Difference between revisions of "Jericho"

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'''Jericho''' is a city in [[Israel]] by the [[Jordan River]]. The city is mentioned extensively in the [[Bible]]. God eventually ordered the destruction of the entire city, along with the killing of every man, women, child and infant.  
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'''Jericho''' is a city in [[Israel]] by the [[Jordan River]].
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The city is mentioned extensively in the [[Bible]].
  
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==Destruction of Jericho==
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In the book of [[Joshua]], Jericho is taken by the [[Israelites]] with the help of God. {{bible quote|When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.|book=Joshua|chap=6|verses=20}}
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In the book of [[Joshua]], Jericho is utterly destroyed by the [[Israelites]] with the help of God. {{bible quote|When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.|book=Joshua|chap=6|verses=20}}
 
  
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=== Spying on Jericho===
 
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Before crossing into the land west of the [[River Jordan]], Joshua sent two spies to look over the land. The king of Jericho heard that two Israelite spies were within his city and ordered them to be brought out to him.  The spies were charged with ascertaining where the guards were placed, whether anyone disliked the king and could help them, what weaponry and armour the guards had, when the guards changed shifts, how much food, water, and other supplies the city had, and the height and width of the walls so as to determine how to overcome the city.
 
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The woman with whom the spies were staying was named [[Rahab]] and she protected them by hiding the two men on her roof.  She tells them how the citizens of Jericho had been fearful of the Israelites ever since they defeated the Egyptians via the [[Crossing_the_Red_Sea|Red Sea miracle]] (some 40 years prior), and agrees to cover for them on condition that she and her family are spared in the upcoming battle.  The spies agree provided three conditions are met:
 
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# She must distinguish her house from the others so the soldiers will know which one to spare
 
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# Her family must be inside the house during the battle, and
 
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# She must not later turn on the spies.
 
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Rahab agrees to the conditions: she hangs a scarlet rope outside her window to distinguish her house from the others.
 
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Safely escaping the city, the two returned to Joshua and reported that the "whole land was melting with fear."
 
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=== The battle ===
 
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The biblical account describes the Israelites being led by [[Joshua]] and crossing the Jordan into Canaan where they laid siege to the city of Jericho. There God spoke to Joshua telling him to march around the city once every day for six days with the seven priests carrying ram's horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day they were to march around the city seven times and the priests were to blow their ram's horns. This Joshua did, and he commanded his people not to give a [[battlecry|war-cry]] until he told them to do so. On the seventh day, after marching around the city the seventh time, the priests sounded their ram's horns, and Joshua ordered the people to shout. The walls of the city collapsed, and the Israelites were able to charge straight into the city. The city was [[Herem|completely destroyed]], and every man, woman, and child in it was killed. Only Rahab and her family were spared, because she had hidden the two spies sent by Joshua. After this Joshua burned the remains of the city and cursed any man who would rebuild the city of Jericho would do so at the cost of his firstborn son. It is generally accepted that the biblical date for the fall of the walls is the 28th of [[Nisan]], according to the [[Hebrew calendar]].<ref>[http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/bhyom/hebrew/nissan.htm This day in Jewish History]</ref>
 
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==Modern archaeological research==
 
 
The site believed to be the ruins of the City of Jericho described in the Bible has been excavated several times:<ref>Some sources give slightly different dates to these.  The first four dates are from Anon. (Minnesota State University)</ref>
 
The site believed to be the ruins of the City of Jericho described in the Bible has been excavated several times:<ref>Some sources give slightly different dates to these.  The first four dates are from Anon. (Minnesota State University)</ref>
  
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* The city was burnt.
 
* The city was burnt.
 
* According to archaeologists Kenyon<ref>"The destruction was complete. Walls and floors were blackened or reddened by fire, and every room was filled with fallen bricks, timbers, and household utensils; in most rooms the fallen debris was heavily burnt, but the collapse of the walls of the eastern rooms seems to have taken place before they were affected by the fire." Kathleen Kenyon, ''Excavations at Jericho, Vol. 3: The Architecture and Stratigraphy of the Tell'', ed. Thomas A. Holland (London: British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, 1981)</ref> and Wood<ref>[http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/05/Did-the-Israelites-Conquer-Jericho-A-New-Look-at-the-Archaeological-Evidence.aspx Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho? A New Look at the Archaeological Evidence].</ref> the burning of the city was preceded by an earthquake that collapsed the city's buildings.
 
