Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DOOR

An opening (Heb. peṯaḥ) used to gain entrance into various buildings or cities, accompanied by a stone or wooden lintel, side posts, and threshold.

Blood was sprinkled on the side posts during the first Passover (Exod. 12:7, 22-23). A slave’s ear was pierced against the door when he chose to remain with his master (Exod. 21:6). Doors could evidently be locked in ancient times (2 Sam. 13:17-18). The door to the temple was made of cypress wood (1 Kgs. 6:34). In the OT “door” is used figuratively to mean proximity in time and space (Gen. 4:7), as an opening to hope (Hos. 2:15[MT 17]), and as a symbol for the lips and mouth (Ps. 141:3). OT wisdom compares laziness with a door turning on its hinges (Prov. 26:14), and one who raises his door seeks destruction (17:19).

Jesus refers to himself as the “door” by which all must enter into the fold (John 10:1-9). Many sick gathered before the door of the mother-in-law of Peter because they knew that Jesus was present (Mark 1:33). Peter entered the doors of the courtyard where Jesus stood before the high priest at the time of his death (John 18:16). The doors of the prison are opened by an angel of the Lord who leads Paul out among the guards (Acts 12:6-11).

Figurative meanings are found when writers describe the imminence of Christ’s coming (Matt. 24:33 = Mark 13:29; Jas. 5:9), the “door of faith” being opened to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27), the way provided for effective service (1 Cor. 16:9), the illumination of the word (Col. 4:3), and the open access to salvation that all have in Christ (Rev. 3:8). Jesus says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20; cf. Luke 11:10). In an apocalyptic vision John sees an open door to heaven (Rev. 4:1).

Egyptian reliefs of the 19th Dynasty depict city gates in Syria-Palestine as consisting of a lintel held in place by two side posts. These gates are shown intact before or during an attack against the city; after the battle the side posts and lintel are shown askew and the city is empty, indicating its plunder. Numerous reliefs of the Assyrian period show arched gateways and doors. Depictions of the siege of Alammu(?) and another city by the sea in Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh show arched gates with two doors. This is true also of a relief from Assurnasirpal’s palace and another from the palace of Sargon II in Khorsabad portraying two soldiers torching the gate of the city Kishisim. Other Assyrian reliefs show more common building conventions.

Archaeological excavations over the last century have revealed that arched gates did exist as early as the 2nd millennium b.c. (Ashkelon and Dan). Although the doors have all disappeared due to their construction of wood overlaid with metal of various types, several limestone thresholds have been excavated at sites of all periods. These thresholds contained door sockets and fittings that indicate that the door opened toward the interior of the building/city and could be secured by closing it against the stone fittings.

Bibliography. W. Bleibtreu, “Five Ways to Conquer a City,” BARev 16/3 (1990): 36-44; J. M. Russell, Sennacherib’s Palace Without Rival at Nineveh (Chicago, 1991).

Michael G. Hasel

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DOOR

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)