Israel 2014 #9

#9 … Monday – May 5^th  [Down the Jordan to Jericho]

Today we work our way back toward Jerusalem, traveling down the Jordan River Valley.  Several sights will really capture out attention along the way:

First – Beth Shean – Scythopolis.  Beth Shean was located at the key intersection of the Jordan Valley and the Harod Valley, which is an extension of the Jezreel Valley (Valley of Armageddon).  Some great pictures of this valley can be seen at this website: 

• ·       http://www.bibleplaces.com/jezreelvalley.htm

The very large Tel or ruin is the Old Testament city, the top of which has a commanding view of the two valleys.  As you look around the site, you will understand its importance.  In addition to its strategic location, Beth Shean is amply watered by springs at the base of the Tel and is surrounded by fertile fields.  After King Saul and his three sons were killed by the Philistines on nearby Mount Gilboa, we read in 1 Kings 31:9-10 “So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.  … and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-Shean.”

The New Testament city that grew up around the Tel was called Scythopolis and was culturally aligned with the Hellenized Deacoplis (the other nine cities were on the Eastern side of the Jordan River).

Beth Shean consists of two parts, an upper city on the Tel which is 260 feet high, and a lower city to the south and west of the Tel.  The site has been excavated intermittently since 1921, revealing the remains of over 20 layers of occupation. 

Among the most interesting remains   on the Tel are a series of temples, built on top of the other over a period of 500 years.

To give you an idea of how big these pillars are, I’ve attached a couple of pictures of when Mike Reid and I visited here a couple of years ago. 

Check it out:

By far the most spectacular visible remains are in the lower city and include mostly Roman public buildings and streets.  The Roman Theater facing the Tel, the best preserved in Israel, once held over 9,000 people watching Greek and Roman plays.  By comparison the capacity of Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo is 3,497; Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids seats 10,834, and the Breslin Center in East Lansing is 15,000.

  

Second – Perea and New Testament Jericho. 

Perea was the term used by historian Flavius Josephus, and others, for a section of the territory east of The Jordan River, opposite the province of Judea and Samaria.  Although the word Perea is not found in Scriptures, the area was mentioned frequently in the Gospels as “the land beyond the Jordan.”  John the Baptist baptized in Perea, and was also martyred there at Herod’s fortress of Machaerus.  Jesus often visited Perea during His ministry, and had many followers from there, which at the time had a large Jewish population.

Jesus spent most of His final months before Passion Week traveling around Perea, teaching in its towns and villages.  Jesus had been in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22-39), and the Jews tried to stone Him again.  He escaped their grasp and went back across the Jordan into Perea for the final months before His crucifixion.  During these months he taught His disciples about the cost of following Him and He tried to prepare them for His coming death.   (Luke 13-19)

Today, most of Perea is the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

By the time Jesus and His disciples strolled into New Testament Jericho, the city sat at a distance from the Jericho of the Old Testament. 

And between these two cities sat some blind beggars who pan-handled the pilgrims bound for Jerusalem.  (The two cities, sitting side-by-side with the same name, explain why different Gospel accounts refer to Jesus meeting the blind man as he left Jericho and others expressed the event occurring as He entered Jericho)

After healing blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52), Jesus dined and spent the evening with Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).  Leaving Jericho, Jesus began His ascent into the hill country of Judea by starting to walk up the Wadi Qelt (remember from my previous writing?).  This gorge drains the hills around Jerusalem eastward into the Jordan Valley. 

Here Jesus would have passed between Herod the Great’s palace buildings, which the late monarch built for himself in Jericho so that he had a place to escape Jerusalem’s winters.  The huge complex boasted large bath houses, a vast reception hall, beautiful mosaics, frescoes, and gold and marble columns.  The opulent palace straddled the ancient road Jesus traveled and connected to itself across a bridge that spanned the Wadi Qelt. 

Then Jesus passed beneath the bridge between the buildings of Herod the Great on His way to die on the cross, I wonder what His thoughts were.  Herod had sent troops to Bethlehem to kill Jesus when he had learned of His birth, and later the evil king died here in his complex at Jericho and was carried to be buried just outside of Bethlehem.  Jesus was walking the same path that the body of Herod, his persecutor, had journeyed several decades prior. 

Jericho is also associated with the Temptation of Jesus by Satan (Matthew 4:1-11).