Also unto Shemaiah his son were sons born, that ruled throughout the house of their father: for they were mighty men of valour.
Mighty men of valour. The circumstance of physical strength is prominently noticed in this chapter, as the office of the porters required them not only to act as sentinels of the sacred edifice and its precious furniture, against attacks of plunderers, or popular insurrection-to be, in fact, a military guard-but, after the temple was built, to open and shut the gates, which were extraordinarily large and ponderous.