House

While the homes of many people in Israel were tents, many others lived in houses. These houses had flat roofs. There was no need for a slanting roof in a land with so little rain. Walls were usually made from stone or brick. From the street, one would first enter a small open-air courtyard that often served as the kitchen. Beyond the courtyard, doors opened into a living room. Small bedrooms were beyond the living room. The owner and his family often shared the house with farm animals.

The floor of the house was clay or stone, depending on what the owner could afford. When a group of men tried to bring their paralyzed friend to the crowded house where Jesus taught, they tore up the roof to lower the man into the house. Doors were made of wood, cloth, skins, or woven rushes. The windows were small and high. Since there were no chimneys, smoke from the indoor stoves—used for cooking and heating—escaped through windows or doors.

The flat roofs were important to people of Bible times. They could be used for extra sleeping space, for drying flax, and for other activities. Stone steps often led from the courtyard to the roof.

Houses of richer people sometimes had an upper room built on the roof. Stairs to the upper room were usually outdoors. After Jesus’s death, the disciples met in the upper room of the home of John Mark’s mother. This is also the site of the Last Supper.