family of Joshua/Jeshua (the first high priest of the Second Temple), who
held the post in hereditary succession (Neh. 12:10-11). The high priest
seems at times to have exercised political power as well, serving as the chief
national official in the absence of a governor. Those Hasmoneans who
held the high-priestly office from 152 until the Roman conquest in 63
b.c.e.were not only heads of the cultic establishment but also chiefs of
state and commanders of the army. During the years of Roman rule and
before the defeat and destruction of Jerusalem in 70c.e., the high priests
continued to be influential leaders in dealing both with Jewish and Roman
officials.
There were too many priests to allow all of them to serve at the Temple
complex at the same time. 1 Chronicles 24:7-18 contains a list dividing the
priests into twenty-four groups, one of which served at the Temple for a
week, after which it was replaced by the next group on the list (Josephus,
Ant.7.365-66;Ag. Ap.2.108). In this system, therefore, most of these divi-
sions of priests were on duty at the Temple for only two weeks each year
(twenty-four groups each serving two weeks would fill forty-eight weeks
so that four would have to serve a third week) and at the great festivals
when more of them were needed because of the large numbers of people
bringing offerings. The Levites may have been organized in a similar way;
from among their ranks came the singers and gatekeepers at the Temple
(1 Chronicles 25–26;Ant.7.367).
Worship at the Temple followed and built upon the prescriptions in
the Mosaic Law. Animal and grain offerings with their libations were regu-
larly made there. Each day, as the Law prescribed, there were two sacrifices
of a lamb with accompanying grain and liquid offerings — the morning
and evening sacrifices described in Exod. 29:38-42; Num. 28:3-8 (see
1 Chron. 15:40; 2 Chron. 8:11; 31:3). There were other mandated sacrifices
for the Sabbaths, the first of each month, and for the festivals (Numbers
28–29), and passages such as Leviticus 1–7 describe the many kinds of sac-
rifice — their contents, who offers them, and the occasions for them. The
priests were the ones who performed the procedures carried out at the al-
tar (Num. 18:1-7; 1 Chron. 6:49-53), and for their support priests received
prescribed parts of offerings other than the whole burnt offering (e.g., Lev.
2:3, 10; 5:13; 6:16-18, 26, 29; 7:6-10, 14, 31-36; Num. 18:8-20) as well as other
gifts.
The festivals constituted an important if less frequent part of worship
at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Law of Moses commanded that an Israel-
ite male was to present himself before the Lord three times each year: at the72james c. vanderkamEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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