DAILY, WEEKEND, AND HOLIDAY INTERNET EVANGELIZE TO THE WORLD MINISTRY

Ancient Jerusalem Ancient Jerusalem   JOTHAM 739–734 BCE Over time, the gaps between social classes had become wide and unrelenting in the northern kingdom of Israel where the rich enjoyed benefits and privileges far beyond those available to most of the people. But Judah appears to have enjoyed a more equitable society, even when great wealth was being generated within its borders, as happened during the reign of Jotham’s acclaimed father Uzziah. Recent excavations of houses of the period suggest narrower differences in social scale among its people than in the northern kingdom, a greater filtering down of wealth. Judah was fortunate in other ways as well. Not since Ahab succeeded Omri as ruler of Israel had the Jews experienced a king’s handover to a son as promising as when Jotham succeeded to the throne. Uzziah having been stricken with leprosy and having become a quarantined recluse, Jotham was required to function as his regent until he died. He di...

Ancient Jerusalem   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...