A TEMPLE stood in Jerusalem for almost one thousand years: from the time of the First Temple, built according to biblical tradition in the tenth century BCE, during the reigns of David and Solomon, till the destruction of the Second Temple in the first century CE. Solomon's Temple, founded around 960 BCE, was destroyed at the beginning of the sixth century—in 597‒587 BCE, to be precise—by Nebuchadnezzar. The Second Temple, built around 515 BCE after the edict of the Persian king Cyrus in 538 BCE, remained standing until 70 CE, when the Romans razed it to the ground. These are the data that emerge from biblical tradition—which weaves together various sources describing the First Temple and the early days of the Second Temple—from various historiographic traditions dating to the time of the Second Temple, and from rabbinic tradition.

Ministering in the Temple were the Aaronide priests, who held the exclusive privilege of performing the sacred service from the time of Moses and Aaron. The descendants of Aaron, who had been ‘consecrated as most holy’, and of his sons Eleazar and Itamar, are referred to as ‘sanctuary officers and officers of God’ and recognized as holding the exclusive, hereditary right to serve in the Temple for all eternity.

According to the tradition recounted in Chronicles, these guardians of the sanctuary were divided during David's reign into twenty-four priestly divisions, or courses, when the Temple was established. Bible scholars dispute the actual date of this division and are inclined to bring it forward to the time of the Second Temple, but priestly traditions associate it with the organization of the sacred service in the First Temple, as we shall see below. The participation of the priestly courses in the Temple service was arranged according to weekly cycles, determined by the sabbaths, periodic cycles depending on the four seasons of the year, and seven-year cycles, as follows from the Calendar of Priestly Courses found at Qumran.

The role of high priest was reserved, from the foundation of the First Temple under David and Solomon to midway through the Second Temple period, for the Zadokite priests, descended from the priest Phinehas, son of Aaron's son Eleazar; it was their task to safeguard the sacred place and sacred time, and to supervise the sacred service.