Ancient Jericho
There is nothing left of the ancient Jericho but a few mounds and ruined aqueducts, which we see in the above picture. Josephus says that “palm trees here grow to an unusal size, the gardens produce honey and balsam, henna and myroballanum.” Of these rich products not one remains. It is said that Cleopatra transferred the balsam trees to the gardens of Heliopolis in Egypt. In the distance we again see the Moab Mountains. At the base of these mountains at the beginning of the level plain flows the River Jordan. This region was at one time considered the garden of Palestine. In the time of the Crusades it is said that kings cultivated plantations of sugar cane in the plains of Jericho. In the ancient city at present no people live. Near by is the fountain of Elisha, the Mount of the Temptation. Quarantania rises loftily above the plain at this point. In 1863 the writer rode to the summit of the mound, where he gained a charming view of this plain of the Jordan, on which the eyes of Lot looked from near Bethel to the west, when he coveted it because of its fertility and beauty. This old Jericho is the place to which Joshua referred when it is said, “Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, see, I have given into thy hand Jericho and the King thereof and the mighty men of valor, and ye shall compass the city all ye men of valor and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.”
Comments