Where are the patios located on better homes in the Middle East?
In the Middle East, most better homes have their patio not outside the back door but on the housetop. People may spend time there, and Jesus told such people not to come down to take anything out of their house, meaning they should be ready to go.
Les explains that in the Middle East economy, most better homes place their patio on the housetop, not outside the back door. He pictures retired people with time to spend up on that housetop patio. In that setting, Jesus said such people should not come down to take anything out of the house; they must be ready to go. The surrounding verses address other segments: workers in the field should not return home even for clothes, and expectant or nursing mothers face woe, with prayer that flight not be in winter or on the Sabbath, because Israel is going back under law.
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: