Verse 9
"And in that day will I punish all that leap over the threshold, that fill their master's house with violence and deceit."
Some have tried to make "leap over the threshold" here a reference to some pagan custom; but we believe that Barnes was correct in viewing the second clause as an explanation of the first.
"Neither language, nor history, nor context allow this to be understood of the idolatrous customs of Ashdod. The same persons who "leap over the threshold" are those who "fill their master's house with violence."[30]
We believe Hailey was correct: "it is more plausible that the term had become a common term for burglary and thievery."[31]
Despite our preference for the views of such writers as Hailey and Barnes on this passage, the possibility remains that some pagan significance might have pertained to leaping over the threshold. Eakin noted that:
"The threshold was judged in antiquity to be the abode of a demon (or demons), thus a place of particular danger. In Roman times this belief found expression in the protective carrying of a bride across the threshold."[32]
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