The sons of the gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, and the sons of Shobai, in all 139.
This verse is one line in a long register of families who came back from captivity. It names six households of gatekeepers, 139 men in all, and raises a question: why did guarding a door matter enough for God to record it?
A list God kept
Why do these names survive at all? One writer finds the answer in the fact that the list exists.
Edward DennettHe has caused this list to be preserved. It is evidence that He sees with joy the smallest fruits of His Spirit's work. He knows the very names of His people and makes them known, to encourage everyone to walk in His ways, to take His interests as their own, and to stay faithful in times of corruption and falling away from God.
Gatekeepers among the Levites
The gatekeepers were not a separate tribe of their own. Verses 40 to 42 count them together with the singers and the other Levites.
Edward DennettThe children of Asaph, and the children of the gatekeepers (Ezra 2:41-42), were also Levites. Altogether, therefore, they numbered 341.
Older English Bibles call these men "porters," meaning keepers of a door. So what did the charge involve?
Hamilton SmithThe gatekeepers had charge of the gates. Their responsibility was to admit only those who had the proper qualifications to enter the city and approach the house, and to refuse all others.
Two duties at one door
A gate can fail in two ways. It can let in what should stay out, and it can shut out someone with every right to come in.
H. L. RossierThe doorkeepers had charge of all the gates of the temple. They had to be able to repel any attempt against the house of God. They had to watch with constant energy, so that no defiled person could enter the courts of the Lord. But they also had to keep the doors open, so that they never shut out a priest who had the right to enter the temple.
What the gate protects
Why did the returning company need 139 men at the doors? The answer lies in what they were guarding. The list sets singers and gatekeepers side by side.
Michael HardtThere were also singers (v. 41), to give praise to God, and gatekeepers (v. 42) who would be responsible to keep out everything that would interfere with the Lord's glory.
The link between the two is closer than it first appears. Careless work at the gate does not simply admit the wrong people; it empties the house of song.
Hamilton SmithThe singers gave the Lord His portion. Only the redeemed can sing the songs of Zion. So the gatekeepers had to carry out their responsibilities faithfully, if the Lord was to have His portion. To let in those without divine qualifications is to admit those who cannot sing. Worship is lost where the gatekeepers are lax. When an assembly of God's people today loses its worship, that usually goes together with letting people in carelessly.
The same work now
Commentators read this office as a picture of a responsibility Christians still carry.
Edward DennettThey held a most important post, and so do the gatekeepers of today. Every believer — every member of the body of Christ — has his place, for example, at the Lord's supper. That is true, and we must always insist on it. Even so, the "gatekeepers" of the assembly have the responsibility of asking for proof that people are what they claim to be. Slackness or neglect here has produced the most serious consequences in many an assembly. In some cases it has destroyed all testimony for Christ and brought open dishonour on His blessed name. So it matters greatly that only faithful and trusted men should do the work of "gatekeepers," especially in a day of common profession, when everyone alike claims to be a Christian.
So who appoints such men today? Another writer answers that no one does.
Leslie M. GrantIn the Church of God today we surely need such gatekeepers, but the Church has no authority to appoint them. Instead, since the Spirit of God dwells in the Church, He will move godly men to do this necessary work willingly, with no need of appointment. They have the Word of God to guide them in it, for the Spirit of God always works by means of that Word.
Summary
- Named. God kept six gatekeeper families on record by name. He sees with joy the smallest fruit of His Spirit's work.
- Guard. Their office was to admit those qualified to come near the house, and to refuse all others.
- Open. The same watchfulness had to keep the doors open. No priest with a right to enter could be turned away.
- Worship. Guarding the gate protects the singing. Hold it loosely, and praise is the first thing to go.
- Today. The Church cannot appoint gatekeepers, yet the Spirit of God still moves godly men to the work, with the Word to guide them.