Page 97 - Advanced Bible Geography ebook

Herod the Great built a resort community in
Jericho that came to be known as “Upper
Jericho.” The wealthiest and most powerful
people in Jerusalem had homes in Upper
Jericho. Archaeological work currently under
way is uncovering great palaces, swimming
pools and sports stadiums in the area. As
Jesus and tens of thousands of common
travelers passed by Upper Jericho on their
way to Jerusalem, they would have seen the
richly decorated and well-watered resort. The road that connected Jericho and Jerusalem followed Wadi
Among those who had vacation homes in Qelt for most of the journey. The path on the left-hand side of this
the area were the high priests of the photograph is the path Jesus, the disciples and almost every
Temple. Only by cooperating with the person in the Bible would have known. The aqueduct on the right
Romans and participating in unethical side of the canyon was built by Herod the Great to bring water
practices could a priest possibly afford such from the Prat River to his resort complex in Upper Jericho.
Because water is so important in Israel’s desert environment, the
a vacation home. These were the chief aqueduct has been maintained for 2,000 years and is still in use
priests who drew the ire of John the Baptizer today!
and Jesus alike.

The road between Jericho and Jerusalem was one of the most well known in all of Israel. Tens of
thousands - if not hundreds of thousands - of travelers from the Galilee navigated the difficult and
dangerous road each year. Jericho is about 850 feet below sea level. Jerusalem is 2,500 feet above sea
level. The road between the two cities followed the Prat River in what is known as Wadi Qelt. Attacks
from robbers weren’t uncommon on the road, which is why it garnered the nickname the “Way of
Blood.” Jesus used the road as the familiar setting for the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-
37).

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped
him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead” (Lk 10:35-37).

There are some particularities about the road between Jerusalem and Jericho that drive home the point
of this parable with even greater power. To describe them fully, though, we must understand the
climate and terrain of the area.

The Mediterranean Sea pushes warm, moist air across Israel until it reaches the elevated ridgeline on
which Jerusalem is situated. The range there squeezes all the moisture out of the air, leaving the land to
the east of Jerusalem arid.

A person walking from Jerusalem to Jericho would be “going down” in elevation and leaving a semi-dry
area for a totally barren and parched one. The trip between Jerusalem and Jericho would have been
about 18 miles, and in that distance, travelers would have descended more than half a mile in elevation.
The majority of those 18 miles would be in desert-like conditions, as you can see in this photo.

Jericho is an ancient town—the oldest continually-inhabited city in the world, in fact—and it sits in the
Dead Sea valley below the elevated range that holds Jerusalem. It has survived as an oasis in the desert

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