Dwelling
Dwelling
(, , , , , , , etc.; , etc.). The dwelling houses of Palestine (see generally Harmer, 1:152 sq.; Faber, Archaeol. 1:365; on Egyptian architecture, Rosellini, Monum. 104:2:378 sq.) were usually (Harmer, 1:165) built of burnt or merely dried bricks, . (Niebuhr, Trav. 2:287; Pococke, East, 2:173; Tavernier, Trav. 1:167, 287; Robinson, Res. 2:631-637; 3:514, 580), and therefore very perishable (Mat 7:25; comp. Eze 12:5; Eze 12:7; Eze 13:13 sq.; Tavernier, 1:287; Wellsted, 1:280); but frequently of stone (Lev 14:40; Lev 14:42; comp. Robinson’s Res. 3:316, 420, 496, 720), and palaces of squared stone (1Ki 7:9; Isa 9:9; Josephus, Ant. 8:5, 2; compare Robinson, 1:354), or even of marble (, , comp. 1Ch 29:2; Josephus, Ant. 15:11, 3; War, 5:4, 4; of different building stone, see the Mishna, Baba-bathra, 1:1; the laying the foundation was an occasion of ceremony and festival, Zechaniah 4:7; compare Ezr 3:10; Job 38:7); These were held together by a cement (mortar, , Jer 43:9; see Rosenmuller in loc.) of lime (, Isa 27:9) or plaster of Paris (gypsum, , Isa 33:12; comp. Deu 27:4; Theoph. Lapid. 68 sq.), perhaps also bitumen (asphaltum, , compare Gen 11:3; Faber, 1:393 sq.). The exterior (and probably also the interior over the plaster) was usually whitewashed (, , Lev 14:41 sq.; Eze 13:10 sq. ; Dan 5:5 ; Mat 23:27; Sir 22:17), bright wall-colors being used for royal residences (Jer 22:14). The beams (2Ch 34:11; on , Hab 2:11, see Gesen. Thesaur. page 705, and Delitzsch in loc.) were of sycamore (Isa 9:9), sometimes of olive-wood, sandal, or cedar (1Ki 7:2 sq.; Isa 9:9; Jer 22:14). Elegant mansions were adorned externally with columns (of marble, Son 5:15; 1Ki 7:15 sq.; 2Ki 25:13; Faber, Archeol. 1:414 sq.), and often whole porticoes (, , l Kings 7:6; comp. Josephus, War, 4:4). SEE TEMPLE.
The houses of the gentry (Niebuhr, Trav. 2:293; Shaw, Trav. page 182 sq.) were of several stories (1Ki 7:2 sq.; comp. Act 20:9; but see Korte, Suppl. page 177), generally built in a quadrangle (comp. Kampfer, Amoen. p. 194; Burckhardt, Trav. 1:120), and enclosing (Luk 5:19) a spacious court-yamd (. 2Sa 17:18; Neh 8:16; comp. Est 1:5; Est 5:1; the impluvium or , Mat 26:69; see Harmer, 1:177), which, surrounded by colonnades and galleries (Shaw, p. 353), paved (Harmer, 1:175), and containing fountains (2Sa 7:18; comp. Joseph. Ant. 12:4, 11; Harmer, 1:175), baths (2Sa 11:2), and trees (Harmer, 1:175), formed the guest-chamber or drawing-room for the reception of visitors (Shaw, Trav. page 183; Fabet, 1:401; Harmer, 1:174; comp Est 1:5 sq.), being often screened from the sun’s rays by an awning (Rosenmiller, Morg. 3:297). The flat roof, covered on the top with tiles, earth, or stone, and surrounded by a low parapet, was used sometimes for household or religious purposes, at others as a place of meeting or recreation. SEE ROOF.
