Bible Cities: Jericho

The word “Jericho” means ‘the city of palm trees’, as we learn from 2 Chronicles 28:15:

“(they) brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.”

Palm trees grew here because it was so humid. Jericho is the lowest city on the earth, because it is so near the Dead Sea. It is situated west of the river Jordan and about 5 miles north of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is 1290 feet below sea level, and Jericho is 820 feet below sea level. It is also one of the oldest cities in the world.

Jericho is mentioned 63 times in the Bible. Most of these references are describing other places; an example is Numbers 22:l:

“And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side of Jordan by Jericho.”

Rahab

Jericho was where Rahab hid the spies in her loft (Josh.2:l-5). Eventu­ally Jericho was destroyed when the Israelites marched round the city and, with a loud shout, the city walls fell down – well, all except Rahab’s house. Rahab had faith, as it says in Hebrews 11:30-31:

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.”

I think Rahab is an interesting person. She was a harlot who lived in a house on the wall of Jericho. She hid the two spies because she believed God would give

Canaan to the Israelites.In return the spies promised to save Rahab and her family when they captured Jericho.

It is a very nice thought, that Rahab is in the line of Christ Jesus. It tells us so in Matthew l:5: “Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed …” and so on to the birth of Jesus in the same line.

Jesus heals the blind

The next of the well-known Jericho incidents is set in the New Testa­ment, and is concerned with the life of Jesus. It was in Jericho that there were two blind men, and Jesus healed them. They were sitting by the road to Jericho, and hearing Jesus, they called out to him; but the crowd told them to shut up. Still, Jesus turned round and asked them, “What do you want me to do?” They asked him to heal them, and he did so. He made them see. In Mark chapter 10 we read of blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, who was also in Jericho, and was healed by Jesus in the same way as the previous men were healed.

The Gooa Samaritan and Zacchaeus

In the very well-known story of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan was travelling on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho:

“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead … But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him” (Luke 10:30-34).

This reminds me of another incident in Israel’s history, which took place in Sam­aria:

“So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the leaders and all the congregation. Then the men who were designated by name rose up and took the captives, and from the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them, dressed them and gave them sandals, gave them food and drink, and anointed them; and they let all the feeble ones ride on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho” (2 Chron.28:14,15).

Doesn’t this remind us of the parable, of the good Samaritan? There are some interesting similarities here.

In another incident which happened in Jericho, Zacchaeus the tax-collec­tor who lived in the city climbed the sycamore tree in order to see Jesus (Luke 19:l-10).

Levelling

Thinking about all these examples of incidents connected with Jericho which I have given, it seems to me that Jericho has to do with ‘levelling’:

In the fall of Jericho in Joshua, the walls came down – level with the people.

In the incident of Blind Bartimaeus, Jesus says to him, “Rise up, I am calling you”. So he got up; he was then at the same level as Jesus.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan climbed down off his horse, and became level with the sick man.

And in the story of Zacchaeus, Jesus called to him up the tree, “Make haste, come down (come level with me), for today I must stay at your house”.

There are good lessons for us here; we have to learn to level ourselves with each other, we must read and study the Bible, be good and kind, if we want salvation. In the Kingdom everyone will be level – all equal. All young people need to study the Word of God and to shape their lives according to the will of God.