Roof Purposes

USES MADE OF THE ROOF OF THE HOUSE The roof of an Oriental house is used today for a great variety of purposes, much like it was used in the days of the prophets and of the apostles. Used as a place to sleep. The roof is a popular place for the Oriental to sleep. For a great part of the year the roof, or "housetop,'" is the most agreeable place about the house, especially in the morning and evening. There many sleep during the summer, both in the city and the country, and in all places where malaria does not render it dangerous. The custom is very ancient. An example in the Bible of this practice, is the incident of Samuel calling Saul, who had slept on the house-top (I Samuel 9:26). Used as a place for storage. The flat Oriental roofs so exposed to the air and sunshine are well suited for storing grain or fruit to be ripened or dried. This custom is a common one in the East.34 Rahab hid the spies with the stalks of flax which she had on her roof (Joshua 2:6). Used as a gathering place in times of excitement. In Isaiah 22:1 the prophet says: "What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?" Thus is described a typical Oriental city in the midst of a time of great commotion. Just as the Westerner at such a time gathers in the streets, so the Easterner goes to the housetops, where he can see down the streets, and discover what is happening. Used as a place for public proclamations. In the days of JESUS as well as in modern times the villages of the Holy Land have had town criers. The orders of local governors are thus proclaimed from the top of the highest house available. Such a proclamation is usually made in the evening, after the men have returned from their work in the field. The long drawn out call becomes familiar to the residents, and they learn to listen for what follows. The call of the town crier is said to resemble a distant, prolonged railroad whistle. JESUS must have often heard the call of the town crier. To his disciples he said: "what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops" (Matthew 10:27). As a warning against the impossibility of hiding our sins in the day of judgment, he said, "That which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops" (Luke 12:3). Used as a place of worship and prayer. The Scriptures indicate that roofs of houses were used for true worship of GOD, and also for idolatrous worship. The prophet Zephaniah speaks of "them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops" (Zephaniah 1:5). And Luke tells us that Peter at Joppa "went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour" (Acts 10:9). It would be natural for those worshiping the heavenly bodies to do so on the roof, and no doubt Peter retired to the housetop where he could be alone with GOD. Used as a way of escape in time of evil. In a day when escape from evil was necessary, the inhabitants of villages in CHRIST's time could do so by going from roof to roof, because the houses were located so close to each other. Dr. Edersheim describes the situation thus: From roof to roof there might be regular communication, called by the Rabbis "the road of the roofs." Thus a person could make his escape, passing from roof to roof, till at the last house he would descend the stairs that led down its outside, without having entered any dwelling. To this "road of the roofs" our LORD no doubt referred in His warning to His followers (Matthew 24:17; Mark 13:15; Luke 17:31), intended to apply to the last siege of Jerusalem, "And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein." [Manners And Customs of Bible Lands]

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