A "house" is essentially a container -- for a person, a family, several families or even a large group with shared interests (think of the term "houses of worship.") In the Bible, a "house" is also a container, but for spiritual things rather than natural things. In various uses a "house" can represent part of the mind, the whole mind, a whole person or even a church. The other nuance to the word "house" is that it is generally used in regards to our affections and desires rather than our thoughts and principles. This makes sense; we tend to engage our thoughts and rationality when we are out in the world doing our work, but when we are inside our houses we are driven most by love for our families and the desire to be good to those we love. So "house" tends to represent the things we want and care about -- which are ultimately the things that define us.

9388. 'And built an altar under the mountain' means a representative sign of the Lord's Divine Human in respect of Divine Good from Him. This is clear from the meaning of 'an altar' as a representative sign of the Lord's Divine Human, dealt with in 921, 2777, 2811, 4489, and therefore the chief representative of worship of the Lord, 4541, 8935, 8940; and from the meaning of 'the mountain' as the good of love, dealt with in 4210, 6435, 8327, 8658, 8758, in this instance the Divine Good of love which emanates from the Lord, since it was Mount Sinai, where the Lord was then. 'Mount Sinai' means Divine Good united to Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, see 8805.