ROOFTOP EXPERIENCES IN THE BIBLE

We have all heard the expression “mountaintop experience,” referring to some important event in one's life. In the Bible, that certainly applies literally to momentous occasions such as the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, the Transfiguration, and Jesus' delivery of the Sermon on the Mount. But the Bible also contains some important rooftop experiences as well.

“The key to understanding biblical references to the housetop is to know that the architecture of houses included flat roofs as a salient feature and that regular household activities occurred there.” (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery) “The roof of the house provided extra accommodation which was often utilized in the summer. The family would sleep there, and use it as a living-room during the day, as well as a storeroom where raisins, figs, flax, etc., were spread out in the sun.” (J. L. Kelso)

Because of the many activities that took place on the top of houses, we find hidden among the miscellaneous commands God gave the people though Moses a divine building code regulation outlined in Deuteronomy 22:8. They are to build their houses with parapets around the roofs to prevent anyone from accidentally falling off. This illustrates how God cares for our welfare even down to the smallest detail.

Joshua 2 contains an important event occurring during the conquest of Jericho. Rahab leads the Jewish spies to the roof of the city and helps them to escape by lowering them down the outside the city walls. Even more important, however, is the fact that this kindness by Rahab will eventually lead to her deliverance and her status as a direct ancestress in the line leading to the birth of Jesus Christ.

There is an almost perfect parallel to this event in Acts 9 in which Paul's life is saved by friends lowering him in a basket down the wall of Damascus. Although in this occasion an opening in the wall is utilized rather than the actual rooftop, in both cases God used the event not only to save the lives of individuals, but also it led eventually to eternal salvation for many through Paul's subsequent preaching.

A quite different event occurs in Judges 16:25-31 when Samson's performance for the Philistines literally brings down the house, killing 3,000 of God's enemies who had gathered on the rooftop to observe it. This is the first of several passages in the Bible in which God's judgment is associated with rooftops in one way or another.

I Samuel 9 narrates the elaborate way in which God orchestrates events so as to maneuver Saul and Samuel into a meeting together so that Saul can be ordained as the first king of Israel. Part of the proceedings involve Saul sleeping on the roof of a house. If you turn to Acts 10 and read it in conjunction with this OT narrative, you will see another example of the complicated chain of events put into motion by God in order to “ordain” the Gentiles in the presence of His chosen representative. The representative is Peter in this case, and in both stories, one of the main characters sleeps or has a vision on a rooftop.

Also, since Peter went on top of the roof in order to pray, we see a direct contrast between appropriate worship here and the examples of pagan worship on rooftops that will be listed below.

In II Samuel 11:2-5 we learn of the rooftop experience in the Bible that most people probably recall the best. It begins with King David walking about on the roof of the royal palace. This probably afforded the best vantage point in the whole of Jerusalem, and I imagine David using it to survey part of his vast kingdom. If so, it would certainly be in keeping with his desire to conduct a census of all those in his empire, against God's wishes. It would also be in perfect keeping with a much later event in which King Nebuchadnezzar goes to the rooftop of his palace in order to view his widespread empire and congratulate himself for his own mighty power and glory. At that moment, God literally brings him down to earth where he will eat grass like an ox. (Daniel 4:28-33)

The evil that resulted from David's rooftop stroll includes the death of Uriah the Hittite, the death of his first child by Bathsheba, and divisions within David's household and within the kingdom as a whole. But at the same time, their union would eventually led to the birth of the great King Solomon. It is a good illustration of God using the same circumstances to accomplish His will in multiple ways (both in judgment and blessing).

As a sort of closure to the whole sad story of David's family that brings events full circle, in II Samuel 16:20-22 David's son Absalom goes to the same rooftop and has sex with David's concubines as a demonstration to the people that he has supplanted his father as king. And then, in II Samuel 18:24-33 David learns of the death of his wayward son Absalom from a messenger first detected by a guard stationed on the roof of the city gate.