In connection with it (2Ki 23:12) was an upper room (, ), which was used (comp. Niebuhr, Trav. 1:380, 400; Shaw, page 188 sq.) as a private chamber (2Sa 18:33; Dan 6:11; Jdt 8:5); also as a spare bedroom (2Ki 23:12; Tob 3:12; Act 1:13; Act 20:8), a sleeping apartment especially for guests (2Ki 4:10), and as a sick-chamber (1Ki 17:19; Joseph. Ant. 18:8, 2), or room for laying out a corpse (Act 9:37; Act 9:39), but in summer resorted to for fresh air (Jdg 3:20); and was often furnished with two modes of exit, one leading within the house, the other by a staircase directly to the street. Larger residences had an additional front court (, , , , ; Jer 32:2; Mar 14:33; Luk 16:20; Joh 18:16; Act 10:17, etc.), which served as an anteroom (so the Rabbins understand , Jdg 3:23; see Faber, page 440), and from which, by means of stairs (, 2Ch 9:11; a winding staircase, , 1Ki 6:8), often finished with costly wood (2Ch 9:11), persons passed to the roof or upper story. A door led from the fore-court to the inner court, and from the latter was the entrance to the rooms on the ground floor of the house proper. These last were variously decorated with wainscoting (1Ki 7:7; Jer 22:14; Hag 1:4), ivory (1Ki 22:39; Amo 3:15; compare Psa 45:9; Homer, Odyss. 4:72 sq.; Horace, Od. 2:18, 1 sq.; Pliny, 36:5; Harmer, 1:168 sq.; 2:171 sq.; Faber, page 399 sq.; also with precious metals inlaid or plated, Tibull. 3:3, 16; Horace, Od. 2:18, 1 sq.; Cicero, Parad. 6:3; comp. 1Co 3:12), and carving (Josephus, Ant. 8:5, 2; comp. Tavern. 1:168) since the splendor of Oriental houses was lavished rather upon the interior than the exterior (Pococke, East, 1:49); the floor was laid sometimes with a coating of gypsum, at others with tesselated blocks of variegated marble (Tibull. 3:3, 16; Cicero, Parad. 6:3) or other kinds of stone (Harmer, 1:172 sq.; compare Est 1:6). The doors (Deu 6:9), seldom high in private houses (Pro 17:19), sometimes of stone (Burckhardt, 1:122), swung (comp. Shaw, Trav. page 185) on morticed pivots (, Pro 26:14; in sockets, , 1Ki 7:50; comp. cardo foenuria, Vitruv. 9:6), and were commonly fastened with wooden bolts (, ), which were opened (Jdg 3:25; Isa 22:22; comp. Harmer, 1:188) by means of a key (), but only from the inside (Son 5:5; Luk 12:7; comp. Faber, page 427).
In the better class of houses there was a door- keeper (Joseph. Ant. 17:5, 2) or female porter (Joh 18:16 sq.; Act 12:13; comp. Plant. Curcul. 1:1, 76; Sept. 2Sa 4:6), who, in case any one knocked outside (Luk 12:36; Luk 13:25; Act 12:13; compare Mat 7:7; Rev 3:20; Thilo, Apocryph. page 218; see Becker, Charicles, 1:230), and gave their name (Act 12:14; Rev 3:20; comp. Plutarch, Genesis Soc. page 31; Lucian, bis. Accuso page 29; Apul. Asin. 1, page 19 Bip.), opened the door to them (Act 12:13; comp. Athen. 14:614). (See Stuck, Antiq. conviv. page 249; Sagittar. De januis vett. Jen. 1694, chapter 16; also Elsner, Observ. 1:411 sq., in Graevii Thesaur. 6) Princes, however, had guards at the palace gates (1Ki 14:27). The windows (), on account of the street dust, generally face the court-yard (Schubert, 3:291), although anciently this rule does not appear to have so extensively prevailed (Jdg 5:28; Pro 7:6); they were closed by a lattice (Jdg 5:28). The most interior, or back rooms of all, were devoted to the special occupancy of the female members of the household, as is still universally the case in the East, under the name “harem,” and no male dares intrude within their precincts (Chardin, 6:6 sq.; Hartmann, Hebr. 2:399 sq.; Hoffmann in the Hall. Encyclop. 