Port, Porter
Port, Porter
port, porter: Port in the sense of gate (of a city or building) is obsolete in modern English, and even in the King James Version is found only in Neh 2:13. Porter, as gate-keeper, however, is still in some use, but porter now (but never in the English Versions of the Bible) generally means a burden-carrier. In the Old Testament, except in 2Sa 18:26; 2Ki 7:10, 2Ki 7:11, the porter (, shoer) is a sacred officer of the temple or tabernacle, belonging to a particular family of the Levites, with a share in the sacred dues (Neh 13:5; Neh 12:47). The porters are mentioned only in Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, and Chronicles has a special interest in them, relating that their duties were settled as far back as the time of David (1 Ch 26:1-19), and that the office extended further to the first settlement of Palestine and even to Moses’ day (1Ch 9:17-26). The office was evidently one of some dignity, and the chief-porters (1Ch 9:26) were important persons. For some inscrutable reason the Revised Version (British and American) renders shoer by doorkeeper in 1 Ch 15 through 26, but not elsewhere. See DOORKEEPER.