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Jericho and Jerusalem
Jericho and Jerusalem
We have now travelled along the Jordan Valley, and it's time to leave the river and travel inland, towards Bethlehem, our final destination. We'll be taking the notorious Jericho-Jerusalem road, but before that we'll stop for a while in Jericho.
Jericho/Tell es-Sultan is one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in human history. It was first settled around 12,500 years ago - by comparison, the oldest occupied site in Britain, Amesbury and the area around Stonehenge, was first settled around 10,800 years ago, and the building of Stonehenge itself didn't start until approximately 5,000 years ago .
Reconstruction of ancient Jericho, showing the inner and outer walls and the guard towers - some of the first stone towers ever built.
Jericho grew from being a small village of early farmers, until by 8,500 BC it was a large, town of approximately 6 acres protected by one of the first town walls ever built - the walls that according to the Book of Joshua were destroyed by the trumpets and shouts of the Israelite army:
Seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets....But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner.... And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city! Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. ... So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. (Joshua 5: 13 ff).
Modern Jericho is a city of just over 18,500 people, and is now situated in the disputed West Bank region of Israel, and is under the control of the Palestinian National Authority. Jericho today has two large refugee camps on its outskirts: Aqbat Jaber which houses approximately 6,500 Palestinians and Ein El-Sultan, which houses approximately 3,800.
Aqbat Jaber, the largest Palestinian refugee camp by area
The Way of Blood
The Way of Blood
In the first century, the road from Jericho to Jerusalem was notorious for being a haunt of bandits and thieves; many pilgrims going to or from the great temple in Jerusalem for the High Holy days of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement; Rosh Hashanah (also known as Yom Teruah), the New Year, and Passover were robbed, beaten or killed. Known as 'The Way of Blood', the road from Jericho to Jerusalem was the setting for Jesus's Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), probably the best known of all the parables.
In Dr. Martin Luther King's last major speech, 'I've Been To The Mountaintop' , he recalled visiting the Holy Land with Mrs King, and even then feeling uneasy travelling along that road:
We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles—or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road.
The road from Jericho to Jerusalem today, showing the many caves and clefts beside the road where 1st century bandits and thieves might lie in wait for travellers to attack and rob.
[Picture taken by Revd. Georgina]
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
Reconstruction of the second temple, after refurbishments of King Herod (c.20-11 BC)
Mary and Joseph must have been greatly relieved when they caught sight of the city of Jerusalem. In the distance they would have seen the great temple, recently refurbished by King Herod, on the Temple Mount, which Joseph may have visited before to celebrate the Passover.
Perhaps Mary and Joseph rested in the shade of the olive trees which grew then on the Mount of Olives, to the east of the city. Maybe they picked some olives to supplement their by now rather stale flatbread?
Olive tapenade
Olive tapenade
This is a delicious paste made from black olives, which you could eat with flatbreads made using the recipe from The First Week page, or if you prefer with pitta bread which you can buy in any supermarket.
You'll need:
130 gms of black olives (preferably with the stones in)
4 sun-dried tomatoes
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 dessert spoon balsamic vinegar
30 mls olive oil
If using un-pitted olives, place them on a chopping board and firmly press with a rolling pin or any clean flat object. Then you should be able to remove the stones easily from the crushed olives.
Finely chop the olives. Drain and finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes. Crush the garlic clove. Mix together with the oregano, balsamic vinegar and oil. Place in the fridge to chill.
Do join us once again - and bring your bread and tapenade - for lunch this Wednesday at 12:30.
A Pilgrim's Prayer
A Pilgrim's Prayer
Lord God, we thank you
for calling us into the company
of those who trust in Christ
and seek to obey his will.
May your Spirit guide and strengthen us
in mission and service to your world;
for we are strangers no longer
but pilgrims together on the way to your Kingdom.
Amen.
(From Churches Together in England.)
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