house,
noun Of all the metaphors in the Bible, house is perhaps the
most common and the most versatile. As a result of the various
connotations, a passage like this one is subject to interpretation:
In my
Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not
so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ─
oikia [John 14:2]
Seeing these words,
which the gospel according to John attributes to Jesus, few people
would take literally house as meaning a building for human
occupation. Many suppose that house as a metaphor indicates a
dwelling place for the dead, but the use of the metaphor in the
Hebrew Scriptures suggests other possibilities. The words for house
in Hebrew, beth, and in Greek oikia and oikos,
have similar uses as figurative language.
(NOTE:
In
Medieval theater, craft and trade guilds performed liturgical dramas
on the steps or the porch of a church. Across the acting area, they
placed a number of booths representing specific locations, with
Hell's Mouth and Heaven's Gate at opposite ends. These booths were
known as mansions. The actors would move from mansion to mansion as
the play demanded. The area in front of and between the mansions was
neutral and was presumed to be part of whichever mansion was being
featured. The translators of the King James Version would have been
familiar with this practice.1)
More often than not, beth is
translated as house or home and clearly refers to a building where a
person or a family1 lives. When beth is being
used as a metaphor, however, the New Revised Standard Version may
use house or another word that clarifies the meaning of the
metaphor.
beth
as a group of related people
Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this
month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for
each household. [Exodus 12:3]
Now
Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the
Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the
clan of Heber the Kenite. [Judges 4:17]
A man
from each tribe shall be with you, each man the head of his
ancestral house. [Numbers 1:4]
For the
cloud of the
Lord
was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night,
before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of
their journey. [Exodus 40:38]
And he
said, "Hear my words: When there are prophets among you, I the
Lord
make myself known to them in visions; I speak to them in dreams.
Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house.”
[Numbers 12:6-7]
beth
as a space with a specific use
So the
Philistines seized Samson and gouged out his eyes. They brought him
down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles; and he ground at
the mill in the prison. [Judges 16:21]
At
midnight the
Lord
struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the
firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the
prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the
livestock. [Exodus 12:29]
Then King
Darius made a decree, and they searched the archives where
the documents were stored in Babylon. [Ezra 6:1]
Let the
cost be paid from the royal treasury. [Ezra 6:4]
Every day
Mordecai would walk around in front of the court of the harem,
to learn how Esther was and how she fared. [Esther 2:11]
Hezekiah
welcomed them; he showed them his treasure house, the silver,
the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory.
[Isaiah 39:2]
beth
as a safe place
“Send,
therefore, and have your livestock and everything that you have in
the open field brought to a secure place; every human or animal that
is in the open field and is not brought under shelter will
die when the hail comes down upon them.” Those officials of Pharaoh
who feared the word of the
Lord
hurried their slaves and livestock off to a secure place.
[Exodus 9:19-20]
Incline
your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a
strong fortress to save me. [Psalm 31:2]
beth
as a holy place
Jacob was
afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other
than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
[Genesis 28:17]
The
choicest of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the
house of the
Lord
your God. [Exodus 23:19]
These I
will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house
of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be
accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of
prayer for all peoples. [Isaiah 56:7]
They gave
him seventy pieces of silver out of the temple of Baal-berith
with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, who
followed him. [Judges 9:4]
The
Lord
said to me: Mortal, mark well, look closely, and listen attentively
to all that I shall tell you concerning all the ordinances of the
temple of the
Lord
and all its laws. [Ezekiel 44:5]
This man
Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and
installed one of his sons, who became his priest. [Judges 17:5]
beth
as bondage
When in
the future your child asks you, "What does this mean?" you shall
answer, "By strength of hand the
Lord
brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery." [Exodus
13:14]
Like beth in the Hebrew Scriptures, oikos and
oikia in the Greek portions of the Bible usually are
translated as house or home and clearly refer to buildings where a
person or a family lives. When appearing as metaphors, they also
sometimes are expressed by other words. Originally the two Greek
words for house had slightly different meanings. Oikos
referred to the whole estate while oikia meant simply a
dwelling place. By the time of Jesus, however, the distinction
seems to have been forgotten.
oikos/oikia as a
group of related people
In the
sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee
called Nazareth,
to a virgin
engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of
David. ─ oikos [Luke 1:26-27]
Therefore
let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God
has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified. ─
oikos [Acts 2:36]
The
father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him,
"Your son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole
household. ─ oikia [John 4:53]
They must
be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by
teaching for sordid gain what it is not right to teach. ─ oikia
[Titus 1:11]
If I am
delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household
of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and
bulwark of the truth. ─ oikos [ I Timothy 3:15]
Now
Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to
testify to the things that would be spoken later. ─ oikos
[Hebrews 3:5]
Like
living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to
God through Jesus Christ. ─ oikos [I Peter 2:5]
oikos/oikia
as a holy place
David
entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence,
which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only
for the priests. ─ oikos [Matthew 12:4]
This
generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed
since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the
blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the
sanctuary. ─ oikos [Luke 11:50-51]
Jesus
told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of
here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" ─
oikos [John 2:16]
oikos/oikia
as a human body
When the
unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through
waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any,
it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” ─
oikos [Luke 11:24]
For we
know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we
have a building from God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. ─ oikia
[II Corinthians 5:1]
From this review of
the house metaphor in the Bible, it should be obvious that when John
has Jesus refer to his father’s2 house with many dwelling
places, the house intended might not be a place for the dead. If
the father’s house is taken to be a physical structure, this saying
could be a reference to the temple in Jerusalem, but it seems
unlikely that John thought Jesus was preparing the temple as a place
where his followers one day would reside. The other possibility is
that house is being used as a group of related people, the whole
people of God3, as above in Numbers 12:6-7, I Timothy
3:15, Hebrews 3:5, and I Peter 2:5. If John understood Jesus
correctly, perhaps Jesus was preparing the way for his followers to
find a place to live out their lives among God’s people.
If John was using the house
metaphor in one of its most common applications, a group of related
people, the father’s house with many dwelling places may be the most
radically inclusive statement in the gospels. Jesus was making room
for his followers among all the other people in God’s household.
For some, that interpretation of the house metaphor contradicts the
exclusive sounding pronouncement that follows a few verses later.
Jesus
said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.” [John 14:6]
John may have thought
that the only way4 to God was through Jesus and that
anyone who did not follow Jesus could not be part of the father’s
household. Or John may have intended his readers to see this
statement as a song of praise expressing his faith and the faith of
his community. Jesus was the only way for them to find a place
among God’s people. When they found their place, they would also
realize that among God’s people were those who had found their
places in God’s household by following different ways.
__________________
- Source:
Sandy Havens, Emeritus Professor of Theatre at Rice University.
- For
family, see From Literal to Literary, pp. 95-96.
- For
father, see From Literal to Literary, pp. 96-98.
- For God,
see From Literal to Literary, pp. 109-111.
- For way,
see From Literal to Literary, pp. 266-267.