2:1, page 396 sq.). The more distinguished Hebrews early had separate summer and winter residences ( and , Amo 3:15; Jer 36:22; comp. Jdg 3:20; see Harmer, 1:200; Prosp. Alp. Med. Egypt. 1:6; Niebuhr, Trav. 2:394). The latter were warmed (of which they had the more need, as glass windows are unknown in the East) by means of a fire-pot (, Jer 36:32), which is merely a vessel of burnt clay (Niebuhr, Beschr. page 56) placed in a round hole in the middle of the room, over which, when the fire is burnt down, the inmates place a four-cornered frame, and next a carpet over this, and then gather around to enjoy the warmth (Tavernier, 1:276; Niebuhr, Trav. 1:154; 2:394). The furniture of the rooms (2Ki 4:10) consisted of a sofa or couch (, compare Eze 23:41; , Amo 6:4; compare Josephus, Ant. 15:9, 3), which luxury was often adorned gorgeously (Amo 6:4; Song of Solomon 7:16), and furnished with pillows (Eze 13:10); and besides this, only chairs () a table (), and lanterns or lamp-stands (2Ki 4:10). See all the above parts and articles in their alphabetical order. Compare House.
The house leprosy described in Lev 14:33-57 was a corrosion of the saltpetre found in the lime used as mortar and the limestone used for building (see Michaelis, Mos. Reckt, 4:264 sq.; Mishna, Negaim, 12), and is still common in walls in Egypt (Volney, Trav. 1:55). SEE LEPROSY.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Dwelling
Dwelling. The dwellings of the poor in oriental lands are generally mere huts of mud or sun-burnt bricks. The earliest form of human habitation was probably a booth, though Cain built a city. Gen 4:17. The patriarchs were chiefly dwellers in tents, a form of habitation invented or adopted by Jabal. Gen 4:17-20. Of the various forms of dwellings common in early times, and alluded to in Scriptures, we may mention; 1. The booth. 2. The tent. 3. The cave dwellings. 4. The house of varied materialswood, dried mud, brick, stone, etc. The fathers of the Israelitish nation for the most part dwelt in tents. They were, in the providence of God, pilgrims in a land which should be given as a settled home to their posterity; wholesome lessons being thus taught them, and their example being to be afterwards quoted for the confirmation of the faith of the church. Act 7:4-5; Heb 11:8-10. Jacob indeed is said to have “built him a house at Succoth,” Gen 33:17; but the original word so rendered is of vague signification, and comprises almost every kind of erection, from the humblest hut or even tent to the gorgeous palace or sacred temple. After leaving Egypt, the Israelites inhabited tents in the wilderness; so that it was not till they occupied Canaan that they were domiciled in houses properly so called. In the cities which they tookthe few excepted which they were commanded to destroythey found houses ready to their hand. Deu 6:10-11; Jos 24:13. Some of the material of these houses may be still existing in the massive dwellings of Bashan, altered from what they were when the victorious tribes took possession of them.
