“Merciful Father, as you have sent the Holy Spirit on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to write all that You wished and wanted, we pray You, send the same Holy Spirit on us, so that we may understand, appreciate Your Word, and make it our plan of life. This we ask for the merits of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
“I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.”
Indoor Gardens
19 …. In some courtyards they would sometimes plant trees and flowers as a private garden. We refer to Psalm 52:8, “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.”
It was customary for a person to be talking to another in the ‘courtyard’ and he could say that he was in the house, though he would be outdoors. Yet the courtyard was considered to be part of the house.
We find this situation if we refer to Matthew 26:9, where we read: “Peter was outside in the courtyard when a maid accosted him…” Some courtyards even had awnings stretched over them.
The Cistern or Well
We see a well, a cistern built in the courtyard, purposely dug to catch and store rain water. During the dry season they used the well to hide anyone they knew, who was on the run, or was being chased, as we find in 2Sam. 17:18,
“…He had a pit in his courtyard, and they climbed down into it.”
After hiding the person in the empty cistern, they would cover the mouth, the opening of the well with twigs, soil, or cloth not to be noticed by outsiders.
When Peter denied Jesus he was in one of these courtyards, where a fire was burning, as it was cold. It was a common practice to light a bonfire to warm themselves, that is why we find in John, 18:18,
“And the servants and officers stood there, they made a fire of coals, as it was cold, to warm themselves, and Peter stood with them to warm himself too.”
Even in the case of Batsheba, she was bathing in the courtyard of her house, when David saw her from on top of the roof. She would not be seen in her courtyard, by passers-by, but David was looking down at her courtyard, from high up, and it was there, from his roof that he saw Batsheba bathing.
The main Door of the house.
The Culture of the West is such that we do make it a point to put the main door of our habitation, in front, where it can be seen, even from outside, from the street. Not so with the Orientals. They had an different idea about their main door; it was placed in a way that it would not be visible from outside, from the street, they went so far that sometimes they even built a wall to conceal the main entrance.
The Needle’s Eye
We do recall Jesus’ words, “It is much easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye, than…..” What was the ‘needle’s eye’? Their gates, of the city or the private ones, and large doors, all had a much smaller door, built in within the larger one. It was narrow enough not to let in any transport …. In those days it was either donkeys, mules or camels, for the safety of the people, especially during the night. The large door, or gate were open on special occasions. Recall Acts 12:13, Peter knocking ‘at the door of the gate’. This means peter was knocking at the small panel, door within the large gate. /20
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