August 13, 2007

• Jericho

   We spent a lot of time at Masada, and when it was close to 5 in the evening, we approached Jericho. Our tour guide, Nurit, was concerned that Jericho’s site would be closed. We prayed and offered the guard a bribe to keep the site open for us. Because of that, we were able to view Jericho by ourselves. God was good, for the guard was closing the gates as our bus drove up. Because Palestine “owns” Jericho we had to cross a border. I took a few pictures of the guard station, but had to hide the camera. Did not want it taken by the guard.

  

  

  You can see the armed guard leaning on one of the red barricades.

  Jericho is one of the oldest established cities in the world. It was a walled, fortified city, the city of Rahab, and was one of the first cities conquered by Joshua. It lies near a spring that Elisha did a miracle at, called the Ain Es-Sultan. Jericho is 740 feet below sea level, but far above the Dead Sea. It is an oasis town, lying between Jerusalem and Amman. Jericho was famous for a balm that it grew, and when Jesus came into the city, he was hosted by Zacchaaeus (Luke 19). Sycamore trees were surrounding the city and Zacchaaeus climbed up on one to view Jesus.

  When Joshua and the Israelites saw Jericho they saw a well fortified city with huge walls for it’s defenses. Yet we know that God had a plan that helped the Israelites conquer Jericho.

  

  As we drove through the streets to get to Jericho, we saw a lot of destroyed buildings. Made me wonder if some of them had been the result of shelling.

  

  Some locals siting alongside the road. I noticed a huge drainage ditch, but the camera did not catch it, the ditch had a lot of garbage floating in it.

  

  We were told to leave all our stuff on the bus due to the shortness of our time to visit. So we got off the bus at a run and consequently my notes are few, for my notebook was at the bus. Once we got through the gates we raced to the farthest part of the site, but these are not the famous walls of Jericho that came down. This is just part of the city. You can see a nearby city in the distance.

   

  Looking closely, you can see bricks embedded in the dirt. Jericho is the most excavated city by archeologists, and everywhere you looked you saw excavations.

  

  The sign (square of white) talked about an outer fortification of the city. Again in the foreground on the left you can see the stone walls.

  

  We finally raced to the site of the walls that we sing about, “The walls came tumbling down.” In the pink shirt with black slacks is Joy Pollard, she is the one that taught the Friday Bible study that is blessing so many of you, “Because I AM Said So.”

  Pastor Don had us look at the wall, and he pointed out that based on what we can observe of the walls that the song lyrics are wrong, for if the walls had come tumbling down they would be in a rubble heap. That a greater miracle happened, the earth opened and the ground swallowed the walls intact. Pastor Don told us that when the older civilizations built walls they usually sacrificed people to fortify the walls, for they were idol worshippers. And it is Pastor Don’s theory that God buried the walls because of the innocent blood shed for their construction. That was the only way to rightly take care of those who were sacrificed. When the walls went down, fear spread, and Joshua had the victory. But God did not want the Israelites to take any plunder from the city.

  

  More walls.

  

  We had all managed to get to one spot to hear from Nurit.

  

  (see picture above this comment) This is the wall that is believed to be THE WALL OF JERICHO, that went into the earth.

  

  There is a monastery nearby and these cable cars kept ferrying people to and from the monastery. At one point cables like this were used to supply food and water to some stranded Israeli troops.

  

  Nurit (shielding eyes) Pastor Don (white hat) Pastor Ted (blue hat).

  

  You can see the oasis nature of the surrounding town of Jericho.

  

  I took a picture of the sign, showing how the references to the Christian nature of the site have been torn off.

  

  I still cannot get over how close lush vegetation and stark rocks coexist.

  

  Another view of the wall that went straight down into the earth. When you see it, you realize that what Pastor Don is saying appears to be the case.

  

  Some houses on the outside walls – this would have been similar to one that Rahab lived in.

  

  More walls and rocks.

  

  

  You can see the carvings on this piece of marble. Wreaths, shells, and water symbols. Before going back to the bus, we made a detor to Elisha’s stream. A stream that still provides water, since the time of the miracle of Elisha. The school of prophets came to Elisha talking about the water being undrinkable. Elisha took salt and threw it into the water (something that doesn’t make logical sense). The water became sweet and has provided the locals abundant water since the time of Elisha.

  

  

  Some of the locals watching the tourists.

  

  A few of our group taking pictures. There are not many tourists that come to this spot, due to the upheaval and political unrest in the area. My friend Barbara agappa777 is in the black shirt, white pants.

  

  Thought you might want to see this sign about who is funding Jericho’s water supply upgrade. The United Nations and other countries. I did not see signs of many countries supporting Israel, only supporting those who seek to take over Israel.

  

  I don’t know who these men were, but they seemed to be dealing with the water trucks. I was surprised to see the TV in such an open air enclosure.

  

  The truck says, Water for the future.

  

  This was a pretty mosaic sort of frescoed (is that a word?) into the wall.

  

  Then we got on the bus and headed back to our hotel. A Mosque.

  

  A burka store for women.

  

  The checkpoint approaching.

  

  Not sure what that sign represents, but graffiti even came to Jericho.

  Wish I could share more with you about Jericho, but at least there are pictures.

  Have a blessed day,

  Heather

  • 5:24 pm
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