house

The ordinary dwelling unit of a settled population. The term has many extended uses in both the OT and NT. It can signify a family line, like “house of Levi” (Exod 2:1), or a tribal group, like Israel (Num 1:2). It is also used in a wider sense of domain, as in the house of slavery (Egypt in Exod 13:3). By the “house of God” is meant an Israelite place of worship (Mark 2:26), sometimes called a house of prayer (Mark 11:17). In Heb 3:3-6 the expression “house of God” is applied to the Christian community.