THE TAMID [DAILY] SACRIFICE

THE TAMID DAILY SACRIFICE
Also known as the Perpetual Sacrifice

JEWISH TIME	ROMAN TIME
SCHEDULE OF THE TAMID SACRIFICE
FIRST HOUR	DAWN
The first lamb is brought out and tied to the altar at dawn Mishnah: Tamid 3:2-3:3	The priests prepare the altar [Exodus 29:38-42; Leviticus 6:1-6; Mishnah: Tamid 1:2]
THIRD HOUR	9AM
The first lamb is sacrificed at 9AM Mishnah: Tamid 3:7; Edersheim, The Temple, chapter 7, p. 108	9AM is the first hour of prayer [Acts 2:15] Temple gates open "Shacharit"(morning)
SIXTH HOUR	NOON
The second lamb is brought out and tied to the altar at noon Mishnah: Tamid 4:1	Noon is the second hour of prayer [Acts 3:1; 10:9] "Minchah" (gift-offering)
NINTH HOUR	3PM
The second lamb is sacrificed at 3PM Antiquities of the Jews 14.4.3 (14:65); Philo Special Laws I, XXXV (169)	3PM is the third hour of prayer; also called the hour of confession [Acts 3:1; 10:9] "Ma'ariv" (evening: our afternoon is the Jewish evening= next day began at sundown) [3 hours of prayer see Mishnah Berakhot]

The Jewish day began at sundown. The daytime was divided into 12 seasonal hours, but the day division of hours was focused on the schedule of the Tamid sacrifice. In the first century AD the night was divided into 4 night watches of 3 hours each: (1) from sundown to 9PM; (2) from 9PM to 12 midnight; (3) from 12 midnight to 3AM; and (4) from 3AM to dawn. A trumpet call, known as the "cockcrow" signaled the end of the 3^rd and beginning of the 4^th watch.