The letting down of the paralytic through the roof of the house
where Jesus was, is satisfactorily explained by the following extract
from Shaw’s Travels: “The houses throughout the east are low, having
generally a ground floor only, or one upper story, and flat-roofed, the
roof being covered with a strong coat of plaster of terrace. They are
built round a paved court, into which the entrance from the street is
through a gateway or passage room furnished with benches, and
sufficiently large to be used for receiving visits or transacting
business. The stairs which lead to the roof are never placed on the
outside of the house in the street, but usually in the gateway, or
passage room to the court, sometimes at the entrance within the court.
This court is now called, in Arabic, _el woost_, or ‘the middle of the
house,’ literally answering to τὸ μέσον of St. Luke, v, 19. It is
customary to fix cords from the parapet walls, Deut. xxii, 8, of the
flat roofs across this court, and upon them to expand a veil or
covering, as a shelter from the heat. In this area, probably, our
Saviour taught. The paralytic was brought on to the roof by making a way
through the crowd to the stairs in the gateway, or by the terraces of
the adjoining houses. They rolled back the veil, and let the sick man
down over the parapet of the roof into the area or court of the house,
before Jesus.” The windows of the eastern houses being chiefly within,
facing the court, in order to see what was going on without in the
streets of the city, the only way was to run up to the flat roof. Hence
the frequent expression in Scripture, when allusion is made to sudden
tumults and calamities, to get up to “the house top.” See HOUSES.
where Jesus was, is satisfactorily explained by the following extract
from Shaw’s Travels: “The houses throughout the east are low, having
generally a ground floor only, or one upper story, and flat-roofed, the
roof being covered with a strong coat of plaster of terrace. They are
built round a paved court, into which the entrance from the street is
through a gateway or passage room furnished with benches, and
sufficiently large to be used for receiving visits or transacting
business. The stairs which lead to the roof are never placed on the
outside of the house in the street, but usually in the gateway, or
passage room to the court, sometimes at the entrance within the court.
This court is now called, in Arabic, _el woost_, or ‘the middle of the
house,’ literally answering to τὸ μέσον of St. Luke, v, 19. It is
customary to fix cords from the parapet walls, Deut. xxii, 8, of the
flat roofs across this court, and upon them to expand a veil or
covering, as a shelter from the heat. In this area, probably, our
Saviour taught. The paralytic was brought on to the roof by making a way
through the crowd to the stairs in the gateway, or by the terraces of
the adjoining houses. They rolled back the veil, and let the sick man
down over the parapet of the roof into the area or court of the house,
before Jesus.” The windows of the eastern houses being chiefly within,
facing the court, in order to see what was going on without in the
streets of the city, the only way was to run up to the flat roof. Hence
the frequent expression in Scripture, when allusion is made to sudden
tumults and calamities, to get up to “the house top.” See HOUSES.