What is this city famous for? The Russian language includes the phrase "pipes of Jericho." It means a loud cry foreshadowing a catastrophe. We also know that Jericho is the oldest city in Palestine, and probably all over the planet. Archaeologists have discovered that in this place people have lived continuously for ten thousand years! Jericho is also interesting in terms of geographical location: it is located 250 m below sea level. It is the deepest city on Earth. And, of course, once we open the Bible, we soon come across a mention of Jericho.
In the Old Testament it is mentioned in books: Deuteronomy, Judges, 2 Chronicles, Joshua. But in the Gospel, the biblical city in Palestine is also not overlooked. Approaching him, our Lord healed a blind man from birth. Entering the city walls on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus Christ met Zacchaeus, who was small in stature, and therefore climbed onto the fig tree to see the Messiah because of the people around him. By the way, this tree is still alive, and it is shown to those who wish.
“These are all legends,” says a person who does not believe the Bible. What do the facts, that is, material evidence, say about the “City of Palms” (according to one version, the name of the city of Yoricho came from here)? Indeed, at the end of the XIX century, when the first archaeological expedition of the British arrived in the biblical city, it was a quiet provincial village. English scientists in 1868 dug up quite a bit. After 40 years, another expedition arrived in the village, this time consisting of Germans. This mission, led by archaeologist E. Sellin, immediately began to dig deep. As a result, in 1908, scientists discovered the ancient city wall.
To date, through the efforts of archaeologists, the biblical city in Palestine has revealed 23 layers of departed civilizations. The first settlement west of the bazaar of modern Jericho dates back to the 8th millennium BC. e. But this is not important: the settlement was not a camp of wild nomads, but a city. This is evidenced by a powerful eight-meter tower dating from the era of the pre-ceramic Neolithic. The Bronze Age settlement (7300 BC) astounded scientists by the scale of the city fortifications. I hardly believe that such powerful walls could be erected by people who do not know iron.
Jericho has a lot of artifacts from later eras: the necropolis of the Chalcolithic period, the ruins of the winter residence of King Herod, the palace of the 7th century Arab culture. But what allows us to say that Jericho is precisely the biblical city in Palestine? Firstly, this is the source at the hill of Tel al-Sultan, called the key of Elisha. In the Fourth Book of Kings (2: 19-22) we read that the city was good for everyone, only the water in it was bad. The prophet Elisha threw salt there, making the spring potable. And not far from the city rises a mountain on which Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days and was tempted by the Devil.
But what does the pipes of Jericho mean? The book of Joshua tells us that the ancient Jews decided to capture this very good place in the oasis, because they promised to support Yahweh. The army surrounded the biblical city in Palestine and began to loudly blow and utter battle cries. As a result, powerful fortifications collapsed, and the Israelis killed all the inhabitants, except for one house of the cobationalist and harlot Rahab. Does this mystical story have at least some material evidence? Indeed, the fortress wall of a huge city (17 hectares, which is unheard of for antiquity) collapsed in several places at once. But the reason for this was not a trumpet voice, but an earthquake.