Jericho

Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world and the city with the oldest known protective wall in the world. We've all heard the song, "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho" and we were excited to see Jericho was like. Jerusalem has an elevation of 2,600 feet and Jericho is 800' below sea level which makes it the lowest city in the world!

Located within the Israeli occupied West Bank, Jericho is a city apart from the Palestinian Territories 34 miles southeast from Jerusalem, near the Dead Sea. Although known to be a target caught in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jericho is nevertheless one of the earliest known sites of human civilization.

Photo: Minarette in the new city of Jericho.

Photo: Date palm tree. Jericho was an ideal spot for ancient settlement because it was known as "City of Palm Trees." ( Deut. 34:3) We have several medjool date palm trees in our back yard in Arizona. They yield the largest, sweetest and best variety of dates. Eating dates has become part of diets since living in Jerusalem and the chefs at the Jerusalem Center insist that everyone needs to eat 3 dates each day as they aid in digestion and curb stomach cancer. And when you get a sweet tooth, eat a date because they are good for you and contain no cholesterol.

Jericho has good soil, water resources and a warm climate which made it an ideal setting for growing crops year round.

Photo: This was the entry to the remains of old Jericho. What we saw was nothing like I had ever envisioned! It was a big mound of dirt but when Dr. Skinner explained more about this, we could better understand what we were looking at. This ten acre mound dates back to 8,000 years and almost 30 generations of civilizations. The remains are the oldest city on earth and the only standing remnants of the Neolithic (New Stone Age) period.

We walked up for a closer look and saw the stone tower which excavations have discovered. Photo: Looking down on the Jericho Tower which has been dated to the oldest man-made structure in the world. As we stood where people had lived thousands of years ago, we came to better understand what happened when Israelites made their way to conquer Jericho. (Joshua 6:12)

The Tower of Jericho is a 28 ft stone structure, built in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. It is among the earliest stone monuments of mankind. The tower was constructed using undressed stones with an internal staircase of twenty two steps. Conical in shape, the tower is about 30' in diameter at the base and decreased to to 23 feet at the top. The walls were approximately 4.9" thick and the construction of the tower is estimated to have taken 11,000 working days.

Photo: Cistern. This was the location where the battle of Jericho took place. According to scripture, Joshua was captain of the Lord's hosts. The story of Jericho is told in Joshua 6:1-27. The first five books of the Hebrew Bible tell how Noah cursed Canaan to become a slave and how God gave the land of the Canaanites to Abraham and his descendants. The children of Israel (descendants of Abraham) themselves became slaves in Egypt but through Moses God brought them out of Egypt and to the borders of the promised land of Canaan. There Moses instructed them to seize the land by conquest and placed them under the command of Joshua.

Joshua sent spies to Jericho, the first city of Canaan to be taken and discovered that the land was in fear of Israel and their God. The Israelites marched around the walls once every day for seven days with the priests and the Ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day they marched seven times around the walls, then the priests blew their ram's horns, the Israelites raised a great shout and the walls of the city fell. The Israelites took no slaves but slaughtered every man, woman and child and animal in Jericho, sparing only Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute who had sheltered the spies and her family.

These are the words of the "Battle of Jericho," but I have to say after learning what happened here, I no longer like the song!! Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho and the walls cam a-tumbling down. You may talk about your men of Gideob. You may talk about the men of Saul, but there's none like good old Joshua at the Battle of Jericho. Up to the walls of Jericho they marched with spears in hand. "Come blow them ram horns," Joshua said "Cause the battle is in our hands." Then the lamb ram sheep horns began to blow the trumpets began to sound. Joshua commanded the children to shout and the walls came a-tumbling down.

The tower was constructed within a village of settled hunter-gatherers who grew crops and were beginning to prosper within a growing society.

Photo: Mount of Temptation. The Mount of Temptation is said to be the hill in the Judean desert where Jesus was tempted by the devil. The devil took him up to this high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and said unto Jesus, "All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Jesus said unto him, "Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord, thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."

This sign gives you are lot of interesting details about Jericho.

Next we are going to see the Sultan Springs. This place is significant because according to scripture the spring was healed and is considered pure water today. Elisha took up Elijah's mantle and cured the spring in 2 Kings 2:19-22: Elisha saw that the city of Jericho was pleasant but the water was not and the ground was barren. And he said, "Bring me a new cruze and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters and cast the salt in there and said, "Thus saith the Lord. I have healed these waters. There shall not be from hence anymore death or barren land." So the waters were healed unto this day according to the sayings of Elisha.

Photo: Pot from the Noelithic (stone age) period.

Photo: Water fountain.

Important things to remember about Jericho: Jesus met with Zacchaeus in Jericho. (Luke 19:1-10). Elijah taught the "sons of the prophets" and Elisha at Jericho. (2 Kings 2) Elijah divided the Jordan and rose to heaven. Jericho was repopulated by returning Jewish exiles and they helped rebuild Jerusalem. (Ezra 2:34)

Wadi Qelt

We took a field trip with the students Monday to the Wadi Qelt, a unique spring-fed desert ravine which runs from west to east, draining a significant part of the northern Judean wilderness.

It's hard to imagine having to live like this and trying to sell enough wares to survive.

