Jericho - City of Palm

Jericho was situated ten miles northwest of where the Jordan River enters the Dead Sea and four miles from the river, at an elevation of one thousand feet below sea level. A major ford of the Jordan accommodates travel from Transjordan through the river to the west. This route connects the Transjordanian Highway and the Medeba Plain in Moab to the International Coastal Highway along the Mediterranean Sea. Jericho also controlled the northern road in the Jordan Valley that led to the important trade city of Beth-shan.

Jericho is situated on a narrow plain on the western side of the Jordan Valley. Behind the city, the land rises sharply into a mountainous wilderness. Excavations at Jericho date the earliest settlements to the Mesolithic Age (8,500 B.C.), making it one of the oldest cities of the world.
The name Jericho probably derives from the Hebrew word yerah, meaning moon or month or new moon. Early inhabitants of the area probably worshiped the moon god, whom they believed controlled the cycles of the moon and therefore the agricultural seasons.

Although Jericho was an important city, it encompassed a relatively small area of only ten acres. Its tell stands seventy feet high. During the Hellenistic and Hasmonean periods, a new Jericho, sometimes called "Herodian Jericho," appeared a mile west in the Wadi Qelt. Intended to be a royal center for the Hasmonean kings of Judah in the first century B.C., it later became the eastern capital and winter residence of Herod the Great. The city flourished from 105 B.C. until it was taken by the Romans in A.D. 70.

Historical and Biblical Importance

• When the Israelites entered the Land, the whole nation was camped just two miles away at Gilgal on the flat plain beside the Jordan River. From there, they could look up at the seemingly impregnable walls of the city. The people of Jericho could also observe the camp of the Israelites. The residents of Jericho had heard of the Israelites’ miraculous departure from Egypt forty years before. They would have been very impressed with this extraordinary event, since Egypt’s power had dominated them for many years. They were also very much aware of Moses’ victories over the formidable Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites across the river (Josh 2:9-11).
  


• On God’s command, the people, priests, and warriors marched around the city of Jericho once each day for six days and seven times on the seventh day. The priests carried the ark of the covenant, signifying the presence and power of God who would give the victory. With a shout from the people and the blowing of rams’ horns by the priests, the walls fell and the city was taken.
  


• After Jericho fell, Joshua pronounced a curse on any who would rebuild the city, a prediction that was fulfilled in the days of Ahab (Josh 6:26; 1 Kgs 16:34).
  Jericho lay within the territory allotted to Benjamin. This located the city in the relatively "neutral" area between the dominant tribes of Judah and Ephraim.
  


• In the time of the Judges, Eglon, king of Moab, joined by the Ammonites and Amalekites, oppressed Israel from "the city of palms" (Jericho) until Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite killed him (Judg 3:12-30).
  


• When David sought to confirm good relations with the new Ammonite king, the Ammonites insulted his messengers by shaving off half of the Israelites’ beards and cutting off half of their garments. David ordered the men to remain in Jericho until their beards grew again. Jericho was on the route between the Ammonite capital at Rabba-ammon and Jerusalem (2 Sam 10:1-5).
  


• Accompanied by his designated successor Elisha, Elijah passed through Jericho and crossed the Jordan to the Plains of Moab, where God swept him up into heaven in a chariot. Like Joshua and the Israelites nearly five hundred years before, they did not use the ford of the Jordan. Instead, they crossed dry shod. When Elisha returned to the river alone, he faced his first test of faith. Would the authority and power that God delegated to Elijah be available to him also? In desperation and dependence he cried out, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" (2 Kgs 2:14). This important transition from the ministry of Elijah to the ministry of Elisha took place within sight of Jericho, on the Plains of Moab, beneath Mt. Nebo, a place fraught with historical and theological significance (1 Kgs 2:4-22). It would also become the place where, some nine hundred years later, a prophet would come out of the wilderness above Jericho, calling his countrymen to "repent and be baptized" and announcing that "the kingdom is at hand."
  


• Israel’s last king, Zedekiah, fled to Jericho in an unsuccessful attempt to flee the Babylonians who were laying siege to Jerusalem. Apparently, the king was planning to escape eastward through Moab. When the Babylonians caught him, they killed all his sons, put out his eyes, and took him in chains to Babylon (2 Kgs 25:1-7; Jer 52:1-11)

• The main road that led westward from Herodian Jericho up the steep-walled Wadi Qelt was notoriously dangerous. Bandits found it easy to hide in the ravines and behind rocks, from where they could quickly attack lone travelers. It is likely that the incident Jesus used in His message about the "Good Samaritan" took place on this road, just west of Jericho, and that the inn to which the Samaritan took the Jewish victim was located in the safety of Herodian Jericho.
  


• The fact that in Jesus’ time there were actually two Jerichos may be reflected in the differences in the accounts of healing two blind men (Matt 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43). Although two blind men were involved, the more aggressive Bartimaeus was more prominent. In Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts, Jesus and His disciples are said to be leaving Jericho when they encountered Bartimaeus. Luke’s account describes the incident as happening when they were approaching Jericho. There are two possible explanations for this seeming contradiction. First, as Jesus was entering Jericho, the men pled with Him. However, they were not healed until He was leaving. A second possibility is that Jesus healed them after He left the old Jericho and as He was approaching Herodian Jericho.
  


• Zaccheus held the office of a regional collector of taxes for the Roman government. It is understandable that he would reside in Jericho, given its climate, resources, strategic location, and the wealth of the area which could be taxed. Apparently, he was aware of the preaching of John the Baptist who had ministered at the Jordan River within sight of Jericho. This contact may have accounted for his desire to see Jesus and also for his immediate expression of repentance and his willingness to make restitution in the exact terms John had preached.
  


• As Jesus was leaving Herodian Jericho to travel with His disciples and others to the Passover in Jerusalem, He stopped to teach the parable of the minas. It is possible that His reference to the "certain nobleman" was occasioned by the sight of a palace they were passing near Herodian Jericho. Archelaeus, son of Herod the Great, who had built this residence, had traveled to Rome when his father died in 4 B.C. to receive from Caesar the vassal kingdom of Judea and Samaria. When he returned, he had dealt harshly with his enemies.

(Partially extracted from DeVries, LaMoine F. Cities of the Biblical World. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997.)