Acts 10:9b    . . . Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: Isaiah 22:1b    . . . What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? Matthew 10:27    What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

   In the Bible lands, the houses had flat roofs. At the sixth hour (noon), people would go up on their housetops to pray. When many of the people in the city were sick, the town leaders would ask the whole city to go up on their housetops and pray. Then they would "wholly" go up. The housetops were also a place to spread news. People would pass news from housetop to housetop. We get the expression "shout it from the housetops" from this practice. Jesus Christ said that the Word of God is to be preached upon the housetops. We are to tell everyone in the city the good news regarding the Lord Jesus Christ.

Gladly Cartoons
URL http://www.cortright.org/gladroof.htm
© Copyright December, 2002 Michael Cortright