Here’s an archaeological gem of a word: hypocaust. It refers to the ancient Roman heating system found in villas and bathhouses, but also has great meaning for people of faith! First, let’s review the basics….
From the Middle East to different parts of Europe where the Romans once ruled, floors could be cool in the wintertime. Let’s face it: who likes cold, wet tootsies? So the Roman engineering whizzes designed tiled floors that were heated from below. How cozy!
They say that the earliest example of this hails from the fourth century (300s BC) and the Temple of Ephesus. Since heating involved the stoking of furnaces and distributing the hot air by means of a bellows, usually only public buildings or wealthy homes were heated in such a manner.
An added benefit would be the hygiene resulting from a heated floor. A similar system was used during the US Civil War by means of Crimean ovens, employing a subterranean system of channeling warm air through field hospital tents whose floors were generally earthen. A flue ran down the center of the tent, lengthwise, and was covered over by metal plates. The warm, radiant heat cut down on many diseases which normally flourished in cold dampness and among the sick.
Anyways, back to the ancient city of Beit She’an, later turned into the Roman city of Scythopolis. This photo comes from the site’s bath house complex and you see the many little pillars or pilae stacks which would support the tile floor that’s been removed. The hot air flowed inbetween the pillars under the floor, hence the name hypo (under) and caust (burnt).
So MB, what does this mean for our faith?
I’m glad you asked!
Consider the Scripture verse: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). The word substance comes from two Greek components, hupo which means under, and sistemi which means to stand. Strong’s concordance translates the word for substance in this verse, hupostasis, as “a placing or setting under, a substructure or foundation”.
Think of the Roman floor with the hypocaust heating system underneath: you do not see it, but it provides the basis for and foundation of the whole house. It supports all else, though it be unseen. It warms one and keeps one healthy. Faith gives substance to life and undergirds you.
No need to do life alone when your faith, and the Lord behind your faith, can support you!
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