Street
Street
The only street referred to by name in the apostolic writings is the street in Damascus which is called Straight (Act 9:11). The word employed (, lane or alley) hardly applies to this instance, for it was a broad, straight street on the Greek model, flanked by colonnades, on the further side of which foot-paths extended. The modern equivalent, which still retains the name, and forms the principal thoroughfare of the city, is in reality only the northern foot-way of the ancient street. The proof of this is given by the East Gate, the central and southern archways of which are now closed up; also by fragments of columns, found in houses and courtyards contiguous to the present street.
The same word is found in Act 12:10, applied to one of the streets or lanes of Jerusalem, probably in the heart of the city, to which it appears to be appropriate (cf. article Gate). The use of in Act 5:15 is somewhat surprising; if taken in conjunction with followed by acc. plur. it forcibly suggests alleys or lanes in which it was necessary to arrange the sick in lines. But it has to be noted that is now read, following ABD, which seems to correspond better with the likely situation. The sick were brought from narrow ways into the broad places. A comparison with Mar 6:56 ( ; D reads ) is instructive: applied to villages and country, no less than to cities, this would seem to denote no more than open spaces, perhaps as opposed to courtyards. Such open spaces in cities came to be used as business centres, and were put to other uses (see especially Act 17:17).
If we keep in view the smallness and the extreme irregularity of ancient cities, as revealed by recent excavation in Palestine, it seems best to equate to street, and to square, in the modern city. The difference is greater than the similarity, however, for the average Hebrew city could boast of only one broad place, and that was at the gate. An exception must be made for the Apostolic Age in favour of recent cities, built according to Graeco-Roman designs (cf. Damascus above). Whether a city was ancient or modern would have an important bearing on its plan.
alone is used in Rev., notably always in the singular (Rev 11:8; Rev 21:21; Rev 22:1). The Graeco-Roman model seems to be before the writers eye. Here is not a broad place or square, but rather a broad street running from gate to gate. Had the symmetry been detailed there would have been found a corresponding intersecting the first at right angles. Within the walls the city would thus be divided into four segments which were built over, whose streets and lanes would be dwarfed by the spaciousness of the two . This principle is carried further in the description of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, in correspondence with the number of gates (twelve).
H. B. Swete (The Apocalypse of St. John 2, London, 1907, p. 299) takes exception to the division of the verses in Rev 22:1-2 Revised Version , and follows Authorized Version and Revised Version margin. The picture presented is that of a river flowing through the broad street which intersects the city, a row of trees being on either bank. In Joh 11:8 the corpses cast out into the principal street (now generally understood of the earthly Jerusalem), and left without burial, were a purposed insult to the martyred witnesses, which was speedily avenged (Joh 11:11-13). Such defilement stands in marked contrast to the later picture of purity and life (water and tree).
W. Cruickshank.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Street
(, chuts, properly out of doors; , rechob, properly a wide place; , shuk, properly an alley; , a broad place; , a passage) The streets of a modern Oriental town present a great contrast to those with which we are familiar, being generally narrow, tortuous, and gloomy, even in the best towns, such as Cairo (Lane, 1, 25), Damascus (Porter, 1, 30), and Aleppo (Russell, 1, 14). Their character is mainly fixed by the climate and the style of architecture, the narrowness being due to the extreme heat, and the gloominess to the circumstance of the windows looking; for the most part, into the inner court. As these same influences existed in ancient times, we should be inclined to think that the streets were much of the same character as at present. The opposite opinion has, indeed, been maintained on account of the Hebrew term rechob, frequently applied to streets, and properly meaning a wide place. The specific signification of this term, however, is rather a court yard or square. It is applied in this sense to the broad open space adjacent to the gate of a town, where public business was transacted (Deu 13:16), and, again, to the court before the Temple (Ezr 10:9) or before a palace (Est 4:6). Its application to the street may point to the comparative width of the main street, or it may perhaps convey the idea of publicity rather than of width, a sense well adapted to the passages in which it occurs (e.g. Gen 19:2; Jdg 19:15; 2Sa 21:12).
The street called Straight (q.v.) in Damascus (Act 9:11) was an exception to the rule of narrowness; it was a noble. thoroughfare, one hundred feet wide, divided in the Roman age by colonnades into three avenues the central one for foot passengers, the side passages for vehicles and horsemen going in different directions (Porter, 1, 47). The shops and warehouses were probably collected together into bazaars in ancient as in modern times. We read of the baker’s bazaar (Jer 37:21), and of the wool, brazier, and clothes bazaars () in Jerusalem (Josephus, War, 5, 8,1); and perhaps the agreement between Benhadad and Ahab that the latter should make streets in Damascus (1Ki 20:34) was in reference rather to bazaars (the term chuts here used being the same as in Jer 37:21), and thus amounted to the establishment of a jus commercii. A lively description of the bazaars at Damascus is furnished us by Porter (1, 58-60). The broad and narrow streets are distinguished under the terms rechob and chuts in the following passages, though the point is frequently lost in the A.V. by rendering the latter term abroad or without, Pro 5:16; Pro 7:12; Pro 22:13; Jer 5:1; Jer 9:21; Amo 5:16; Nah 2:4. The same distinction is apparently expressed by the terms rechob and shuk in Son 3:2, and by and in Luk 14:21; but the etymological sense of shuk points rather to a place of concourse, such as a marketplace, while is applied to the Straight street of Damascus (Act 9:11), and is also used in reference to the Pharisees (Mat 6:2) as a place of the greatest publicity; it is therefore doubtful whether the contrast can be sustained.
