HOUSE, THE HEBREW, AND ITS APPOINTMENTS: The limestone hills of Palestine abound in
natural caves, which served the primForm, itive inhabitants as dwelling-places.
Material, By enlarging these caves and enclosing
etc. them in front by a atone wall, a form of
house was gradually evolved, standing
partly free and partly hollowed out in the rock.
Examples have been found in ancient Jerusalem,
on the slopes of the
eastern hill. The Canaanites
had regularly constructed houses, but caves long
continued in use in certain portions of the land, as
at Bait Jibrin and Derat (Edrei). Jerome affirms
that the Idumeana dwelt in caves, because of the
heat. In the Old Testament caves are mentioned
as places of refuge in time of war and the like
(Judges vi. 2, xv. 8
sqq.; I Sam. aiii. 6, siv. 11).
They were used also for cattle and as tombs. House
architecture was influenced by the climate and the
nature of the country. The former made necessary
protection from
the sun and rain, and also cool,
cellar-like rooms; at the same time it permitted
light and airy structures.. Since the land did not
afford abundance of timbfr, buildings were necessarily either of atone or brick; the former was used
in the mountainous part of the country, where the
easily worked limestone provided good building
material, and the latter in the plains, where clay
bricks were dried in the sun. In the excavations
(at Taenach, for instance) it has been found that
the simplest form of construction was with small
atones set in clay, making so compact a mesa that
no single block can be detached from the ruins.
Regularly formed clay bricks, measuring nineteen
and a half by thirteen inches, or thirteen by thirteen,
constituted an advance upon this primitive material
in a second form of building. A third style of house
I was of small unhew stones carefully fitted together.
These houses were small, at most thirteen feet in
width. In larger buildings it was customary to
construct the lower courses of the wall with
mediumsized unhewn atones and to finish with courses of
brick, hewn atones being used only for temples and
palaces
(I Kings vii. 9
sqq.; Iea. ix. 10). Plastering
with lime was known at an early period (Ezek, aiii.
10, etc.), though clay was the more usual material
(Lev. xiv. 41).
Foundation sacrifice
(performed by
immuring human beings in the foundations during
construction) is proven by excavations to have been
employed in Palestine and by the Israelites. I Kings
avi. 34 refers to this custom. Later the sacrifice
was symbolical only, lamps and dishes being substituted for human beings. The so-called leprosy
of houses (Lev. siv. 33-57) has not been satisfactorily explained. Nitrous efflorescence has been
thought of, and also fungus growths, such as appear
on weather-beaten stones and walls.
The roofs of smaller buildings were made by laying
poles across the walls and covering them, with
branches and brush, over which a thick layer of
earth was trodden down and the whole then covered with
another layer of clay and straw. In the
case of atone buildings arched roofs were in use
at an early period; at first the false arch, and
later the true one. Such heavy structures required
strong foundations, and these rested
Roofing on the rock or were at least carried
and to a
considerable depth. , On the out
Interior. side the arched roof was built out
so as to form a level roof-terrace.
A stairway led directly from the court to the
roof, which, was a favorite place of resort
(
Judges xvi. 27;
Josh. ii. 6;
II Sam. xi. 2;
Ise. xxii. 1), where the dwellers often slept in
the summer
(
I Sam. ix. 25
Septuagint), and a booth often afforded protection against the sun's rays
(
II Sam. xvi. 22;
Neh. viii. 16).
For this reason the law required that the roof should be surrounded
with a battlement
(
Deut. xxii. 8);
nevertheless, it was easy to leap from
one roof to another and so pass along entire streets (Mark xui.
15). The or dinary house consisted only of a single room; the
more pretentious had also an upper room
(
II Sam. xviii. 33;
I Kings xvii. 19;
II Kings iv. 10);
the houses of the rich contained several rooms-a
reception-room at the entrance, a special sleeping
room, the women's apartment in
the interior, and others
(
II Sam. iv. 7;
I Kings i. 15;
Jer. xxxvi. 22;
Amos iii. 15).
