Rabbinical account of it is curiously confirmed by the somewhat naive confession of

one of their number, 66 that on a certain occasion his own maternal uncle had actually

undergone the punishment of having his clothes set on fire by the captain of the Temple

as he went his rounds at night.

For the service of the officiating ministers was not only by day, but also 'at night in the

Temple.' From Scripture we know that the ordinary services of the sanctuary consisted

of the morning and evening sacrifices. To these the Rabbis add another evening service,

probably to account for their own transference of the evening service to a much later

hour than that of the sacrifice. 67

There is, however, some difficulty about the exact time when each of the sacrifices was

offered. According to general agreement, the morning sacrifice was brought at the 'third

hour,' corresponding to our nine o'clock. But the preparations for it must have

commenced more than two hours earlier. Few, if any, worshippers could have witnessed

the actual slaying of the lamb, which took place immediately on opening the great

Temple-gate. Possibly they may have gathered chiefly to join in the prayer 'at the time of

incense' (Luke 1:10). In the modified sense, then, of understanding by the morning

sacrifice the whole service, it no doubt coincided with the third hour of the day, or 9 a.m.

This may explain how on the day of Pentecost such a multitude could so readily 'come

together,' to hear in their various tongues 'the wonderful works of God'--seeing it was

the third hour (Acts 2:15), when they would all be in the Temple. The evening sacrifice

was fixed by the Law (Num 28:4,8) as 'between the evenings,' that is, between the

darkness of the gloaming and that of the night. 68

Such admonitions as 'to show forth thy faithfulness every night upon an instrument of

ten strings and on the psaltery' (Psa 92:2,3), and the call to those who 'by night stand in

the house of the Lord,' to 'lift up their hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord' (Psa

134), seem indeed to imply an evening service--an impression confirmed by the

appointment of Levite singers for night service in 1 Chronicles 9:33; 23:30. But at the

time of our Lord the evening sacrifice certainly commenced much earlier. Josephus puts

it down (Ant. xiv. 4, 3) as at the ninth hour. According to the Rabbis the lamb was slain

at the eighth hour and a-half, or about 2:30 p.m., and the pieces laid on he altar an hour

later--about 3:30 p.m. Hence, when 'Peter and John went up together into the Temple at

the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour' (Acts 3:1) it must have been for the evening

sacrifice, or rather half an hour later, and, as the words indicate, for the 'prayer' that

accompanied the offering of incense. The evening service was somewhat shorter than

that of the morning, and would last, at any rate, about an hour and a-half, say till about

four o'clock, thus well meeting the original requirement in Numbers 28:4. After that no

other offering might be brought except on the eve of the Passover, when the ordinary

evening sacrifice took place two hours earlier, or at 12:30 p.m. 69

We can conceive the laborious work of the day over, and the rest and solemnity of

'night in the Temple' begun. The last notes of the Temple music have died out, and the

worshippers slowly retired, some after lingering for private prayer, or else tarrying in one

of the marble porches. Already the short Eastern day is fading out in the west. Far over

the mountains of Gibeon the sun is sinking in that ocean across which the better light is

so soon to shine. The new company of priests and Levites who are to conduct the

services of the morrow are coming up from Ophel under the leadership of their heads of

houses, their elders. Those who have officiated during the day are preparing to leave by

another gate. They have put off their priestly dress, depositing it in the appointed