Jericho to Jerusalem hike

Here is paper from our hike a couple weeks ago. Yes i am slacking a bit, but i plan to catch up today! so here is the paper from the 3,500 ft, 18ish mile hike we took from Jericho, down by the dead sea, up to the Jerusalem city wall in the hill Country of Judah. I good hike indeed. 

Jericho to Jerusalem

We started this hike around 8:15. This was an early one compared to the other hike because of the nature of the hike. As the crow flies, Jericho and Jerusalem are about 14 miles apart with an elevation change of 3500 feet. There is a continuous ridge from Jericho that gets you close to Jerusalem. Unfortunately the ridge dies off and we had to drop into a valley and climb back out. The climb back up would be the back side of the Mount of Olives, which is a bit steeper than I have always thought. As you know both Jericho and Jerusalem are rich with biblical history, so I will only mention some things.
             The place that we started was what bill refers to as the “Municipal Jericho.” Some scholars call this the New Testament Jericho because it was around during the New Testament and the site of the Old Testament Jericho is about 2 miles away. This terminology gives the wrong impression. One may think that Old Testament Jericho wasn’t around when New Testament Jericho came to be. This is wrong. They both operated during the New Testament as cities and were both referred to as Jericho. Bill offers the name Municipal Jericho because this part was were more of the commerce would have been, as well as Herod the Great’s Jericho Palace was. This is important to know for close readers of the Gospels because in Matthew and Mark the text says that when Jesus was “going out” of Jerusalem he came to Bartimaeus and healed him. In Luke the text says that Jesus was “coming into” Jericho and healed Bartimaeus. With the understanding of these two cities named Jericho that was about 2 miles apart this possible contradiction is cleared up. With all that said our starting point for the hike was at the Municipal Jericho site, which the Wadi Quilt flows right through.

            After walked with some local Arabs on their way to work we came to our first stop; St. George Monastery. It was quite the place being that it was literally built into the side of a cliff. Monasteries are interesting to think about in that the monks there go to get away from the sinful world when really the sin is inside them. Seems to me like a bit of a waste of time. We ate lunch and continued on up the ridge. The Wadi Quilt is a very deep cutting valley. It is straight down on both sides and I can see why they would avoid it at all costs; not at all traveler friendly.

            This is an important route in biblical and modern times because it is the quickest way between Jericho and Jerusalem; two major cities. Not only did the people know this but the robbers did to. In biblical times robbers would be on this road and wait for travelers to attack and steal from. The route is perfect for this activity because it goes right through the Judean Wilderness, which means that settlement are few and far in between. This is the route that the Good Samaritan was traveling on when he came across the man in need. On our way up the ascent we stopped by the traditional site of the inn talked about in the Good Samaritan story. This is probably not the correct location, but it was a nice place to see.

            As we were walking along we came to a mustard tree. We got to see what a mustard seed was. The seed is about the size of two tic-tacs, and in order to have enough faith to put a tree in the ocean that is how big it must be. It was humbling to see that and understand a little bit more about what Jesus was saying. Bill gave a quick devotional. We continued walking to the store. We made a stop to grab some drinks and to make sure that everyone would be able to make it to the end because this was the last chance to get a ride. We all continued on after drinking some Coke and using the bathroom.

            The next stop was remnants of the old Roman Road what went from Jericho to Jerusalem. This would not have been the same road that Jesus would have used because it was built around 135 A.D., but chances are good that this road was built right on top of the road that was there before it, and that one would have been walked on by Jesus. At this point we could feel pain starting to build and knew that this was quite the hike. I thought Al said it nicely when he said that Jesus had to work to die for our sins; he was determined. This hike isn’t easy, but Jesus knew that he came for this reason and he hiked this same hike a week before his death knowing that he was going up to Jerusalem to die to the sins of mankind. Jesus suffering before he made it to Jerusalem. This Roman Road was an interesting place and very cool to see. This spot also naturally lent itself to a good stop for the reenactment of the Good Samaritan story.

            We finally made it to the base of the Mount of Olives. This is an Arabic Village just inside the West Bank. As we walked through we attracted lot of attention. The guys kept an eye on the girls and we just kept walking. We got through the guard station into the West Bank and headed up the back of the Mount of Olives. It was a steep incline but we all made it safely. Then we dropped into the Kidron Valley and back up the other side to the north east corner of the Old City wall. After some pictures and kissing of the wall we climbed into the bus and headed back.

Just some people hiking with us for a bit

A view into Jericho

The group hiking along

Random Donkey

Camel in its nature habitat

This is a mustard plant. The seeds are much smaller.

Nice layer in the side of the hill

The old Roman road. Not the same one Jesus would have used, but it would be under this

I well with a bucket to draw water

More of the Roman Road

Reenactment of the Good Samaritan. It would have happened along this climb

The Good Samaritan

We were safe

We made it to the old city wall

Thanks for Reading!

Ben and Christina