DOOR-KEEPER (^JlttJ, tho9r% 1 Chron. xv, 28, 34, I gat€4endery or " porter," as elsewhere rendered ; but n Psa. Ixxxiv, 11, C)BD, saphaph\ to tii at the threth- *U; Sept. irapapivnadai ; Vulg. abjecttu etie; Gr.
^vpa>p<$Ct John zviii, 16, 17 ; elsewhere likewise "/>or- <0r"), a person appointed to keep the street-door lead- ing by an alley-way to the interior entrance of an Oriental house (q. v.). This was originally doubtless a male, but in later times, in imitation perhaps of Greek and Roman usages (see Kitto, Pict, Bible^ note on John 1. c. ; no such custom, however, appears In classical writers; see Smith's Diet, of Clou. Antiq. p. 514 b, 527 b), a female janitress or portress often held this post (John xviii, 16 ; Acts xli, 18). See Porter. In Psa. Ixxxiv, 10, the word " door-keeper'* docs not convey the proper meaning of the original, because the preference of the Psalmist was evidently given to a very humble situation, whereas that of a door-keep- er, in Eastern estimation, is truly respectable and con- fidential. The gods are always represented as having door-keepers, who were of great dignity and power, as they also fought against other deities. In the heathen temples there are images near the entrance called Joavcd haran^ guards, or door-keepers. See Anubis ; Asp. ELlngs and great men, also, have officers whose business It Is to stand at the door or gate as keepers of the entrance. The most dignified native of Ceylon Is the maha modeUar of the governor's gate, to whom all others must make obeisance. The word door-keep- er, therefore, does not convey the idea of humility, but of honor. The marginal reading of our version, how- ever, to ** sit at the threshold," at once strikes an East- em mind as a situation of deep humility. See the poor heathen devotee ; he goes and sits near the thresh- old of his temple. Look at the beggar ; he sits or prostrates himself at the threshold of the door or gate till he shall have gained his suit *' I am In great trouble ; I will go and lie down at the door of the tem- ple." " Friend, you appear to be very ilL" ** Yes." ** Then go and prostrate yourself at the threshold of the temple." The Psalmist therefore probably refers to the attitude of a beggar or suppliant at the tliresh- old of the house of the Lord as being preferable to the splendid dwellings of the wicked. See Beggar.
DOOR-KEEPERS (pstiarii), In the ancient Church, a class of church officers forming the lowest clerical order. Their duties were to open and close the doors, not only at the termination of religious worship, but during the services, especially after the missa cate^ chumtnorum (q. v.). In later times. In the Roman Church, thebr duties became nearly those of the mod- em sexton, viz. to t^e care of the church ornaments and vessels, to ring the bell, to sweep the church, etc. The customary forms of ordination are prescribed in the fourth council of Carthage ; and the keys were de- livered to them by the bishop, with the injunction, " Behave thyself as one who must give account to God of the things that are kept locked under these keys." Their ordinary name was 7riiXa»poi, osOcuii, and some- times mcauionarii and /Exm<ore<.— Bingham, Orig, Eo- cks, bk. ui, ch. vi.
DOOR-POST (tlD, taph, Ezek. xli, 16, the »U or threshold," as elsewhere usually rendered ; b)ipdQ, maMoph\ Ezek. xil, 7, the Untel, as elsewhere ren^ dered). In Deut vi, 9, Moses enjoined upon the Is- raelites to write the divine commands vpon ike posts (nit^Q, mesuzoth', invariably so rendered) of their doorSf a practice which is understood literally by the modem Jews (Thomson, Land and Book, 1, 141). It is at this day customary in Mohammedan Asia for ex- tracts from the Koran, and moral sentences, to be wrought In stucco over doors and gates, and as orna- mental scrolls to the Interior of apartments. The ele- gant characters of the Arabian and Persian alphabets, and the good taste with which they are applied in run- ning scrolls, the characters being usually white, raised on a blue ground, and intermixed with gliding, have a very pleasing effect, particularly in Interior ornament. This custom must have been very ancient, for Moses
DOORS OF THE CHURCH 868
DOR
here very evidently allades to it. We understand the i injunction not as imperative upon the Hebrews to write on their doors, but as enjoining them, if the j did write at oU, to write sentences of the law. He sug- gests this as a means of inculcating the law upon their children, whence it seems that he took it for granted that the children would be taught to read. '* Among us/* says Michaelis, '* where, by the aid of printing, books are so abundantly multiplied, and may be put into the hands of every child, such measures would be quite superfluous ; but if we would enter into the ideas of Moses, we must place ourselves in an age when the book of the law could only come into the hands of a few opulent people." The later Jews have exercised their usual ingenuity in misunderstanding this injunction. They conceive the observance to be imperative, and they act on it as fol- lows : Their mesuxofA, or door-schedules, are slips of parchment, on which are written the passages Deut. vi, 4-9, and xi, 13-20 ; these slips are rolled up, and on the outside is writ- ten the Hebrew word ^^127, ahaddcd, or ^*the Almighty," one of the names appropriated to (rod. This roll they put into a reed or hol- low cylinder of lead, in which a hole is cut for the word ikaddai to appear, and the tube is then fastened to the door-post by a nail at each end. As the injunction is in the plural form, they conceive that a iMOtzak should be placed on every door of a house. It is usually fixed Modem to the right-hand door-post, and those Israel- Jowiah ngg ^Ijq ^igjj ^ j^ considered particularly ^^' devout usually touch or even kiss it as they pass. The Talmud ascribes great merit to having the mezttzah fixed on the door-post, and de- scribes it as a preservative from sin. See Mezuzoth.