This account describes perfectly the process of making an opening in a Syrian roof.
In St. Luke's Gospel, however, the statement { 271} is:[1] "And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the _tiling_ with his _couch_ into the midst before Jesus." The coloring here is decidedly Roman and not Syrian. The writer of Luke was a Latin Christian. He related the incident in terms which were easily understood by his own people. The Syrians never covered their roof with tiles nor slept on couches. Mark's account speaks of uncovering the _roof_ and letting down the _bed_. The Syrian roof is constructed as follows: The main timbers which carry the roof covering are laid across, horizontally, at intervals of about two to three feet. Crosswise over the timbers are laid the _khasheb_ (sticks long enough to bridge the spaces between) quite close together. Over the _khasheb_ reeds and branches of trees and thistles are laid, and the whole is covered with about twelve inches of earth. The dirt is rolled down by a stone roller and made hard enough to { 272} "shed water." In many houses during the summer season an opening, called _qafa'a_, is made in the roof for the purpose of letting down the grain and other provisions which are dried in the sun on the housetop. The space between the timbers admits easily the large basket called _sell_, which is as big around as a bushel basket.
Now, those who let down the palsied man either made an entirely new opening in the roof, or simply extended the _qafa'a_ enough to admit the unfortunate man in his folded quilt or thick cushion, tied by the four corners. And it was this which Jesus commanded him to carry, when he said to him, "Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk." From the foregoing it may be seen that a couch could not have been so easily let down through the roof, nor _carried_ by the newly healed man.
Sleeping on the housetop in the summer season is an Oriental custom the advantage of which the Occident has just "discovered." To use the roofs of high buildings in American cities as sleeping quarters is a "new" suggestion of { 273} that genius known as the "social reformer." To the ancient East, "there is nothing new under the sun." However, to dwell on the housetop is an expression which symbolizes desolation. Nevertheless the writer of Proverbs says:[2] "It is better to _dwell_ in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house."