The low wooden door (Prow. xvii. 19;
in the Hauran the door was often a stone slab)
turned on a mortice fitting into a socket in the
threshold,
which was usually of stone
(
I Kings vii. 50;
Prov. xxvi. 14).
It was fastened with a bolt which could be thrown back by a key,
either from the inside or.outside. At the door
posts was the place of the household-gods, and
the
magic signs for protection against evil spirits
were also affixed to them
(
Isa. lvii. 8).
In the Yahweh-worship a sentence from the torah was
used
(
Deut. vi. 9);
to the posts was also applied the blood of the paschal lamb
(
Ex. xii. 7).
The floor was a simple coating of clay. The win
dows, which were not numerous, were provided
with wooden lattices, as at the present day
(
Judges v. 28;
I Kings vi. 4;
II Kings i. 2).
The increasing luxury of the dwellings was shown
not only in their greater size
(
Jer. xxii. 14),
but, above all, in the material employed for
Adornment their construction-hewn stones (Amos
and V. 11) for the walls, painted decora
Furniture. tions on the latter
(
Jer. xxii. 14),
olive or cedar wood for the doors and for
wainscoting
(
I Kings vi. 31,
cf. x. 27;
Jer. xxii. 14;
Hag. i. 4), ornamented with ivory and adorned with
carvings
(
I Kings vi. 18, xxii. 39;
Amos iii. 15).
wooden planks for flooring, and the like
(
I Kings vi. 15).
The Greco-Roman style of architecture
used in the Hellenic period was confined to
the larger buildings. The furnishing of the house con
sisted, according to
II Kings iv. 10,
principally of four articles: couch, table, chair, and lamp. As an
open-sir life was favored by climatic conditions, the
Israelite required but few, conveniences
in his house, which was, to him, primarily a resting-place for the
night; in the day-time he was usually outside. A
bed for sleeping was as unknown to him as to the
present fellahin; he wrapped himself in his mantle
(
Ex. xxii. 26;
Deut. xxiv. 13)
and lay upon the floor or upon a pallet. The couch of the well-to-do
served as a sofa upon which they sat at
table, with crossed legs
(
I Sam. xx. 25;
Ezek. xxiii. 41),
and as a bed for the sick
(
Gen. xlvii. 31;
I Sam. xix. 13
sqq.); in later times it was also used as a bed at
night
(
Job vii. 13;
Pa. vi. 6). It consisted of a simple wooden framework with a cover; among
the rich it was inlaid with ivory
and otherwise or namented
(
Cant. iii. 10;
Amos vi. 4)
and bedecked with rich coverings
(
Prov. vii. 16).
The wooden table was, quite low, and the ordinary family sat
about it at meal-time, crouching on
the floor; people of higher station used chairs or sofas around a higher
table
(
Judges i. 7;
I Sam. xx. 5),
and this gradually became the common usage. The chair, in its sim
plest form, had neither back nor arms; the more
pretentious armchairs of the higher classes may
have been similar to those of the Assyrians, of which
representations exist. The lamps preserved the
same form to the Greek period-a flat, open saucer
with the edge bent upward to form a mouth for the
wick. Many such lamps have been found in the
excavations, among them some interesting speci
mens with seven mouths; they were plated on an
earthenware base. In the Greek period the closed
lamp came into use. To these four articles may be
added the coal-pan, by means of which the rooms,
at least those of the better classes, were heated
(
Jer. xxxvi. 22).
Some means of heating is very necessary
in the mountainous part of the country during the
winter.
I. Benzingeh.
Bibliography:
Benzinger, Archäologie; Nowack~ Archaeologie; A. C. E. Edersheim, Sketches of
Jewish Social
Life, pp. 93-96, London, 1878; H. B. Tristram, Eastern
Customs in Bible Lands, pp. 89-98, London, 1894; E.
Day, Social Life of the Hebrews, New York, 1901;
DB,
ii. 430-436 (good); EB, ii. 2129-33; JE, oi..485-486.
Illustrative matter from Egypt will be found in A. Erman,
Life in Ancient Egypt, pp. 167-199, London, 1894. Much
material of value is contained in the ZDPV and also in
the PEF Quarterly Statemmta, especially those numbers
which deal with excavations.
