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On
leaving Jericho, Jesus healed the blind Bartimaeus. (Mark 10:46-51)
Heading south from Tell es-Sultan, we cross a riverbed
(Wadi Qilt) and make the next right. We are now following the line of the old
Roman road toward Jerusalem, with the wadi on our right. After one kilometer
we shall spot, across the river, Herod's winter palace. (See Second
Testament Jericho.)
(Note: The ascent is hazardous, a two-way street. Drive with care -- and not at
all when it's wet.)
When Jesus climbed this road toward Jerusalem in 30
CE, he did not see palaces. All had burned down in the brief revolt that
followed Herod's death.
To our west
yawns the canyon of Wadi Qilt, guarded by two fortresses. There is the
cone of Cypros on the south bank. (Cypros was Herod's mother; this may
have been the Hasmonean fortress, Threx.) On the north is the
half-cone of Taurus. In the region east of Jerusalem, this
wadi is the only natural opening in the cliff along the Jordan
Valley.
In
First Testament times, before there was an aqueduct along the bank
of the wadi, people would take the upper, easier road (the one we
are on) in winter and spring, drinking from the cisterns. In summer
and autumn, they would stay in the canyon, drinking from the springs
and resting in the shade. The Hasmonean put in the first aqueduct
from springs to the west. Then there was always water available on
this upper road, and it became the only one.
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In the face of the north bank, as we drive, we
can see the caves of Byzantine monks. We come to a large gate and continue
about 200 yards. Here we stop and climb to a cross, from which we can see
St. George's monastery, nestled in the northern cliff face. To its left
and ours, a functioning aqueduct (1945) crosses the wadi, bringing water
to the fields around Jericho.
St. George's shares
a number of traits with Qarantal. It is Greek Orthodox. It too contains
just a few monks today. In its present form it dates from the nineteenth
century, but with traces of Crusader and Byzantine predecessors. Although
founded by Syrian monks in the fifth century AD, the monastery takes its
name from a great teacher, George of Kosiba, who lived and taught here in
the sixth and seventh centuries, dying seven years after the Persian
conquest of 614.
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This is a good place to consider the road on which
we are driving. We can measure the 13 miles from Jerusalem to Jericho, because
to the west we can see a tower on Mt. Scopus overlooking the city beyond, while
on the right we can see the wall of Dok.
Surrounded by desert, this was a dangerous road. Outlaws could get control of
the watering places. An army might come to try and bring order (think of Saul
chasing David) but it could not long endure on limited water supplies. (The
exception was Masada). Once the army went back to the city, the outlaws
returned to their posts. (In the nineteenth century, pilgrims had to travel
in groups from Jerusalem to the Jordan, paying protection money to the Beduin.)
It is not a coincidence, then, that Jesus sets the Parable of the Good Samaritan
(Luke
10: 25-37) on
this road.
©
2003
Near East Tourist Agency
(NET)
Text
© 2003 Stephen
Langfur
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN
STANDARD BIBLE(r),
(c) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995 by
The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
(www.Lockman.org)
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