the Fifth Week after Easter
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Porter
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or PORTER in EV [Note: English Version.] has always the sense of ‘doorkeeper’ (see House, § 6 ) or ‘gatekeeper’ (see Fortification and Siegecraft, § 5 , end). In John 10:3 the porter is the man left in charge of a sheepfold by the shepherd or shepherds whose sheep are there housed for the night. In private houses the doorkeeper might be a woman ( 2 Samuel 4:6 as restored from LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , Acts 12:13 ). In OT, however, porters are most frequently named in the Books of Chron., Ezr„ and Neh. in connexion with the Temple ( 1 Chronicles 9:17 f. onwards), where they had charge of the various gates (see Temple, § 6 , Priests and Levites, § iii. 1, 2). The same word is rendered doorkeepers in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] 1 Chronicles 15:23 f., and in several other places in RV [Note: Revised Version.] ( 1 Chronicles 15:19 etc.). It is to be regretted that this term was not substituted throughout. In Psalms 84:10 the original is different, and should probably be rendered: ‘I had rather be [standing or lying] at the threshold in the house of my God.’
A. R. S. Kennedy.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Porter'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/p/porter.html. 1909.