The Plan. Probably the houses of the ancient Israelites differed little from those inhabited by modern Syrians. We may well, therefore, derive our illustrations of such as are mentioned in the Bible from usages of the present day. In some parts of Palestine and Arabia stone is used, and in certain districts caves in the rocks are used as dwellings. Amo 5:11. The houses are usually of one story only, viz., the ground floor, and often contain only one apartment. Sometimes a small court for the cattle is attached; and in some cases the cattle are housed in the same building, or the people live on a raised platform, and the cattle round them on the ground. 1Sa 28:24. The windows are small apertures high up in the walls, sometimes grated with wood. The roofs are commonly, but not always flat, and are usually formed of a plaster of mud, and straw laid upon boughs or rafters, or of tiles or flat stones, supported by beams of wood. Upon the flat roofs, tents or “booths” of boughs or rushes are often raised to be used as sleeping-places in summer. The difference between the poorest houses and those of the class next above them is greater than between these and the houses of the first rank. The materials of the better class of houses were stone, marble, and other costly kinds, perhaps, porphyry, basalt, etc., 1Ch 29:2. carefully squared, panelled, and fitted, Amo 5:11, cemented in Babylonia with bitumen. Gen 11:3, with clay, or mortar composed of lime, ashes, and sand, straw being sometimes added. Inferior materials, and want of proper mixing, would make this mortar liable to crumble, Eze 13:10-15, in rainy weather. Sometimes stones were fastened together with iron clamps or lead. Bricks, kiln-burnt, were probably also used. Other materials were timber, such as cedar, shittim (acacia), sycamore, olive, and in palaces algum and cypress. Exo 26:15; 1Ki 6:15-16; 1Ki 6:32-34; 1Ki 7:8; 1Ki 7:12; 1Ki 10:12; Isa 9:10. The precious metals and ivory were also employed for overlaying woodwork, etc., 1Ki 6:35; 1Ki 22:39; Amo 3:15.
A modern eastern house of the better class presents a dead wall to the street, with an interior court. There is a low entrance door with an inscription from the Koran, and over it a latticed window, or kiosk, sometimes projecting like our antique bay-windows; there may be also a few other small latticed windows high up in the wall. A passage from the outer door, which is attended to by the porter, Joh 18:16-17; Act 12:13-14, leads into the first or outer court, but is so contrived that the entrance to the court is not exactly opposite to the external door; so that no view of the court is obtained from the street, nor any of the street from the court. The principal apartment looks into this court, and some of them are open to it. The court is occasionally shaded by an awning; and on the floor or pavement of it, rugs are spread on festive occasions; while in the centre there is often a fountain. Around the court, or part of it, a veranda runs, and over this, when the house has more than one story, there is often another balustraded gallery. In the corner of the court are the stairs to the upper apartments. Immediately opposite the side of entrance is the principal reception room, open to the court. It has a raised terrace or platform, and is richly fitted up with sofas (the divn) round three sides, and probably with a fountain in the centre. Here the master of the house receives his visitors, his place being the corner of the divn, and each person taking off his shoes before he steps upon the raised portion of the apartment. When there is no second floor, out more than one court, the women’s apartmentshreem, harem or haramare usually in the second court; otherwise they form a separate building within the general enclosure, or are above on the first floor. When there is an upper story, the most important apartment answers to the upper room, which was often the guest chamber. Luk 22:12; Act 1:13; Act 9:37; Act 20:8.
The windows of the upper rooms often project one or two feet, and form a latticed chamber. See “the chamber in the wall.” 2Ki 4:10-11. The “lattice” through which Ahaziah fell perhaps belonged to an upper chamber of this kind, 2Ki 1:2, as also the “third story,” from which Eutychus fell. Act 20:9; comp. Jer 22:13. Paul preached in such a room on account of its superior size and retired position. The outer circle in an audience in such a room sat upon a dais, or upon cushions elevated so as to be as high as the window-sill, From such a position Eutychus could easily fall. There are usually no rooms specially for sleeping in eastern houses. The outer doors are closed with a wooden lock, but in some cases the apartments are divided from each other by curtains only. There are no chimneys, but fire is made when required with charcoal in a brazier, or a fire of wood might be kindled in the open court of the house. Luk 22:55. It was in a house built after this manner, probably, that our Lord was arraigned before the high priest at the time when the denial of him by Peter took place. He “turned and looked” on Peter as he stood by the fire in the court, Luk 22:56; Luk 22:61; whilst he himself was in the “hall of judgment.”
