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Hospitality

Bowing to a Guest

Bowing. When a guest is received into an Orient home, bowing between the guests and host is quite apt to take place. In Western lands such bowing would be of the head only, but in the East there is a more expressive custom of saluting with the head erect and the body a little inclined forward, by raising the hand to the heart, mouth, and forehead. ...

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Making a Guest Lord of the House

The guest made lord of the house. An Eastern proverb runs thus: "The guest while in the house is its lord." This is a true statement of the spirit of the hospitality of the East. One of the first greetings a Palestinian host will give his guest is to say, "Hadtha beitak" i.e., "This is your house." This saying is repeated many times. Thus actually ...

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Greeting a Guest

Greeting. Upon entering an Arab house or a Bedouin tent, the greetings used are something like this: The host will say: "Salam alakum" which means, "Peace be on you." The guest will respond with the words: 'Wa alakum es-salam," meaning, "And on you, peace." Knowing that these Arabic customs date back for centuries, how significant then are the ins...

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Never Leave the Guest Alone

Privacy not expected by the guest. An Oriental guest would think he was ill-treated if he were left alone at any time. He does not need privacy at night, because he sleeps with his clothes on. He is happy to have others sleep with him. If a sleeping place is assigned to him in an upper room, then some of the family sons sleep alongside of him that ...

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Eating Alone

EATING ALONE DISLIKED IT IS A PART of Oriental etiquette to want to share hospitality with others. After a meal has been prepared. an Arab has been heard to call out three times from a high spot in the neighborhood, inviting men to come and partake of the meal. These men of the desert do not like to eat their meal alone.1 The patriarch Job felt th...

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Kissing a Guest

Kissing. Guests in Holy Land homes expect to be kissed as they enter. When entertained by a Pharisee, JESUS commented on his reception by saying to him, "Thou gavest me no kiss" (Luke 7:45). The difference between the Oriental and the Occidental way of greeting each other is made clear by one who lived in Israel many years. Here men shake hands wh...

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Protecting a Guest

PROTECTING A GUEST In the lands of the East, when a host accepts a man to be his guest he thereby agrees at whatever the cost to defend his guest from possible enemies during the time of his entertainment. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, an American missionary in the East, was entertained by a governor. The host took a piece of roast mutton and handed it to the...

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Hospitality to Friends

Friends as guests. In the East a friend is always welcome to receive hospitality. The Romans of New Testament times had a token of hospitality between two friends, which consisted of a tile of wood or stone, which was divided in half. Each person wrote his name on one of the two pieces, and then exchanged that piece with the other person. These wer...

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Removing a Guests Shoes

Removing the shoes. Upon entering a house to be entertained, a guest does as all Orientals would do, he takes off his boots, shoes, or slippers before entering a room. This becomes necessary since they sit on a mat rug, or divan, with their feet beneath them, and shoes would soil the couch and the clothes: and would also make a very uncomfortable s...

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Mistreating Hospitality

THE ABUSE OF HOSPITALITY Among Eastern nations it is considered a terrible sin indeed for anybody who has accepted hospitality from a host to turn against him in the doing of an evil deed. This feeling goes back to very ancient times and is often alluded to by various writers. The prophet Obadiah refers to this sin: "The men that were at peace wit...

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