Jericho field trip day! We were all pretty excited, not only because Jericho is cool, but it was also the first of our two trips to the West Bank. To be honest...it wasn't that much different than Israel. All the road signs were in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, like they are here. There was still trash everywhere. I guess there were more Palestinians than there are here, but it is the West Bank.
Our first stop was a place called Wadi Qelt. We climbed up a mountain overlooking a monastery that is traditionally theMount of Temptation. The Judean wilderness by Jericho is a dry, bleak desert. In every direction, there is just nothing there. There really is nothing there, except monasteries and random wadi's. And it's hot. We were there at 9 in the morning, and it was already an oven. But being there really puts into perspective the stories of the Good Samaritan and when the devil tempted Jesus. It really helps to appreciate the stories when you have a visual of the setting.
Jericho itself is very much an oasis in the desert. Because of it's proximity to the Jordan river, and a good, clean spring, it get's some good water. We stopped and looked at the ruins of the city. At Jericho, they found the oldest known human made structure. It's a tower, dating back to 9000 BC. Most things, like towers and walls, don't really stand the test of time, and when you go to the various sites, many are a reconstruction. But this tower, it was still at least 10 feet high, which is very unusual. Especially considering how old it is. Professor Stratford, my Ancient Near Eastern Studies professor, explained that the most likely reason for building the tower would be to protect some kind of agricultural surplus. Again, with it's water sources, always warm climate, and good soil, Jericho is a great place to live, especially if you're a farmer.
Next we visited the source of the Jericho spring, the one that the prophet Elisha healed by throwing salt into it. Being there, and talking about Elisha, it really made me realize how many amazing things happened in Jericho, besides the walls coming down. Near there was the place where both Elijah and Moses were translated. Elisha spent time there. A not so cool thing was that Zedekiah's sons were killed near there. It has a lot of history. Well, everything here has a lot of history. But Jericho, you don't think about as much. At least I didn't.
Our last visit was to Herod's Winter Palace. Apparently, when they first uncovered it, the archaeologists thought that it was a gymnasium because of all the pools. It wasn't till later that they put together it was a palace complex. Herod's Winter Palace had quite the bloody history. It was the place where he had his brother-in-law, Aristobulus, drowned in the pool. It was also where he had his oldest son, the heir to the throne, killed, just five days before Herod's own death. And it was the place where Herod himself died. When Herod was on his deathbed, he ordered all the local Jewish leaders to be taken into the nearby hippodrome, and that upon his death they were all to be killed so that someone would be crying at his funeral. It was only through the efforts of his sister that the Jewish leaders were spared.
At the Winter Palace, we talked about legacies, and what kind of legacy we want to leave behind. Herod was a great builder, built beautiful impressive structures, but no one liked him. So much so, that he wanted others to be killed at his death so that someone would be sad. His own family was probably excited to see him go, just so that they knew that they would be safe from his paranoia. Is that really the way to be remembered?
So that's it for Jericho. It was only a half day field trip, so we had the whole afternoon to play! After lunch, I went with a group of people into the city. We're having an Arab culture night on Wednesday, and they encourage us to dress up, so I went into the city with a group of people to look for some clothes. There's a shopkeeper named Shabban who gives really good prices to the BYU students, so we headed there first. I found a skirt, but as we were walking through the old city I kept seeing these beautiful white shirts with embroidered flowers at the bottom, sleeves, and neck. I finally stopped and asked a random shopkeeper for the price, and we started haggling a little. As we were talking, he asked where I was from, and I told him Utah, that I was at the Mormon university. He got so excited, he had me come to the back of his shop, and showed me notes left for him by previous Jerusalem Center students. Like Shabban, he just loves the students, and gives us really good prices, no haggling involved. It made me so happy, he was so excited to meet me and the other students I was with. It just made my day.
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