Methods of Bible Study  Lesson six

Manners and customs of Bible lands

I.  Dwellings.

  A.  Tents.  See Genesis 4:20

    1.  Material.  Tents were made of woven goat hair which was black in color.

         Song of Solomon 1:5

    2.  Layout.  Genesis 18:10-15; 24:67; 31:33

    3.  Arrangement and furnishings.

    4.  Encampments.

    5.  Maintenance and enlargement.  Isaiah 54:2

    6.  Character of life.  Hebrews 11:9-13

    7.  Search the book of Jeremiah and discover a statement of purpose in the use of tents.

  B.  One room houses.

    1.  Purpose of the house – bavith (shelter)

    2.  References to the general character of the house.

      a.  Grass on the housetops.

Psalms 129:6  Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:

2 Kings 19:26  Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

Isaiah 37:27  Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.

      b.  Weather leaking through the roof.

Proverbs 19:13  A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.

Proverbs 27:15  A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.

      c.  Thieves breaking through the walls. 

Matthew 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Matthew 24:43  But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

      d.  Snakes in the walls.

Amos 5:19  As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

      e.  Special uses of the roof.

        1).  Sleeping

        2).  Storage 

Joshua 2:6  But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

        3).  Public announcements

        4).  Worship and prayer.

Acts 10:9  On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:

        5).  Emergency escape route.

Matthew 24:17  Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

      f.  Windows and doors  

       1).  Windows usually faced the street.  Placement was important to insure privacy and

             safety.  The windows had wood bars or wood shutters that could be closed and 

             secured.  Proverbs 7:6

Proverbs 7:6  For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,

        2).  Doors.  Doors were made of wood and were hinged.  They were secured with

              various kinds of locks.  Exodus 12:22,23; Judges 3:25

Exodus 12:22-23  And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

Judges 3:25  And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

      h.  Sleeping arrangements.

Luke 11:5-7  And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

      i.  Cooking

  C.  Multi-room houses

    1.  Layout and purpose.

      a.  Upper rooms.  2 Kings 4; Acts 1:13

2 Kings 4:9-11  And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.

Luke 22:11-12  And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.

Acts 1:13  And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.

      b.  Roofs  Luke 5:19; Duteronomy 22:8

Luke 5:19  And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

Deuteronomy 22:8  When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.

Complete the study on the following subjects using the previous outline as a guide.  This is the first lesson of this important study.

    2.  Courtyards.

    3.  Entrances

  D.  Furnishings and implements

    1.  Tents

    2.  Houses