09/12/13

Keepers of the door

Jeremiah 35:4 - And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:


In the Jewish Church the temple had 3 levels of hierarchy i.e. the high priest, priests of the second order and then came the keepers of the door (vessels). Keepers of the door did not mean these people guarded the various doors to the temple; they had nothing to do with the doors. These people were concern with the large chests kept at every entrance / gate of the temple, including the king’s gate. When the Jews entered the temple the money they carried to the temple, they were required to put into one of these chests.

This started during the time of King Joash / Jehoash who saw the temple was in a bad state. He desired that the people contribute towards it repairs, but Jehoiada the priest took a chest and making a hole in it placed it in the temple (they wanted to imitate Moses who did such a collection in the wilderness to build the Tabernacle of God). Later even though the purpose was fulfilled yet the collecting did not stop. The flow of money became important even though there was no need of it. It became so important that the people responsible for it grew in power and had their own chambers in the temple. In the start there were three keepers of the doors - the outer court / inner court and main gate later some state the numbers increased to seven.

If we look at the books of Moses the Lord did not design any such collection leaving for the first time and that too it was just as to what was needed for building the Tabernacle.

Even today in Christian Churches this tradition of Keepers of the doors has not stopped. Today at every service we find a collection is done and it is called ‘offering’.

The Bible does not say this is wrong or something that needs to be stopped, Jesus saw this but did not comment. We notice in one incident they collected temple tax which Jesus did not paid upfront but on being reminded by Peter, He did pay but though Peter (catching the fish with a gold coin in its belly). We see these collection solutions started because people did not do their duty of tithing to the Lord and since they did not honestly keep the Law the collections started to diminish and then came wise man with his wise solutions.

In the Believers Churches people at least give to the Church, but in the Catholic Church I saw people would not believe in tithe and even when giving ‘offerings’ they would was mostly put loose change. This caused the priests to at times pull up the congregation, which they did not like and then the priest would become outcaste. To this problem this Church found solutions too, they started selling services like Masses, dedications and religious objects and put the people into bondage of idol worship. The Reformation movement started when the Pope found a solution to build the church in Rome by selling ‘Get Free’ tickets from Purgatory for a large donation.

They first created a concept of spiritual place called Purgatory, then bought fear into the hearts of the people of this place and then milked the people by this concept. These break-fix solutions we see have become greater than the problem. The medicine to heal headache has now caused brain tumour.

It is time Churches changes their approach and concentrates on building Christian values in Christians, and do away with our break-fix solutions. When God instructed Moses, He had thought of all those aspects needed by His people and His Church. If we do them with understanding we will have Churches that are self sufficient.



[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, You are our Father for You are our Creator, Provider and Protector. All our needs are fulfilled in You and through, yet You have instructed us to give for your cause so that we learn to overcome and be strengthen in You. Lord, since people struggle in faith and flesh, they do not give and thus land up with break-fix solutions. We pray, this changes and we walk only according to your Word...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference ]
2 Kings 12:1-9

2 Chronicles 23:1-12

2 Kings 22:4 Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people:

2 Kings 23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.

2 Kings 25:18 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:

1 Chronicles 9:18 Who hitherto waited in the king’s gate eastward: they were porters in the companies of the children of Levi.

1 Chronicles 9:19 And Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brethren, of the house of his father, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the gates of the tabernacle: and their fathers, being over the host of the LORD, were keepers of the entry.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)