Topic
Doorkeeper
27 passages cited, from 1 classic reference work.
These works date from 1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- 2 Samuel 18:26ISBE
And the watchman saw another man running: and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings.
- 2 Kings 7:10ISBE
So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were.
- 2 Kings 7:11ISBE
And he called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within.
- 2 Kings 12:9ISBE
But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the LORD: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house…
- 2 Kings 22:4ISBE
Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people:
- 2 Kings 23:4ISBE
And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and…
- 2 Kings 25:18ISBE
¶ And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:
- 1 Chronicles 9:19ISBE
And Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brethren, of the house of his father, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tabernacle: and their fathers, being over the host of the LORD,…
- 1 Chronicles 9:22ISBE
All these which were chosen to be porters in the gates were two hundred and twelve. These were reckoned by their genealogy in their villages, whom David and Samuel the seer did ordain in their set office.
- 1 Chronicles 9:23ISBE
So they and their children had the oversight of the gates of the house of the LORD, namely, the house of the tabernacle, by wards.
- 1 Chronicles 9:25ISBE
And their brethren, which were in their villages, were to come after seven days from time to time with them.
- 1 Chronicles 9:27ISBE
¶ And they lodged round about the house of God, because the charge was upon them, and the opening thereof every morning pertained to them.
Show 15 more
- 1 Chronicles 15:18 ISBE
- 1 Chronicles 23:5 ISBE
- 2 Chronicles 23:4 ISBE
- 2 Chronicles 23:19 ISBE
- 2 Chronicles 31:14 ISBE
- Ezra 2:42 ISBE
- Esther 2:21 ISBE
- Esther 6:2 ISBE
- Psalms 84:10 ISBE
- Jeremiah 35:4 ISBE
- Mark 13:34 ISBE
- John 10:3 ISBE
- John 18:16 ISBE
- John 18:17 ISBE
- Acts 12:13 ISBE
In the reference works
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 29 references
dor'-kep-er (sho`er): 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. It is often translated by the less definite word "porter". In the preexilic writings (2Sa 18:26; 2Ki 7:10,11) reference is made to porters at the gates of the cities Mahanaim and Samaria. 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 (2Ki 12:9; 22:4; 23:4). They held an honorable position (2Ki 25:18), and occupied chambers in the temple (Jer 35:4). The same term is used to describe officers in the household of the king of Persia (Es 2:21; 6:2).
Differing from these "keepers of the threshold" in some respects are the doorkeepers or porters mentioned in Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. These formed a numerous sacred order (1Ch 9:22; 23:5) from the time of David. Their duties and the words describing them in two passages, "keepers of the thresholds" (1Ch 9:19) and "porters of the thresholds" (2Ch 23:4), connect them in some measure with the "keeper of the threshold" referred to above. They guarded the gates of the house of Yahweh (1Ch 9:23), closing and opening them at the proper times (1Ch 9:27) and preventing the unclean from entering the sacred enclosure (2Ch 23:19); they had charge of the sacred vessels and of the free-will offerings (2Ch 31:14), and dwelt in the chambers about the temple (1Ch 9:27). They were Levites, and came in from the Levitical villages every seventh day for service in their turn (1Ch 9:25). Their office was honorable, ranking with the singers, after the priests and Levites (Ezr 2:42; 1Ch 15:18).
In Ps 84:10, "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God," the word is not used in its technical sense. the Revised Version, margin gives "stand (the King James Version margin "sit") at the threshold," to an eastern mind a situation of deep humility (compare title of the Ps and 1Ch 9:19).
In the New Testament the order of temple doorkeepers is not referred to. But a doorkeeper (thuroros) is mentioned in connection with a private house (Mr 13:34), with the high priest's house (Joh 18:16,17), and with sheep-folds (Joh 10:3), a maid serving as doorkeeper in some cases (Ac 12:13).
George Rice Hovey
Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.