DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0147
JERICHO.
1 Si-
name of the " city of palm-trees" in Judges i. 16, — after ^
wards as having been taken by the Moabites (iii. 13) —
and as the place where the messengers of David tarried
till their shaven beards had grown again; Hiel of
Bethel did, in the time of Ahab, rebuild the fortifica-
tions, and the curse pronounced by Joshua was fulfilled
in the fact of his losing one son at the commencement,
and the other on the completion of the walls; a school
of prophets settled here, and much of the history of
Elijah and Elisha took place at and near the city. By
a pass between Quarantania and Wady Kelt a path leads
in six hours to Beitin, the ancient Bethel; it was by
this road that the Israelites " went up to Ai," and
" made it a heap for ever, even a desolation unto this
day." Little more is known of ancient Jericho, but
one would like to excavate these large mounds and seek
for further remains.
Bight across the centre of the plain runs a stream
called the Kelt: upon the banks of this, a mile and a
half east of 'Am es Sultan, stood the fine city of Jericho,
built by Herod — it was adorned with a splendid palace,
an amphitheatre, and a hippodrome. To this new
Jericho our Lord came when He visited Zaccheus the.
publican ; here he healed the blind man, and told the
multitudes that followed him that the Son of man was
come to seek and to save them that were lost; here, too,
John the Baptist preached to them repentance and
good works, baptizing them in the Jordan, as the type
of the new birth and purification of the heart—his own
coarse food and coarser garments contrasting with the
voluptuous luxury, delicate living, and " soft raiment "
of the " king's houses" and the palace of the infamous
Herod — Great only in wickedness — one, indeed, among
the "generation of vipers " against whom St. John warned
K 2
1 Si-
name of the " city of palm-trees" in Judges i. 16, — after ^
wards as having been taken by the Moabites (iii. 13) —
and as the place where the messengers of David tarried
till their shaven beards had grown again; Hiel of
Bethel did, in the time of Ahab, rebuild the fortifica-
tions, and the curse pronounced by Joshua was fulfilled
in the fact of his losing one son at the commencement,
and the other on the completion of the walls; a school
of prophets settled here, and much of the history of
Elijah and Elisha took place at and near the city. By
a pass between Quarantania and Wady Kelt a path leads
in six hours to Beitin, the ancient Bethel; it was by
this road that the Israelites " went up to Ai," and
" made it a heap for ever, even a desolation unto this
day." Little more is known of ancient Jericho, but
one would like to excavate these large mounds and seek
for further remains.
Bight across the centre of the plain runs a stream
called the Kelt: upon the banks of this, a mile and a
half east of 'Am es Sultan, stood the fine city of Jericho,
built by Herod — it was adorned with a splendid palace,
an amphitheatre, and a hippodrome. To this new
Jericho our Lord came when He visited Zaccheus the.
publican ; here he healed the blind man, and told the
multitudes that followed him that the Son of man was
come to seek and to save them that were lost; here, too,
John the Baptist preached to them repentance and
good works, baptizing them in the Jordan, as the type
of the new birth and purification of the heart—his own
coarse food and coarser garments contrasting with the
voluptuous luxury, delicate living, and " soft raiment "
of the " king's houses" and the palace of the infamous
Herod — Great only in wickedness — one, indeed, among
the "generation of vipers " against whom St. John warned
K 2