Porter

VIEW:35 DATA:01-04-2020

PORTER in EV [Note: English Version.] has always the sense of ‘doorkeeper’ (see House, § 6) or ‘gatekeeper’ (see Fortification and Siegecraft, § 5, end). In Joh_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 (2Sa_4:6 as restored from LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , Act_12:13). In OT, however, porters are most frequently named in the Books of Chron., Ezr„ and Neh. in connexion with the Temple (1Ch_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.] 1Ch_15:23 f., and in several other places in RV [Note: Revised Version.] (1Ch_15:19 etc.). It is to be regretted that this term was not substituted throughout. In Psa_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.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

shoeer; thuroros. A "gatekeeper" (1Ch_9:21), Joh_10:3 symbolically "the Holy Spirit who opens gospel doors" (Act_14:27; 1Co_16:9; 2Co_2:12; Col_4:3) and shuts them (Act_16:6-7); "by one Spirit we have access through Christ unto the Father" (Eph_2:18). He opens the door of men's hearts (Rev_3:20, compare Act_16:14).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Porter. This word, when used in the Authorized Version, does not bear its modern signification of a carrier of burdens, but denotes in every case a gate-keeper, from the Latin, portarius, the man who attended to the porta, or gate.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

Mar_13:34 (b) This represents the servant of GOD who is watching constantly for the welfare of GOD's people and for the interests of his absent Lord.

Joh_10:3 (b) This is probably a figure of the gracious Spirit of GOD revealing the open door to the seeking heart. It may refer to a wise servant of GOD, some Sunday School teacher, pastor, or evangelist, who sees a troubled soul seeking the Saviour and opens the Scriptures of truth to him so that he enters into salvation.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Porter
This word, when used in the A. V., does not bear its modern signification of a carrier of burdens, but denotes in every case a gatekeeper, from the Latin portarius, the man who attended to the porta. In the original the word is שׁוֹעֵרor שֹׁעֵר, shoer, from שִׁעִר, shaar, a gate; once (Ezr_7:24) Chald. תָּרָע, tara', the same (Sept. θυρωρός and πυλωρός; Vulg. portarius and janitor). This meaning is evidently implied in 1Ch_9:21; 2Ch_23:19; 2Ch_35:15; Joh_10:3. It is generally employed in reference to the Levites who had charge of the entrances to the sanctuary, but is used also in other connections in 2Sa_18:26 : 2Ki_7:10-11; Mar_13:34; Joh_10:3; Joh_18:16-17. In two passages (1Ch_15:23-24) the Hebrew word is rendered “doorkeeper,” and in Joh_18:16-17, ἡ θυρωρὸς is “she that kept the door.” Thus, in 2Ki_7:10-11, and 2Sa_18:26, we meet with the porter at the gates of a town. In the palace of the high-priest (Joh_18:17) the porter was a female, ἡ παιδισκη, ἡ θυρωρός. See also Act_12:13. A porter seems to have been usually stationed at the doors of sheepfolds (Joh_10:3). According to Stier and others, this θυρωρὸς corresponds to the Holy Spirit, who opens the way for the true ministers of Christ. SEE DOOR.
The porters of the Temple, who were guards as well as porters, were very numerous in David's time; for in 1Ch_23:5 no less than 4000 are mentioned. They were divided into courses (1Ch_26:1-19), and had their post assigned them by lot (1Ch_26:13). Besides attending to the gates and keeping order there, they seem, as Lightfoot says, to have had charge of certain treasures (1Ch_26:15, comp. with 2Ch_25:24, and Lightfoot's Prospect of the Temple, c. 5, § 6). Properly speaking, their office was in some respects military: they were the soldiers of Jehovah, and the guards of his Temple. The stations that were guarded were not all occupied by the same number-some being guarded by six, some by four, and others by two persons only. They were relieved every Sabbath-day by others who took their places (2Ki_11:5; 1Ch_9:17-29; 1Ch_16:42; 2Ch_8:14; 2Ch_23:4; 2Ch_31:14; 2Ch_35:15). Their service was required by night as well as by day, and a man called “the Man of the Mountain of the House” went round every night to see that all were in their places, and that none of them slept. If he found any one asleep he struck him, and had liberty to burn his clothes. To this Lightfoot thinks there is a reference in Rev_16:15 : “Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments” (Temple Service, c. 7 § 1). SEE TEMPLE.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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