Jericho

Jericho’s *Excavation and* the mystery of its wall
The historical city of Jericho and his wall is a topic that has been in history for ages. Some people still wonder if the wall really existed or if was just an ancient tale. Jericho sits between Mt. Nebo in the east, the Central Mountains to the west and the Dead Sea to the south. In addition to these natural fortifications, Jericho alsobenefited from natural irrigation afforded by the Jordan River approximately four miles to the west, and from underground tributaries from the Central Mountains which fed her famous oasis. This irrigation resulted in teeming plant life and helped to transform Jericho into a flowing sea of green in an otherwise barren desert. Besides being old, Jericho is also one of the lowest cities in the world,about 800 feet below sea level.
In the next pages, we will see what really happened and how it happened. Some researchers have been done, but there are still some discrepancies that need to be clarified. Excavations at the ancient mound of Jericho in the southern Jordan valley of Palestine have yielded extraordinary finds that verify the veracity of Biblical accounts. The only surviving writtenhistory of Jericho is that recorded in the Bible. Archaeology has demonstrated that the Biblical record is a precise eyewitness account of events that transpired there many thousands of years ago. The most famous story about Jericho is that of the walls falling, as detailed in Joshua 6. Another less known, but however important account is that of Eglon, king of Moab, building a palace there andextracting tribute from the Israelites for 18 years as told in Judges 3:12-30. Space does not allow a detailed discussion of the evidence, so we will briefly list the main finds and their correlation with the Bible.
Jericho is often referred to as the oldest city on earth, with a history of about ten thousand years. This ancient city is located in the region of Canaan at the lower end of the Jordanvalley about eight miles north of the Dead Sea. It lies 840 feet below the sea level making it the lowest city in the world. Hunters were attracted to this location because of the abundant water sources around the area. Aqueducts and other irrigation systems were built early on, making the city an agricultural center. By 8000 BC, about 2,000 people had permanently settled near present day.Jericho was a very important city in the Old Testament. The city was overtaken and devastated several times. However, it was always reoccupied, sometimes quickly and other times very slowly. Herod the Great, Cleopatra, and Augustus are some of the rulers that once took claim of some or all of Jericho. Jericho is perhaps most recognized as the city where Joshua was successful in battle. This story ofmarching, shouting, and crumbling walls is unbelievable unless attributed to the almighty power of the God. In the story of the Fall of Jericho, Rahab and those in her house were the only residents of Jericho to survive the conquest of Joshua. The true victory of the city belongs to the God as the city was conquered through obedience to His commands, given by God, to people whom witnessed all theevents described in the Bible, which today gives us an description of the ancient city. Many stories have been told about what really happened at the time of these events, some probably true, and some not. The fact is that Jericho really existed and archeologists want to find out what really happened in ancient times.
The name Jericho brings to mind Israelites marching, trumpets sounding andwalls falling down. It is a wonderful story of faith and victory, but did it really happen? The skeptic would say that it is just a children tale to explain the ruins at Jericho. The main reason for this negative viewpoint is the excavations at the site carried out in the fifties under the direction of British archaeologist, Kathleen Kenyon, who said, “It is a sad fact that of the town walls of the...