![]() ![]() ![]() They were Levites, and came in from the Levitical villages every seventh day for service in their turn ( 1 Chronicles 9:25). They guarded the gates of the house of Yahweh ( 1 Chronicles 9:23), closing and opening them at the proper times ( 1 Chronicles 9:27) and preventing the unclean from entering the sacred enclosure ( 2 Chronicles 23:19) they had charge of the sacred vessels and of the free-will offerings ( 2 Chronicles 31:14), and dwelt in the chambers about the temple ( 1 Chronicles 9:27). ![]() Their duties and the words describing them in two passages, "keepers of the thresholds" ( 1 Chronicles 9:19) and "porters of the thresholds" ( 2 Chronicles 23:4), connect them in some measure with the "keeper of the threshold" referred to above. These formed a numerous sacred order ( 1 Chronicles 9:22 23:5) from the time of David. The same term is used to describe officers in the household of the king of Persia ( Esther 2:21 6:2).ĭiffering from these "keepers of the threshold" in some respects are the doorkeepers or porters mentioned in Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. They held an honorable position ( 2 Kings 25:18), and occupied chambers in the temple ( Jeremiah 35:4). In these early writings there is also mention of a small number of "keepers of the threshold" of the temple, whose duties included the gathering of money from the people for temple purposes, and the care of the sacred vessels ( 2 Kings 12:9 22:4 23:4). In the preexilic writings ( 2 Samuel 18:26 2 Kings 7:10,11) reference is made to porters at the gates of the cities Mahanaim and Samaria. It is often translated by the less definite word "porter". The gates of an oriental city and of the temple courts so closely resembled the door of a house that the same Hebrew word was used for doorkeeper and gatekeeper. ![]()
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