If the house in which our Lord then was had more than one court he and the auditors were certainly in the outer one; and it is reasonable to conclude that he stood in the veranda addressing the crowd below. The men bearing the paralytic, therefore, perhaps went up the steps near the door, and, finding they could not even then get near the person of Jesus, the gallery being also crowded, continued their course to the roof of the house, and, removing the boards over the covering of the gallery, at the place where Jesus stood, lowered the sick man to his feet. But if they could not get access to the steps near the door, as is likely, from the door being much crowded, their alternative was to take him to the roof of the next house and there hoist him over the parapet to the roof of the house which they desired to enter: (11) The Roof. The roof of the house is, of course, flat. It is formed by layers of branches, twigs, matting, and earth, laid over the rafters and trodden down, after which it is covered with a compost which acquires considerable hardness when dry ; but in those parts of Asia where the climate is more than usually moist, a stone roller is usually kept on every roof, and after a shower a great part of the population is engaged in drawing these rollers over the roof.
It is now very common, in countries where timber is scarce, to have domed roofs; but in that case the flat roof, which is indispensable to Eastern habits, is ob tained by filling up the hollow intervals between the several domes, so as to form a flat surface at the top.
These flat roofs are often alluded to in Scripture, and the allusions show that they were made to serve the same uses as at present. In fine weather the in habitants resorted much to them to breathe the fresh air, to enjoy a fine pros pect, or to witness any event that occurred in the neighborhood (2 Sam. xi :2 ; Is.
xxii •, Matt. xxiv :17; Mark xiii :15).
The dryness of the summer atmosphere enabled them without injury to health, to enjoy the bra cing coolness of the night air by sleeping on the house tops, and in order to have the benefit of the air and prospect in the daytime, without incon venience from the sun, sheds, booths, and tents were sometimes erected on the house tops (2 Sam. xvi :22).
The roofs of the houses are well protected by walls and parapets. Towards the street and neighboring houses is a high wall, and towards the interior courtyard usually a parapet or wooden rail. 'Battlements' of this kind, for the prevention of accidents, are strictly enjoined in the Law (Dent. xxii :8).
(12) The Ceiling. The ceiling, if of wood and flat, is of curious and complicated joinery, or, if vaulted, is wrought into numerous coves, and en riched with fretwork in stucco; and the walls are adorned with arabesques, mosaics, mirrors, paint ing, and gold, which, as set off by the marble-like whiteness of the stucco, has a truly brilliant and rich effect. There is much in this to remind one of such descriptions of splendid interiors as that in Is. liv :it, 12.
(13) Inferior Dwellings. In the inferior kinds of Oriental dwellings, such as are met with in vil lages and very small towns, there is no central court, but there is generally a yard attached, either on one side or at the rear. The shaded platform
in front is such as is usually seen attached to coffee-houses.
Here the customers sit and smoke their pipes, and sip their coffee. The village cabins and abodes of the peasantry are, of course, of a still inferior description ; and, being the abodes of peo ple who live much in the open air, will not bear comparison with the houses of the same class in Northern Europe, where the cottage is the home of the owner.
No ancient houses had chimneys. The word so translated in Hos. xiii :3 means a hole through which the smoke escaped ; and this existed only in the lower class of dwellings, where raw weod was employed for fuel or cooking, and where there was an opening immediately over the hearth to let out the smoke. In the better sort of houses the rooms were warmed in winter by charcoal in braziers, as is still the practice (Jer. xxxvi :22 ; Mark xiv :54 ; John xviii :i8).
The windows had no glass. They were only latticed, and thus gave free passage to the air and admitted light, while birds and bats were excluded, In winter the cold air was kept out by veils over the windows, or by shutters with holes in them sufficient to admit light (1 Kings vii :17; Cant. ii :9).
In the East, where the climate allows the people to spend so much of their thne out of doors, the articles of furniture and the domestic utensils have always been few and simple. They are in this work noticed under separate heads. (See BED; LAMP; POTTER; TABLE.) 5. Literature. Porter, Damascus; Shaw, Travels; Lane, Mod. Eel, ; Burckliardt, Syria; Laya rd, Monuments of Nineveh.
Figuratitie. Heaven, the church, the tabernacle, temple, and ordinances, arc represented as God's house, or a spiritual house; as God planned, formed, furnishcd, or owned them, so he did or does dwell in them, and display his glory, power, and grace in a peculiar manner (John xi,/ : 1; Heb. ; Judg. xviii :31 ; 2 Chron. v :14 ; Ps. lxxxiv :ro). (2) The saints are a spiritual house, and household of faith, being formed by the Holy Ghost, and furnished with spiritual graces and enabled to believe the truth as in Jesus; God dwells in them, and among them, as their master, parent, and householder; and ministers attend them as their servants (I Pet. ii :5 ; Gal. vi :to ; Matt. xiii :27 and xxi :33). (3) The house of God, at which dangerous judgments begin, is either the ruined Jewish temple or the persecuted Christian church (I Pet. iv :17). (4) The house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem are all ranks, both great and small (Zech. xiii (5) To join house to house, and field to field, till there be no place, is to join several farms or occupations to gether, in order to grow hastily rich, and by which a great many, especially of the poor, are deprived of livings and subsistence (Is. v :8). (6) God made houses to the Hebrews, or to the midwives; Ile prospered and increased their families (Exod. i :22). (7) Such as build their hopes on Christ in his word are houses founded on a rock; their hopes cannot be overturned by any temptation, affliction, death, or judgment to come; but such as found their hopes on anything else are like houses built on the sand, which, amid temptation and trouble, are easily overthrown or ruined (Matt. vii :24, 25).