HOUSES
Upon entering the
Promised Land, the skills of settled agriculture learned from the Egyptians
during the Captivity were put into practice and the previously nomadic people
entered into a settled lifestyle, living in permanent houses.For most this was a one-roomed shelter with the people spending as much time
outdoors as possible. ‘Bayith’, the Hebrew word for house, means shelter. A
place to rest after a day spent outside. God too, is referred to as a shelter
or refuge. (Psalm 61:3, Isaiah 4:6)ONE ROOM
The one-room houses
were normally constructed of clay bricks dried in the sun, similar to many
third world countries today. Where available, a roughly hewn, local sandstone
was used instead, set with a mortar of mud. Only palaces or the houses of the
wealthy were made of hewn stone. eg. Solomon’s palace and the Temple .
(1 Kings 7:9)
