Dictionaries :: Dwellings

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Dwellings:

The materials used in buildings were commonly bricks, sometimes also stones (Lev 14:40,42), which were held together by cement (Jer 43:9) or bitumen (Gen 11:3). The exterior was usually whitewashed (Lev 14:41; Eze 13:10; Mat 23:27). The beams were of sycamore (Isa 9:10), or olive-wood, or cedar (1Ki 7:2; Isa 9:10).

The form of Eastern dwellings differed in many respects from that of dwellings in Western lands. The larger houses were built in a quadrangle enclosing a court-yard (Luk 5:19; 2Sa 17:18; Neh 8:16) surrounded by galleries, which formed the guest-chamber or reception-room for visitors. The flat roof, surrounded by a low parapet, was used for many domestic and social purposes. It was reached by steps from the court. In connection with it (2Ki 23:12) was an upper room, used as a private chamber (2Sa 18:33; Dan 6:11), also as a bedroom (2Ki 23:12), a sleeping apartment for guests (2Ki 4:10), and as a sick-chamber (1Ki 17:19). The doors, sometimes of stone, swung on morticed pivots, and were generally fastened by wooden bolts. The houses of the more wealthy had a doorkeeper or a female porter (Jhn 18:16; Act 12:13). The windows generally opened into the courtyard, and were closed by a lattice (Jdg 5:28). The interior rooms were set apart for the female portion of the household.

The furniture of the room (2Ki 4:10) consisted of a couch furnished with pillows (Amo 6:4; Eze 13:20); and besides this, chairs, a table and lanterns or lamp-stands (2Ki 4:10).