They and their sons were guards of the gates of the House of Adonai, that is, the Tabernacle.
They were to keep watch over the Tent of Meeting, the Holy Place and the sons of Aaron their kinsmen for avodah in the House of Adonai.
These divisions of the gatekeepers by their chief men had duties corresponding to their kinsmen for avodah in the House of Adonai.
All these chosen to be gatekeepers at the gates were 212. These were registered in the genealogical records of their villages. David and Samuel the seer had appointed them to their offices.
The gatekeepers were posted on the four sides, toward the east, west, north, and south.
He also stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the House of Adonai so that no one who was ritually impure for any reason could enter.
They kept the ceremonial functions of their God and the ceremony of the purification according to the command of David and of Solomon his son.
He said to me, “This chamber that faces toward the south is for the kohanim who keep charge of the House.
“Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the House, for all its service and for all that will be done in it.