The Priestly Rotations and Duties

For even if there were four tribes of priests and each of these tribes had more than five thousand men, they would observe their offices, nevertheless, at specifically assigned times for a predetermined period of determined days. When the term of one has been completed, other priests come to replace them for the purpose of the sacrificial ritual, and having assembled in the Temple at midday, they obtain from their predecessors the keys to the Temple and all the vessels, itemized by number, retaining nothing which was for food or drink to be brought into the Temple. [ . . . ]

There ought to be one Temple for the one God, for like is always drawn to like, common to all as God is common to all. The priests will at all times attend to his worship, over whom is he that is first by his birth, who is to be their ruler perpetually.

He, along with his fellow priests, will offer sacrifice to God, observe the laws, adjudicate disputes, and punish those who have been condemned. Whoever disobeys this man will suffer the penalty as if he had acted with impiety toward God himself.