* According to archaeologists Kenyon<ref>"The destruction was complete. Walls and floors were blackened or reddened by fire, and every room was filled with fallen bricks, timbers, and household utensils; in most rooms the fallen debris was heavily burnt, but the collapse of the walls of the eastern rooms seems to have taken place before they were affected by the fire." Kathleen Kenyon, ''Excavations at Jericho, Vol. 3: The Architecture and Stratigraphy of the Tell'', ed. Thomas A. Holland (London: British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, 1981)</ref> and Wood<ref>[http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/05/Did-the-Israelites-Conquer-Jericho-A-New-Look-at-the-Archaeological-Evidence.aspx Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho? A New Look at the Archaeological Evidence].</ref> the burning of the city was preceded by an earthquake that collapsed the city's buildings.
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==Controversy==
 
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[[Atheists]] and other secularists typical use a cheap emotional appeal when discussing God's wrath in the Bible. E.g "do you think the babies and young children deserved to be murdered?".
 
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But [[Biblical literalistism]] proves that if the LORD commands his people (in this case the Israelites) it is always justified, because God created [[morality]], therefore whatever he says is always moral. Even if it seems cruel, unnecessary or evil in Man's eyes. However it remains controversial due to its genocidal nature.
 
  
 
== Bibliography ==
 
== Bibliography ==

Revision as of 06:17, October 11, 2011

Jericho is a city in Israel by the Jordan River. The city is mentioned extensively in the Bible.

In the book of Joshua, Jericho is taken by the Israelites with the help of God.

When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. Joshua 6:20

The site believed to be the ruins of the City of Jericho described in the Bible has been excavated several times:[1]

  • 1868 - Charles Warren
  • 1907 - Austro-German expedition under L. Sellinger and T. Watzinger
  • 1930–36 - Professor John Garstang
  • 1952–58 – Kathleen Kenyon
  • 1997 - Lorenzo Nigro and Nicolo Marchetti[2]

The Sellinger and Watzinger and Kenyon excavations concluded that the city was unoccupied during the time that Joshua was believed to have led the Israeli armies. Garstang concluded that it was occupied at the time. As Garstang grew older, he asked Kathleen Kenyon to continue his work at Jericho. Kenyon worked in a much smaller area of Jericho City IV, the layer of the city usually associated with Joshua's destruction, than did Garstang, and she concluded that this city was destroyed in about 1580 to 1550 BC, contrasted to Garstang's date of about 1410 BC. Garstang never accepted Kenyon's conclusion as to the date, but Kenyon's date became the most commonly accepted.

Bryant Wood reviewed Kenyon's findings and concluded that Jericho was occupied at the time of its attack as the Bible states.[2][3] At the moment there is no consensus in the archaeological community on when or how Jericho was destroyed. [4]

However, the different conclusions are not over whether evidence was found that matched the biblical description, but over the timing.[5] For a discussion of the timing issue, see the Jericho chronology dispute article.

Findings matching the biblical description include:[5]

  • The city was overcome by a catastrophe in which a new culture replaced the previous culture at a number of locations in the area, with the incoming people not being adept at building. (The Israelites had been living in tents for forty years.)
  • It was well-stocked with food, so the conquering of it was not by starving out the inhabitants.
  • Conquest was at harvest time, because grain jars were full (see Joshua 3:15).
  • The siege could not have been long, because the food supplies were intact or almost intact. In contrast, some years earlier the Egyptians besieged Sharuhen in the Gaza area, another well-fortified city, for three years before it was conquered.
  • The city remained largely uninhabited for hundreds of years afterwards.
  • The city was burnt.
  • According to archaeologists Kenyon[6] and Wood[7] the burning of the city was preceded by an earthquake that collapsed the city's buildings.

Bibliography

See also

External Links

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/biblephotos/15 Photographs of Scriptural Sites: Jericho, scriptures.lds.org

References

  1. ↑ Some sources give slightly different dates to these. The first four dates are from Anon. (Minnesota State University)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wood and Byer, 2002
  3. ↑ Wood, 2001
  4. ↑ Anon., Minnesota State University
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Down, 2006
  6. ↑ "The destruction was complete. Walls and floors were blackened or reddened by fire, and every room was filled with fallen bricks, timbers, and household utensils; in most rooms the fallen debris was heavily burnt, but the collapse of the walls of the eastern rooms seems to have taken place before they were affected by the fire." Kathleen Kenyon, Excavations at Jericho, Vol. 3: The Architecture and Stratigraphy of the Tell, ed. Thomas A. Holland (London: British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, 1981)
  7. ↑ Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho? A New Look at the Archaeological Evidence.
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