This exploration of the Judean priesthood's role in agricultural cultivation demonstrates that
the institutional reach of Second Temple Judaism (516 BCE-70 CE) went far beyond the confines
of its houses of worship while exposing an unfamiliar aspect of sacred place-making in the
ancient Jewish experience. Temples of the ancient world regularly held assets in land often
naming a patron deity as landowner and affording the land sanctity protections. Such
arrangements can provide essential background to the Hebrew Bible's assertion that God is the
owner of the land of Israel. They can also shed light on references in early Jewish literature
to the sacred landholdings of the priesthood or the temple.
