Say Kids, You Know Who Else Was ‘Taking a Little Walk’ On the Roof?

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump climbed onto the roof of the White House briefing room, saying he was there “taking a little walk,” and surveying the “ballroom on the other side.”

Last week, the White House announced plans for a $200 million ballroom, with hopes for the golden, gilded East Wing to be completed by 2029. 

Surprisingly, the Bible has a lot to say about rooftops. In the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, rooftops are a key part of stories where powerful rulers stand and hatch plans to exploit the vulnerable, where God intervenes to encourage inclusive polity, and even in the tempting of Jesus. At other times, the Bible instructs people on how to build their rooftop decks, and roofs are used to ask Jesus to care for others. Rooftop stories show God cares about good infrastructure, accessibility, and safe communities. 

Here are eight Bible passages about rooftops. 

Deuteronomy 22:8

When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof; otherwise you might have blood-guilt on your house, if anyone should fall from it.

Joshua 2:1, and 6-9

Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and spent the night there … She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. So the men pursued them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

Before they went to sleep, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land and that dread of you has fallen on us and that all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before you. 

2 Samuel 11:2-5

It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

Isaiah 21:6-9

For thus the Lord said to me: 
“Go, post a lookout; 
    let him announce what he sees. 
When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, 
    riders on donkeys, riders on camels, 
let him watch closely, 
    very closely.” 
Then the watchercalled out: 
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, 
    continually by day, 
and at my post I am stationed 
    throughout the night. 
Look, there they come, riders, 
    horsemen in pairs!” 
Then he responded, 
    “Fallen, fallen is Babylon, 
and all the images of her gods 
    lie shattered on the ground.”

Daniel 4:28-33

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king said, “Is this not magnificent Babylon, which I have built as a royal capital by my mighty power and for my glorious majesty?” While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: The kingdom has departed from you! You shall be driven away from human society, and your dwelling shall be with the animals of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you have learned that the Most High has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals and gives it to whom he will.” Immediately the sentence was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven away from human society, ate grass like oxen, and his body was bathed with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails became like birds’ claws.

Luke 4:9-12

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 
‘He will command his angels concerning you, 
to protect you,’ 
and 
‘On their hands they will bear you up, 
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” 
Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Luke 5:17-20

One day while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem were sitting nearby, and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but, finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” 

Acts 10:9-16

About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while it was being prepared he fell into a trance. He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.