Josephus describes the alleys of Jerusalem under the term (War, 5, 8, 1). The term shuk occurs elsewhere only in Pro 7:8; Ecc 12:4-5. The term chuts, already noticed, applies generally to that which is outside the residence (as in Pro 7:12, A.V. she is without), and hence to other places than streets, as to a pasture ground (Job 13:17, where the A.V. requires emendation). That streets occasionally had names appears from Jer 37:21; Act 9:11. That they were generally unpaved may be inferred from the notices of the pavement laid by Herod the Great at Antioch (Josephus, Ant. 16, 5, 3) and by Herod Agrippa II at Jerusalem (ibid. 20, 9, 7). Hence pavement forms one of the peculiar features of the ideal Jerusalem (Tob 13:17; Rev 21:21). Each street and bazaar in a modern town is locked up at night (Lane, 1, 25; Russell, 1, 21), and hence a person cannot pass without being observed by the watchman. he same custom appears to have prevailed in ancient times (Son 3:3). See Thomson, Land and Book, 1, 38; Van Lennep, Bible Lands, p. 454; Hackett, Illust. of Scripture, p. 61. SEE ROAD.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Street
The street called “Straight” at Damascus (Acts 9:11) is “a long broad street, running from east to west, about a mile in length, and forming the principal thoroughfare in the city.” In Oriental towns streets are usually narrow and irregular and filthy (Ps. 18:42; Isa. 10:6). “It is remarkable,” says Porter, “that all the important cities of Palestine and Syria Samaria, Caesarea, Gerasa, Bozrah, Damascus, Palmyra, had their ‘straight streets’ running through the centre of the city, and lined with stately rows of columns. The most perfect now remaining are those of Palmyra and Gerasa, where long ranges of the columns still stand.”, Through Samaria, etc.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Street
rechob. A broad open space, as the courtyard, the space near the gate devoted to public business (Deu 13:16), or before t he temple (Ezr 10:9; Est 4:6). Particular trades gathered in certain quarters, as “the bakers’ street” (Jer 37:21). Chuts is a “narrow street” (Pro 5:16; Jer 5:1) in contrast to the “broad street”, rechob. Shuq like chuts is seemingly “the narrow street” distinguished from “the broad way,” rechob, in Son 3:2. Luk 14:21 plateia and rumee, “the streets and lanes.” But shuq etymology means “a place of concourse”, and rume is applied to the “straight” street of Damascus (Act 9:11).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Street
STREET.In place of street in Mar 6:56 we should read with Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 market-place, the open space or square () where goods are brought for disposal to the merchants from the bazaars, and where people at leisure gather for conversation. stands for street in the ordinary sense. In Luk 14:21 it is apparently distinguished from , as street from alley or lane. But the distinction is ignored elsewhere; and certainly the street () called Straight in Damascus (Act 9:11) is no alley. In the East it would be difficult to maintain the distinction. Even the main streets in cities like Jerusalem and Cairo are often narrow and crooked, more like alleys than streets in our sense. The footway is made narrow, the upper storeys frequently overhanging the road, for protection against the heat of the sun. Seclusion is a main object aimed at in building Eastern houses: the wall to the street is seldom pierced by windows; the door usually leads through a passage into a court, round which the rooms are arranged. All sorts of filth are cast into the streets (Rev 11:8). In spite of the scavengering of dogs, their condition is often not only loathsome, but a source of danger to health.
W. Ewing.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Street
STREET.See City.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Street
stret. See CITY.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Street
Street. The streets of a modern Oriental town present a great contrast to those with which we are familiar, being generally narrow, tortuous and gloomy, even in the best towns. Their character is mainly fixed by the climate and the style of architecture, the narrowness being due to the extreme heat, and the gloominess being due to the circumstance of the windows looking, for the most part, into the inner court.
The street called “Straight,” in Damascus, Act 9:11, was an exception to the rule of narrowness: it was a noble thoroughfare, one hundred feet wide; divided, in the Roman age, by colonnades into three avenues, the central one for foot passengers, the side passages for vehicles and horsemen going in different directions.
The shops and warehouses were probably collected together into bazaars, in ancient times, as in modern times. Jer 37:21. That streets occasionally had names appears from Jer 37:21; Act 9:11. That they were generally unpaved may be inferred from the notices of the pavement laid by Herod the Great at Antioch, and by Herod Agrippa II at Jerusalem. Hence, pavement forms one of the peculiar features of the ideal Jerusalem. Tob 13:17; Rev 21:21. Each street and bazaar in a modern town is locked up at night; the same custom appears to have prevailed in ancient times. Son 3:3.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Street
grammatically the feminine of platus, “broad,” is used as a noun (hodos, “a way,” being understood, i.e., “a broad way”), “a street,” Mat 6:5; Mat 12:19 (in some texts, Mar 6:56); Luk 10:10; Luk 13:26; Luk 14:21; Act 5:15; Rev 11:8; Rev 21:21; Rev 22:2.
properly “a way around” (amphi, “around,” hodos, “a way”), occurs in Mar 11:4, RV, “the open street” (AV, “where two ways met”).
Note: For rhume, see LANE. For agora, see MARKET.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Street
Rev 21:21 (c) This type represents the Lord JESUS Himself, who is the way to Heaven, and the way to GOD. Note that the word is in the singular and not plural. The gold represents the beauty of CHRIST, the purity of CHRIST, and the value of CHRIST. That which men almost worship down here, end constantly seek after, and which is not permanent, may well become insignificant in our sight while CHRIST JESUS becomes supreme and paramount.