1 Chron. 26 Church & Government Cooperating

The tasks and genealogies of respective “gatekeepers” are listed for us. This group of men had responsibilities over each of the four primary gates; east, west, north and south. Again we find Obed-Edom and his family listed and given responsibility for the southern gate.

Gatekeepers were given the responsibilities to “serve in the house of the Lord”; which included seeing who entered the gates they were in charge of, as well as guard them in a military sense, the storehouses and Ahijah “over the treasuries of the house of God” and the “dedicated things.” Some of the gatekeepers were charged with the task of protecting what had been taken as “the spoils” from battles that had been won.

Verse 30 gives further insight to the gatekeeper’s responsibilities; which included “all the business of the Lord, and in the service of the king.” They were not only responsible for the house of the Lord; but they were also responsible for the “service of the king”; which meant the business they were required to transact on behalf of the king at the gate.

In our culture today, we need a spirit of cooperation between civic government and spiritual government. Where the civic government disregards the role and gifting’s resident within the church, society begins to crumble. When there is that spirit of cooperation, both will flourish and prosper. God grant gatekeepers in every sector of government!