This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you purchase something after clicking on one of my links. Thanks for supporting this ministry!

Today we are beginning a short series on Doorkeepers. We will introduce them in this first post, explain their duties and responsibilities and why we would want to be one. Tomorrow, you will meet an actual doorkeeper and hear his true story. I promise you will be blessed by Jacob. And the third installment will be related to…well…let’s just keep that a secret until Wednesday! Be blessed and feel free to share your thoughts!

Doorkeepers. dor’-kep-er (sho`er):

Going way back to the Old Testament I have discovered that Doorkeepers had a variety of duties. Most of us are familiar with the verse in Psalm 84:10 that mentions preferring to be a doorkeeper as opposed to living in tents of wickedness but it seems there was so much more to keeping the door!

“Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”

In Hebrew it is translated more closely to “I would choose rather to sit at the threshold.”

The writer could also be alluding to the servant that desired to stay with his master instead of being set free. To serve him forever, he was brought to the door post and had his ears pierced, or bored completely through with an awl! Exodus 21:5. As Gill’s Exposition of the Bible explains, “Such a willing servant was the psalmist; ….which renders it, “I have chosen to cleave to the house of the sanctuary of God.” 

Barnes Notes on the Bible explain it in this fashion: “…it would seem to mean here to stand on the threshold; to be at the door or the entrance, even without the privilege of entering the house…The verb here used occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. The exact idea is not, as would seem from our translation, to keep the door, as in the capacity of a sexton or servant, but that of occupying the sill – the threshold – the privilege of standing there, and looking in, even if he was not permitted to enter. It would be an honor and a privilege to be anywhere about the place of public worship, rather than to be the occupant of a dwelling-place of sin.”

The gates of the city and the temple courts were so similar that the same Hebrew word was used for doorkeeper and gatekeeper. Their duties also very closely resembled the Keeper of the Threshold or Porters of the Threshold found in 1 Chronicles 9:19, 22, 23:4-5 and 31:14.

“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may count the money brought in to the house of the LORD which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people.” – 2 Kings 22:4.

Here we see that the doorkeepers were ushers of sort; they collected money from the people. They were Levites and came in from the villages every seventh day to take their turn.

 “…and I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the doorkeeper.” Jeremiah 35:4,

In this verse in the Book of Jeremiah we see that the doorkeepers even lived in the house of God. They surely had a variety of responsibilities. Some of their duties included making sure the doors were locked at night and unlocked in the morning and they also cared for the sacred vessels. It was an honorable position, ranking up there with the singers, but after the priests. (Ezra 2:42, 1 Chronicles 15:18.)

The doorkeepers obviously had a wide variety of duties that kept them busy since they even lived in the temple when they took their obligated turn. They took it seriously, reverently and fulfilled their mission with humble modesty.

But they preferred their lowly position over any other day in any other place! To them, to the Psalmist, it was better to sit on that threshold than to be partying with his friends (my rendition).

Do we feel that way today about the house of God?

Are we so overwhelmed with the privilege of being able to enter the Holy of Holies that we would think it an honor just to stand on the threshold and look in….even if we weren’t allowed to step inside?

Think of the excuses we make to NOT be in our church services. We are too tired, too busy, too educated and too important. Sure, we don’t say those last two reasons out loud but we are saying it by our attitudes when we think we don’t need God or need to worship with others of “like precious faith”.

Of course God is IN us today. The Levites had to enter the temple and the Priest was the only one who could actually enter God’s presence. We have the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, sent to be IN us, alive, moving, working and guiding us 24/7. But being in a Spirit-filled church is a privilege and a responsibility we shouldn’t take lightly. Our attendance is important and necessary for the Body of Christ to thrive and the Church to grow!

We do not limit our gift of service or worship to the church building.

The Church is a BODY that just happens to MEET in a building!

Click To Tweet

Our biggest job is outside the four walls of the assembly, ministering, helping, loving, giving, showing Christ at every single opportunity; even when we think no one is watching.

But worship together, in a corporate setting, is so vital, so strengthening, so uplifting that we should participate and support the work of God. Hearing the Word is how people are saved! “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” Romans 10:14 ESV.

Again, yes we know our biggest ministry is outside of the four walls. But if we are truly busy in our mission field telling others about Jesus, and our brothers and sisters are doing the same, even inviting the sinner to visit the Church…

Shouldn’t someone be there to welcome them in?

Tomorrow I will introduce you to this young man.

His name is Door. Door Keeper. You won’t want to miss his unique, true story and see why we call him Door…instead of Jacob. Bring the tissues as we continue our series on the Doorkeeper.

Sharing with making your home sing, sunday stillness, sunday community, the weekend brew, counting my blessings, Amaze me Monday, Mama Moments, Beauty in His Grip, modest monday, treasure box tuesday, tell me a true story, titus 2 tuesday, testimony tuesday, UNITE, Titus 2sday, RA RA Linkup, life-giving linkup