Tamid 26B

בית אבטינס ובית הניצוץ. איבעיא להו: עליות ממש הוו, או דלמא דהוו גביהי מגבה כעליות?

§ The Mishnah teaches that the Chamber of Avtinas and the Chamber of the Spark were upper stories. Concerning this, a dilemma was raised before the rabbis: Were these halls actual upper stories? Or perhaps they were merely very tall, built upon pillars, and therefore were like upper stories.

תא שמע, דתנן: שבצפון שער הניצוץ כמין אכסדרא היה, ועלייה בנויה על גבה, שהכהנים שומרים מלמעלה, והלוים מלמטה. ופתח היה לו לחול.

The Talmud explains: Come and hear a resolution, as we learned in a Mishnah that discusses the 7 gates to the Temple courtyard (Middot 1:5): There were 3 gates that were in the north, and the first of these was the Gate of the Spark. It was like a portico [akhsadra], and there was an upper story built atop it, where the honor guard stood, with the priests watching from above, in the upper story; and the Levites would keep watch from below. And the hall had an entrance toward the non-sacred area of the Temple Mount. This Mishnah indicates that the Chamber of the Spark was an actual upper story.

מנא הני מילי? דתנו רבנן: ״וילוו עליך וישרתוך״⁠ – בעבודתך הכתוב מדבר.

The Talmud asks: From where are these matters, that the priests and Levites kept watch on different stories, derived? This is derived from a verse, as A baraita states: The verse states that God said to Aaron: “And your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, you should bring near with you, that they may accompany you and serve you” (Numbers 18:2). The verse is speaking of the Levites accompanying Aaron in your, i.e., Aaron’s, service of keeping watch in the Temple, which is the only service performed by both priests and Levites. Since the verse speaks of the watch of the Levites only as an accompaniment to the watch of the priests, the Levites do not keep watch from above like the priests, but only from below.