The Upper Room

In my recent trip to Egypt, Jordan and Israel, there was one particular point made over and over regarding the "upper room." The leader on our trip was a retired general in the Israeli army and a leader in historical excavation in Israel; he was also a Jew who had converted to Christianity. His point was that ALL references to the upper room in the Bible are well known in Israel to be rooms above a burial place. Historically, the Jews would place a body in an open tomb for decay to begin quickly. The body would soon be reduced to bones and decay. It would then be gathered into a small bundle and placed in a container and left in a lower room for the ages. There would be a room above for relatives to come, at least once a year, visit with one another and remember the dead. This "upper room" was open for lots of uses but was a common meeting place. Over and over again we saw excavations that showed this pattern, both in Israel and Jordan. It was also noted that priests never were allowed to enter the lower room of the dead. They could only go directly into the upper room; this was in accordance with Jewish law.

As I tried to recall examples of the upper room use in the Bible, I could only think of two: Jesus and His apostles took the Lord's Supper in the upper room as they were celebrating Passover just before His death, and in Acts 1, the apostles met in the upper room after Jesus ascended into Heaven. But in further studying the matter, I found many references to the upper room use, two in particular in the New Testament. In Acts 9:36 there is the story of Dorcas who dies and is placed temporarily in an upper room. And in Acts 20:7 it says, "Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together." The story goes on to tell of a young man who falls out of the window, but that goes beyond our point here. They were using the upper room for a meeting place, which was common practice. And there are references to the upper room in the Old Testament as well, but that would be exhaustive, so I will stop here.

So, while this information may not change your life, it might provide a little more understanding to your reading of the Bible. Having seen these things certainly has brought better understanding and meaning to me. I hope to pass some of this on to you. Have a good week!