Jericho

JERICHO (Jĕrʹ ĭʹ kō) Place-name meaning “moon.” Apparently the oldest city in the world and the first city Israel conquered under Joshua. Jericho is situated in the lower Jordan Valley, which, according to Gen. 13:10, “was well-watered everywhere … like the Lord’s garden” (HCSB). The OT town lies beneath Tell es-Sultan near one of Palestine’s strongest springs.
New Testament Jericho, founded by Herod the Great, was about one and one-half miles southward in the magnificent Wadi Qelt. The spring, Ain es-Sultan, issues some 30,000 cubic feet of water daily which falls about 160 feet in the first mile of its course down many channels to the Jordan River six miles away, irrigating about 2,500 acres.
The combination of rich alluvial soil, the perennial spring, and constant sunshine made Jericho an attractive place for settlement. Jericho could be called “city of palms” (Deut. 34:3; Judg. 1:16; 3:13; 2 Chron. 28:15) and has plenty of palm trees today. Only about 6.4 inches of rain fall there per year (mostly between November and February), and the average temperature in January is 59°F, while it is 88°F in August. Jericho is about 740 feet below sea level (accounting for its warm climate) but well above the Dead Sea, eight miles southward, which at 1,300 feet below sea level marks the earth’s lowest point.

In the foreground the tel of NT Jericho with the tel of OT Jericho behind.
Jericho was an oasis situated in a hot plain, living in its own world with no major settlement in sight and lying between the two focal points of Jerusalem and Amman in the mountains to the west and east. It is mentioned in the Bible usually in association with some movement from one side of the Jordan to another—the Israelite invasion when Ehud takes tribute to the Moabite king, when David sends envoys to the king of Ammon, when Elijah and Elisha cross the Jordan, or when Zedekiah attempts to escape the Babylonians.

Step-trench cut into the tel of OT Jericho to uncover the many levels of destruction.
In NT times Jericho was famous for its balm (an aromatic gum known for its medicinal qualities). This, along with its being the winter capital, made it a wealthy city. When Jesus was hosted by Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1–10), it was probably in one of Jericho’s finest houses. Its sycamore trees were quite valuable. Such a city could expect to have its share of beggars, as the Gospels tell us (Matt. 20:29–34; Mark 10:46–52; Luke 18:35–43).

Inverted Corinthian column capital as found in situ in NT Jericho.
The archaeology of Jericho is closely associated with the names of John Garstang (1876–1956), who excavated there from 1930 to 1936, and especially Kathleen Kenyon, an Oxford University scholar who excavated there between 1952 and 1959. The earliest recognizable building on the site dates apparently (based on radiocarbon dating) from about 9250 b.c., a time marking the change from the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic period in Palestine. By 8000 b.c. a walled town (the world’s earliest) of about 10 acres had been built. About 6000 b.c. pottery appeared in Jericho. About 4000 b.c. a period of abandonment began, but by 3300 b.c. Jericho was coming into her own again into what Kenyon calls the “Proto-Urban” age. Jericho came to have solid defense ramparts and walls. From about 2200 to 2000 b.c. the mound of Jericho was a campsite rather than a town, when some 346 excavated tombs show its occupants to be from various tribal units.

Modern Arab citrus and vegetable vendors in the city of Jericho.
John Garstang’s original excavation determined that Jericho was destroyed by fire around 1400 b.c. (corresponding to the biblical dating of the conquest). However, Kenyon’s findings disagreed with Garstang, and she dated the destruction and city wall to a much earlier time. More recently archaeologist Bryant Wood’s survey of both Garstang and Kenyon’s work revealed that Kenyon was mistaken and Garstang’s analysis of the lower city had been correct. While denying that the evidence affirms the biblical account, Lorenzo Nigro and Nicolo Marchetti’s recent excavations at Jericho have found the stone revetment wall at the base of the tell, with part of the mud-brick wall built on top of it, still intact as well as evidence of collapsed walls. Again, this evidence affirms the biblical account. However, even today, Kenyon’s view has held sway. While critical scholars underline the conflict between archaeological data and the biblical conquest narrative, in reality there is no conflict here. See Archaeology; Conquest of Canaan; Joshua.
Karen Joines and Eric Mitchell

Round Neolithic (New Stone Age) defense tower at OT Jericho.

courtesy http://biblia.com/