John 10:1-42 ESV / 51 helpful votesNot Helpful. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

A person guarding access to an important or restricted place. Temple doorkeeper was an important office in biblical times. The doorkeepers collected money from the people ( 2 Kings 22:4 ). Some Levites were designated doorkeepers (or “gatekeepers”) for the ark ( 1 Chronicles 15:23-24 ). The Persian kings used eunuchs for doorkeepers ( Esther 2:21 ).

dor'-kep-er (sho`er): The gates of an oriental city and of the temple courts so closely resembled the door of a house that the same Hebrew word was used for doorkeeper and gatekeeper. It is often translated by the less definite word "porter". In the preexilic writings ( 2 Samuel 18:26; 2 Kings 7:10,11) reference is made to porters at the gates of the cities Mahanaim and Samaria.