:4, when entrance could not be obtained by the door. The roof is often made of sticks, thorn bushes, mortar and earth; which often have to be rolled to consolidate the structure after rain. A hole could easily be broken through such a roof to let down the paralytic. Other roofs were more substantial, with a parapet round them for safety. On such roofs persons retired for private conversation and for prayer (1 Sam. 9:25; Acts 10:9); and in the evening for coolness (2 Sam. 11:2).
The Lord speaks of the disciples publishing on the housetop what He had told them privately (Matt. 10:27; Luke 12:3). This mode of proclamation may often be seen in the East when the public crier calls out from the housetop the information he has to make known.
Houses were mostly built of stone, that being plentiful and wood comparatively scarce. In Bashan there are still numbers of ancient houses, solidly built of stone, some with the ancient stone doors still on their hinges, or rather pivots, many of the houses having no inhabitant.
Temporary houses and those for the poor were often built of mud, which could easily be dug through by a thief, and which left to themselves soon became a heap of rubbish (Job 4:19; Job 15:28; Job 24:16; Matt. 24:43). Cattle were often kept in some part of the house, as they are to this day, for safety (1 Sam. 28:24).
From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Psalm 129:6. Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up.
From the peculiar structure of the roofs of Eastern houses it can easily be seen how grass might there spring up and yet not have a flourishing growth. Dr. Robinson, speaking of the houses near Lebanon, says: “The flat roofs of the houses in this region are constructed by laying, first, large beams at intervals of several feet; then, rude joists; on which, again, are arranged small poles close together, or brush-wood; and upon this is spread earth or gravel rolled hard. This rolling is often repeated, especially after rain, for these roofs are apt to leak. For this purpose a roller of stone is kept ready for use on the roof of every house. Grass is often seen growing on these roofs” (Biblical Researches, vol. 3, p. 39).
The earth on the roof affords a starting place for the grass, but the frequent use of the roller and the trampling of feet give it but a poor chance for life. “It withereth afore it groweth up.” The same figure is also used in 2 Kings 19:26, and in Isaiah 37:27.
Travelers who have visited Persia tell us of houses the roofs of which are covered with green sod, from which the grass grows luxuriantly. Hay is said to be gathered from these roofs, and lambs are turned out on them to pasture. The same is reported of northern Gothic countries. The psalmist however, could not, as some think, have had such roofs in mind, even admitting that he ever saw them, since the application of the illustration pre-supposes grass, not of luxuriant growth, but short-lived.
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