While there is much other evidence confirming the importance of the Shema in Second Temple Judaism, no prerabbinic evidence confirms the existence of the lay divisions paralleling those of the priests. Still, I think it plausible that, at some point in the Maccabean or Herodian period, prayer became a part of the daily temple liturgy. The temple did indeed become a “house of prayer” (Isa. 56:7).