Our bus dropped us off and we took a relatively short walk to a look out place. As we walked along this dry, barren path Garth said, "This is the last place on earth I could ever imagine people walking and the last place you would ever expect to find water!" We were fortunate that the day was cooler than usual so the walk was much easier. Drs. Skinner and Allred were leading our group.

 

The higher we got the more we could see of the surrounding hills. Photos do not do justice to such an immense area of desolate hills. The view was absolutely breathtaking! One student commented he felt this was the most beautiful site he had seen since his arrived in Israel.

The road you see is route we took on the bus.

The gorge of the Wadi Qelt is a spring-fed desert ravine in the center and the "Ascent of Adummim" which followed the ridge is located along the south side of the Wadi. This is the same area where in I Kings, 17:1-6 it talks about how the ravens fed Elijah bread and flesh in the morning and night. . . "And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening and he drank of the brooke." Look closely and you will see the aqua duct built by the Romans (Herod) along the right side that looks like a snake and on the left side is the trail.

When the Syrian Greeks took control of the region of the Wadi Qelt, they wanted to wipe out Judiasm so they built an aqua duct from Jerusalem to Herod's palace which was located at the end of the Wadi Qelt. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was where the Good Samaritan parable happened. At that time Jews were only loyal to other Jews and there was no obligation for any Jew to help anyone who was not a Jew. The Samaritans lived north of Jerusalem and were despised by the Jews. On His way to the Mount of Olives, Jesus (Luke 10:30) was asked the question, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded by telling the story of the Good Samaritan and said, "Go and do likewise." This is known as the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

The “Ascent of Adummim” was the main route from Jericho to Jerusalem in antiquity and the route Jesus would have walked. This was also the place where Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights and he was "afterward hungered." (Matt. 4 -2-4) The devil said to him, "If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." Jesus answered, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Among the biblical events which likely occurred on this route were David’s flight from Absalom (2 Sam 15-16), Zedekiah’s flight from the Babylonians (2 Kgs 25:4), the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), and Jesus’ travels from Jericho to Jerusalem (Luke 19:28). If you were to walk the path, a distance of 15 miles and due to the difficulty of the terrain, it would take about 6 hours. Jeff and Joyce from the JC walked it and said they would never do it again! From the top, the elevation was about 3,400 feet.

We looked down and could see this lovely monastery. This Greek Orthodox monastery was built in the late 5th century AD by John of Thebes. He became a hermit and moved here from Egypt in AD 480. The monastery was named St. George after the most famous monk who lived at the site – Gorgias of Coziba. Destroyed in 614 by the Persians, the monastery was rebuilt in the Crusader Period. It fell into disuse after the expulsion of the Crusaders. In 1878, a Greek monk, Kalinikos, settled here and restored the monastery, finishing it in 1901. Set in a beautiful landscape, the monastery sits well within the Wadi and the only way to get there is either on foot or by donkey. In 1998, when our daughter, Keri, was studying at the Jerusalem Center, she and other students walked down to the monastery and went inside.

Before the monastery was built, the monks lived in the caves in the sides of the mountain. It was built because of its association of Elijah who was fed by ravens and the Good Samaritan parable. It is a Greek Orthodox monastery and 14 monks currently live there.

Jesus traveled this route many times. He likely came this way most of the times that he journeyed to Jerusalem from Jericho. Scripture records at least two trips by way of Jericho but he probably went this way dozens of times in his life. It’s a reasonable conclusion that Jesus’ parents had to walk back up this route to Jerusalem after realizing that their twelve-year-old son was missing from their caravan (Luke 2:41-50). Never in our wildest dreams would we ever have imagined that the road to Jericho would have been like this and located in such an inaccessible canyon.

May 26th - Garth's Birthday

Today is my dear husband's 75th birthday. Come August 9, we've been married 50 years and tonight at the Jerusalem Center we are attending the "Arabian dinner" or we would be going out for dinner elsewhere. Today is extraordinarily special because our 3rd daughter, Keri, (in green jacket) is in the hospital having a baby boy. He will be our 4th grandson and 14th grandchild.

Photo: One year ago we were in Utah celebrating Garth's birthday with some of our family and grandchildren.

Birthday in Utah. The years have slipped by faster than we could have ever imagined and it's fun to look back and see how we've changed.

Why is it that men can turn grey and look more distinguished and women can't? Why is it that each wrinkle on a man's face makes him look sweeter and kinder and more adoring?

I couldn't resist sharing some photos from Garth's life from many years ago.

Can you find Garth?

Garth and his brother, Gordon.

Garth and his brother, Bob.

Garth and his friend, Warren.

Garth, age 8.

Garth's family in 1956.

Garth as a teenager.

Garth as he was leaving to serve an LDS mission to England.

Our wedding, August 9, 1966.

Graduating from Michigan Technological University with a Master's degree.

Dressing up for Halloween.

Fishing in Alaska.

Garth and his wonderful mother, Clea, in Alaska. She went with our family on a cruise to the Inside Passage.

Planting flowers with Mom Clea in Burley, Idaho.

Grave sight of Garth's parents in Burley, Idaho.

To Garth, my darling husband . . . I love you! Kathy Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Garth . . . happy birthday to you!