Porters
The "porters" were "gate-keeper", from the Latin "portarius", the men who attended to the porta or gate.
All the porters of the temple were Levites and therefore members of orders called out as a servant government of the kingdom of God. They were charged with the safety and distribution of the treasured offerings that came in and out of the temple.
The duties moneychangers were part of the duties of of the porters of the temple. If they were corrupt the high priest should expose them. But since David the king could literally fire them. In several governments a whip was used to express this power and authority as we see with the pharaoh.
In the Old Testament, except in 2 Samuel 18:26, 2 Kings 7:10-11, the porter (sho`er)[1] is a sacred officer of the temple or tabernacle, traditionally attended to by certain family groups of the Levites.
We see 4,000 that were appointed as porters by David (1 Chronicles 23:5), who were arranged according to their families (1 Chronicles 26:1-19).
Over time their position was corrupted but originally they were chosen by the people through a network of Tens. Within the temple the different positions and rolls were chosen by tradition and by lot. Before king David only the high priest could depose or fire a porter of the tabernacle assumedly for corruption or dereliction of their duties. And it was up to the people to police and enforce to prevent further corruption.
Before the people foolishly chose to have a king in 1 Samuel 8 all the offerings passing through the treasury were freewill offerings. Saul was corrupted by the power the people slothfully gave him and would eventually and foolishly force the sacrifice of the people.
"The Levites discharged the office of porters of the temple both day and night, and had the care both of the treasure and offerings. The office of porter was in some sort of military; properly speaking, they were the soldiers of the Lord, and the guards of his house, to whose charge the several gates of the courts of the sanctuary were appointed by lot, 1 Chronicles 26:1[2]; 1 Chronicles 26:13[3]; 1 Chronicles 26:19 [4] "They waited at every gate; and were not permitted to depart from their service,2 Chronicles 35:15[5] and they attended by turns in their courses, as the other Levites did,2 Chronicles 8:14[6] Their proper business was to open and shut the gates, and to attend at them by day, as a sort of peace officers, in order to prevent any tumult among the people; to keep strangers and the excommunicated and unclean persons, from entering into the holy court; and, in short, to prevent whatever might be prejudicial to the safety, peace, and purity of the holy place and service. They also kept guard by night about the temple and its courts; and they are said to have been twenty-four, including three priests, who stood sentry at so many different places. There was a superior officer over the whole guard, called by Maimonides, "the man of the mountain of the house;" he walked the round as often as he pleased; when he passed a sentinel that was standing, he said, "Peace be unto you;" but if he found one asleep, he struck him, and he had liberty to set fire to his garment. This custom may, perhaps, be alluded to in the following passage: "Behold, I come as a thief," that is, unawares; "blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments," Revelation 16:15 [7] Psalms 134, seems to be addressed to these watchmen of the temple, "who by night stand in the house of the Lord;" in which they are exhorted to employ their waking hours in acts of praise and devotion." Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Or, Dictionary of the Bible, Theology ... By John Newton Brown
- ↑ 07778 רעושׁ show‘er sho-are’ ShinVavAyinReish or רעשׁ sho‘er sho-are’ active participle of the word for Reason or "calculate" ShinAyinReish 08176 which connects them to gate 08179, measure hundredfold 08180, hair 08177, storm or tempest 08178; n m; {See TWOT on 2437 @@ "2437b" } AV-porter 35, doorkeepers 2; 37
- 1) gatekeeper, porter
- ↑ (NAS) 1 For the divisions of the gatekeepers there were of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph. 1 Chronicles 26:1;
- ↑ (NAS)13 They cast lots, the small and the great alike, according to their fathers' households, for every gate. 1 Chronicles 26:13;
- ↑ (NAS) 19 These were the divisions of the gatekeepers of the sons of Korah and of the sons of Merari. 1 Chronicles 26:19 .
- ↑ (NAS) 15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also at their stations according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer and the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to depart from their service, because the Levites their brethren prepared for them. 2 Chronicles 35:15;
- ↑ (NAS) 14 Now according to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests according to the daily rule, and the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for David the man of God had so commanded. 2 Chronicles 8:14.
- ↑ (NAS) 15 ("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.") Revelation 16:15 .