The Priestly Watches and Ancestral Houses

In the Second Temple period, the priestly service was performed by a rotation of twenty-four “watches,” which 1 Chronicles 24 traces to the reign of King David. The Mishnah explains that each watch had a corresponding ma‘amad, or “station,” consisting of priests, Levites, and lay Israelites who would represent the Jewish people as a whole, since the regular sacrifices were offered on behalf of the entire people. The Tosefta offers an account of the origin of the Second Temple–era watches and ancestral houses, explaining that only four of the priestly families named in 1 Chronicles 24 returned to the land of Israel after the exile, necessitating that the division into watches be repeated.