In oriental dwellings, the roof is an important part. Its flat surface is made useful for various household purposes, as drying corn, hanging up linen and preparing figs and raisins. In forming the roof, twigs, matting, and earth are laid upon the rafters, trodden down and covered with a compost, hard when it is dry. But it is necessary carefully to roll it after rain. On such roofs weeds often grow, but are speedily dried up and wither. Psa 129:6-7; Isa 37:27. These roofs were to be carefully protected by a battlement or parapet, lest accidents should occur. Deu 22:8. This towards the street is a wall, towards the interior court usually a balustrade. It may have been through this that Ahaziah fell. 2Ki 1:2. The roof is reached by an external staircase, so that it is not necessary to go through any of the rooms in ascending or descending. Mat 24:17. Many uses were and are made of these roof platforms. Linen and other articles were spread there to dry. Jos 2:6. They were places of private conference, of recreation, and for sleeping. 1Sa 9:25-26; 2Sa 11:2; 2Sa 16:22; Job 27:18; Pro 21:9; booths were erected there at the feast of tabernacles, Neh 8:16, and tents, 2Sa 16:22. In times of public calamity, lamentations were uttered there. Isa 15:3; Isa 22:1; Jer 48:38. There, too, was private prayer made, and sometimes idolatrous rites performed. 2Ki 23:12; Jer 19:13; Jer 32:29; Zep 1:5; Act 10:9.
Added particulars. Ceilings were made of cedar, and artistically colored. Jer 22:14-15; Hag 1:4. There were no chimneys; that so called, Hos 13:3, was but a hole; indeed there were ordinarily no fires except in a kitchen, where, on a kind of brick platform, places were provided for cooking. Apartments were warmed when needed by fire-pans, Jer 36:22; or fires were kindled in the court, Mar 14:54; Luk 22:55; Joh 18:18. Different rooms, too, as already mentioned in modern practice, were used in summer-time and in winter-time, Amo 3:15; and, whereas those for use in warm weather were open to the court, those for colder seasons were closed in with lattice-work, and curtains, and, probably for want of glass in the windows, with shutters. There were no rooms specially appropriated as bedrooms: just as it is common at the present day to sleep on the divan in the ordinary apartments. Hence the assassins would have easier access to Ish-bosheth. 2Sa 4:5-7. The various notices we meet with in Scripture will be easily understood if the previous descriptions be borne in mind. The chamber on the wall designed for Elisha, 2Ki 4:10, was probably the room over the gate, with the projecting window. Perhaps, also, the summer parlor where Ehud found Eglon, Jdg 3:20, was the same. The “guest chamber,” where our Lord commanded his disciples to prepare for the last supper, Luk 22:11-12, was one of the large reception rooms in an upper story. The “upper room,” where the disciples assembled after the ascension, Act 1:13, was similar to the “guest chamber” mentioned above. The circumstances attending the cure of the paralytic, Mar 2:2-4; Luk 5:18-19, may thus be explained. Our Lord was perhaps in the veranda; while the people crowded the court and impeded the passage from the street. The bearers, therefore, went to the roof, and taking away part of the covering of the veranda, let the sick man down.
There were also houses constructed with particular reference to the seasons. Summer houses were built partly under ground, and paved with marble. The fountains which gush out in the courts, and the methods used for excluding heat, and securing currents of fresh air render modern eastern houses very refreshing in the torrid heat of summer. The ivory house of Ahab was probably a palace largely ornamented with inlaid ivory. The circumstance of Samson’s pulling down the house by means of the pillars may be explained by the fact of the company being assembled on tiers of balconies above each other, supported by central pillars on the basement; when these were pulled down the whole of the upper floors would fall also. Jdg 16:26. It may be added that, when a man had built a house and had not dedicated it, he was free from military service. Deu 20:5. The use of the word in such passages as Exo 2:21; 1Sa 3:12; 2Sa 3:1-39; 2Sa 1:1-27; 2Sa 7:11; Eze 2:5, to easily understood.