083. "Oh That I Had a Lodging Place"

"Oh That I Had a Lodging Place"

(Jeremiah 9:2) Jeremiah says, "Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men."

Genesis 42:27 says, "as one of them opened his sack in the inn."

These were resting places for the night, the caravan houses, but they were not found at the end of every journey. The inns were open to everyone from all parts of the country, all night, and never closed to the poor. No matter how dirty or ragged or forsaken a man was he was always welcome at an inn. It was much like a home to these weary travellers, they met people from far countries and they talked and smoked and parted in the morning. The inns or khans vary much in size and material;, sometimes they are made of mud bricks, sometimes of stone, but the form of the khans is always about the same. A square or oblong court with one or even two stories above it. One of the sides has a large gate, there is a gallery all around the court and often the court has a fountain in it and a well with troughs to water the animals. The apartments for the animals are opposite the gates. These are divided into rooms, each having a small raised platform for the men to sleep on who are in charge of the animals during the night.

Mangers or troughs are built against the walls, from which the animals eat. No matter if a man had riches or was the very poorest, the rooms were assigned as the travellers arrived and no one was favored more than another.

We see a flight of stone steps from the court going up to the rooms for the travellers. They are unfurnished, and the sojourner pays a very modest sum. His own servant, if he has one, cooks his meals. There is absolutely no privacy, and I doubt if these people ever desire to be alone.

He makes his bed on the floor, with a mat or rug, covers his head with his cloak and goes to sleep. A fire is burning on a bare stone hearth and here the robber, the trader, the rich man, poor man, beggar, and the dervish dwell together absolutely indifferent to each other’s circumstances.

There are no other kinds of inns known to the people there, these just suit their ways of living and their independence; they would not likely tolerate any other style. And to just such an inn or kahn, God sent His Son with "no place to lay His head."