There are several passages in which God predicts judgment on Judah and the city of Jerusalem specifically for the sin of worshiping pagan gods on the roofs of their houses (II Kings 23:12; Jeremiah 19:10-13; 32:29; Zephaniah 1:4-5).

Another association of rooftops with judgment is when it is predicted that the people of Moab will wail and lament from the top of their houses when God's retribution catches up with them (Isaiah 15:3; Jeremiah 48:38).

After the return from captivity, Ezra reads to the people the Book of the Law for the first time in decades, and the people celebrate by setting up booths on the top of the houses and live there during the time of the festival (Nehemiah 8:9-18). This is certainly a happy contrast to the people of Judah worshiping pagan gods on those same rooftops generations earlier.

This event in Nehemiah is also in stark contrast to the earlier time in Israel's history when the people rejoice from the rooftops that they are still alive after the Assyrians have attacked them. But Isaiah warns them that they have no reason to rejoice since they are soon to be carried off into captivity (Isaiah 22:1-3). There is a certain similarity to the Nehemiah passage and II Samuel 18:24-33 in that both involve rooftops and contrasting expectations as to whether events constitute good or bad news.

The theme of rooftops continues in the New Testament:

One of Jesus' first recorded miracles is the healing of the paralytic who had to be lowered down from the roof of a building by his friends (Mark 2:1-12; Luke 3:19). This physical healing represents a step further in the principle expressed in Deuteronomy 22:8 in that God not only exhibits his ideal will that our bodies be preserved from harm but also that they might be healed once they are injured.

Another instance of the top of roofs being associated with God's judgment is found in Matthew 24:16 and its parallels in Mark 13:15 and Luke 17:31. Jesus advises the inhabitants of Jerusalem who see the signs of imminent danger and are on their rooftops to come down immediately and flee for their lives without stopping to take any possessions with them. I realize that almost all prophecy “experts” take the teachings of Jesus as referring to some End Times event, whether it be the Rapture, the Tribulation, or the Second Coming. But to do so is an especially egregious example of poor exegesis. Do they really believe that people can escape such world-shaking events merely by running away? The more logical conclusion is that at least some of the warnings in Matthew 24 are specifically addressing the coming judgment on Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. My detailed analysis of this chapter can be read in the post titled “Matthew 24: One or Two Questions?”

Finally, we come to a pair of sayings by Jesus to his disciples which are so similar in wording that some scholars feel they are two versions of the same original teaching.

    “There is nothing covered up that will not be uncovered, nothing hidden that will not be made known. What I say to you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight; what you hear whispered you must shout from the house-tops.” (Matthew 10:27 NEB)

    “There is nothing covered up that will not be uncovered, nothing hidden that will not be made known. You may take it, then, that everything you have said in the dark will be heard in broad daylight, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the house-tops. (Luke 12:1-3 NEB)

Jesus has apparently used almost the identical saying to make two somewhat different points. In Matthew 10, Jesus prefaces his words by saying, “So do not be afraid of them,” referring to enemies of the truth and their probable reaction to the disciples' outspoken proclamations. And he follows the above statement by stressing that the disciples have no need to fear those who can only destroy one's body. By contrast, the version in Luke begins with Jesus warning the disciples against the sin of hypocrisy since even their secret behavior in private will eventually be known for all the world to hear.

The context of both sayings is the final revelation of all things at the Last Judgment, but there is a difference in emphasis in each case:

    Matthew 10 had to do with “the bold proclamation of what the disciples had heard in private.” But in Luke 12, “it refers much more to a person's inner makeup.” (Fitzmyer)

    “In Lk. What is said secretly will be made known publicly; secrets will not remain hidden. In Mt., however the disciples are commanded to proclaim openly what they have learned secretly; the gospel must be spread and made known...Both forms give a good sense with what follows.” (Marshall)

And Ellis brings out another contrast in that in Luke: “The dominant note” is admonition, whereas encouragement is the emphasis in Matthew.