Guide
The Priestly Watches and Ancestral Houses
70–300
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.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
The Priestly Watches and Stations
These are the ma‘amadot, as it says: Command the Israelite people and say to them: “My sacrifice, My bread” (Numbers 28:2). How is a person’s sacrifice brought without him standing over it? The first…
Primary Source
The Origin of the Second Temple Watches
1. Four watches ascended from the diaspora: Yediah, Ḥarim, Peshḥor, and Imar. The prophets in Jerusalem stood and made twenty-four watches for them. They mixed up [lots for the different watches] and…