“700. THE PARALYTIC—MARK 2:1-4; LUKE 5:17-19”
The Paralytic—Mar_2:1-4; Luk_5:17-19
As soon as the first excitement created by the cure of the leper had subsided, our Lord again appeared in the town of Capernaum, where, in his own house, or perhaps in that of Peter, He declared his doctrine to those who repaired to Him.
It being ascertained where He might be found, persons of consideration repaired to Capernaum, not only from other parts of Galilee, but even from Judea and Jerusalem; some, doubtless, in search of benefit to their souls, some from curiosity to see and hear One whose name was in every mouth, and others to watch whether any dangerous principles lurked in a doctrine so actively promulgated. Among these, and all, probably, belonging to the latter class, were Pharisees and doctors of the law. With persons of this class sitting by, Jesus was one day addressing a dense congregation in the house, when a circumstance occurred which has been greatly misunderstood for want of an accurate apprehension of the difference between Oriental houses and our own, and which may, therefore, render some details on this subject necessary—so far at least as may be of assistance in explaining the transaction.
Our own houses usually front the street, towards which they display all their ornamental architecture; and as our houses are double, or have one room or set of rooms behind another on each floor, together forming the thickness (or, as it is called, “depth”) of the house, there is another secondary front behind, with windows to give light to the back rooms and looking towards a court or garden in the rear.
All this is different in the East.
There are no back rooms, and consequently no need of two fronts to a house. The back of the house is a dead wall; and the front, instead of being towards the street, is turned towards an inner court, and the back is presented to the street in the shape of a lofty dead wall, of the height of the house, and generally constructed of mud. There is, however, a latticed window high up, or a kind of projecting balcony screened with latticed work, belonging to an apartment called in Scripture “the summer parlor,” and “the chamber in the wall.” The outer gate of the house is of course, being of necessity towards the street, at the back of the house. One does not enter by this at once into the court, but goes through a low passage; nor, when the door is open, can one see through into the court, or view any of the interior building. This is avoided by making the actual entrance into the court, not at the end of the passage, but in one of the sides near the termination of the passage. Passing this, we are in the court. We do not here find merely one front of building looking into it, but two or three, as the case may be, though seldom four. The reason is, that the Easterns do not build their houses in many stories, but lay out, side by side, the chambers which we pile up over each other; so that an eastern house, with not more accommodation than we, with our double rooms and floor above floor, can rear upon a contracted foundation and with one narrow frontage, will, in the East, require a large area, and a frontage extended around the sides of the court. There are usually but two floors—the ground floor and an upper floor. The ground floor comprises the kitchen, store-rooms, and various domestic offices; and the family lives in the upper floor, the chambers of which look into and open into a gallery to which there is access by one or two staircases, usually of stone. The gallery is generally broad, and is covered with a boarded roof supported by wooden pillars, which effectually shades the inhabited rooms from the sun.
Eastern House, with Gallery
We are speaking of the house as having but one court, as that is sufficient for our immediate purpose. But it must be noticed that the better sort of houses have often two courts, one within another, and sometimes even three. But as, in this case, all but the outer court are the private parts of the house, to which no strangers or visitors have access, the transactions recorded could only have taken place in one of the courts, and that the outer court, if, which seems to us not likely, the house in which our Lord was had more courts than one.
The middle room of the principal frontage, which is commonly the one on the side of the court furthest from the entrance, lies wholly open, displaying the decorated apartment in which the master of the house receives and entertains his visitors. In this room we suppose that the doctors of the law and other strangers, who are described as “sitting by,” were seated, for there was no other place for sitting; while Jesus stood forth in the gallery, with his disciples and other privileged persons, and thus addressed the persons assembled in the court below.
It was then that some persons, bearing a helpless paralytic in his bed, came to the house, in the hope that Jesus would heal him. But the court, and even the inner door, being crowded, they could not get near to the place where He stood. What was to be done? Friendly zeal is inventive of expedients; and as the idea of going to the top of a house, is as familiar to an Oriental as that of going to any room in it, it occurred to them that if they could get their afflicted friend to the roof of the house, it might be safely managed to let him down in his bed to the place where Jesus stood. But how were they to take him to the roof? Of the “external stair” leading to the house-top, of which some writers speak, we have no knowledge—the access to the roof being generally, as far as we have seen, from the interior of the court. It is often, however, near the door which opens into the court, and they might, with a little entreaty, and some pushing, have gained access to it. But as there is said to have been a great crowd even “about the door,” we incline to think they availed themselves of an easier and more obvious expedient. This was to go next door, and ask leave to take their friend to the top of that house, where they could easily pass him over the parapet to the roof to which they desired to have access.
Autor: JOHN KITTO