Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

THRESHOLD

The base or sill of the doorway, usually made of stone, that contains the sockets on which the door pivot turns (Heb. sap).

In Judg. 19:27 the concubine of a Levite is killed and the body is left lying at the entrance to his home with her hands on the threshold. Dagon lies fallen across the threshold of his temple at Ashdod where his head and hands have been broken off, causing the Philistines not to tread on the threshold from that day forward (1 Sam. 5:4-5). When the queen crosses the threshold of the house, Jeroboam’s son dies, fulfilling the oracle of the Lord spoken by the prophet Ahijah (1 Kgs. 14:17).

Numerous references indicate that guards protected the thresholds of cities. Esth. 2:21 (cf. 6:2) describes the plot against Ahasuerus by two eunuchs who guarded the threshold of the palace. Gatekeepers who stood at the king’s gate and at the thresholds to the camp of the Levites and the sanctuary number 212 (1 Chr. 9:17-22). The threshold of Solomon’s temple is lined with gold (2 Chr. 3:7). During the Divided Monarchy the threshold of the temple is guarded by selected individuals (2 Kgs. 12:9; 22:4; 23:4; 2 Chr. 34:9; Jer. 35:4), at times three in number (2 Kgs. 25:18 = Jer. 52:24).

In OT apocalyptic the threshold has religious and spiritual significance. It is to the threshold of the temple that Yahweh goes to deliver a message (Ezek. 9:3; 10:4). During Ezekiel’s oracle the threshold of the new temple of Yahweh is measured (Ezek. 40:6-7). Worship is associated with the threshold of the gate (Ezek. 46:2), and the temple threshold area is to have sufficient space from the common homes of the people (43:8). The practice of leaping over the threshold is denounced (Zeph. 1:9) and may refer to a pagan custom (cf. 1 Sam. 5:5). The theophany of God is often accompanied by earthquakes that shake the thresholds (Isa. 6:4; Amos 9:1).

Threshold stones have been found throughout Syria-Palestine. Often made of a solid piece of limestone, they are found in the gates of major cities of various periods (Gezer, Hazor, Lachish, Megiddo, Shechem). Temples also exhibit the same type of threshold at their entrances (Ashdod, Tel Miqne-Ekron, Lachish, Hazor). At Tel Miqne-Ekron three massive threshold stones mark the entrance to an Assyrian-type temple dedicated to the god ptgyh. The religious significance of the threshold is evident in numerous archaeological contexts where “lamp-and-bowl” foundation deposits or child burials have been found beneath the area where thresholds were located.

Bibliography. S. Bunimovitz and O. Zimhoni, “ ‘Lamp-and-Bowl’ Foundation Deposits in Canaan,” IEJ 43 (1993): 99-125; S. Gitin, T. Dothan, and J. Naveh, “A Royal Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron,” IEJ 47 (1997): 1-16; A. Kempinski and R. Reich, eds., The Architecture of Ancient Israel (Jerusalem, 1992).

Michael G. Hasel

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

THRESHOLD

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)