Jericho
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Jericho (Hebrew: ירחו, Yərîchô; Arabic: أريحا; Arīchā) is an important historical, cultural, and political center located northwest of the Dead Sea. Commonly known as “the oldest city in the world,” the city is perhaps best known from the Biblical story of a great victory over its Canaanite citizens by the Israelite leader Joshua. In the story, the walls of the heavily fortified city were destroyed with divine assistance during the year 1400 b.c. The site of ancient Jericho, known today as Tell es-Sultan, has been the focus of several archaeological excavations to investigate the Biblical story. The original settlement was built on a hill, or “tell”. The results of these excavations suggest that the walls of Tell es-Sultan have been built and rebuilt many times, due mainly to collapse caused by earthquakes, which are common in the region.[1]
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Biblical account
Israelites encountered Jericho after their exodus from Egypt. Joshua, the leader of the Israelites at that time, received a command from God as to how the city was to be taken. With the massive outer two walls (One 5 meters thick, the other 6 meters, and both eight meters tall.) Jericho was a virtually impregnable city. But under Joshua's leadership, the Israelites had no need to get over the walls. And God gave them these directions:
"March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in." - Joshua 6:3-5 (NASB)
On the seventh day, the walls fell as the people honored what God told them to do. Every person in Jericho was killed, except for the woman Rahab who was spared for her aid of the spies.
Uncovering the Ruins
In the 1950's, archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon supervised the excavation of the ruins of the once great city. Her lack of faith in the Biblical account of Jericho was evident in her statement that she believed the 'folk tale' of Joshua's encounter with the city was merely fabricated after the destruction.
But, archaeologists have gone over the site numerous times to find their own account of the site, and many have come up with a bold conclusion: The walls really did fall as told in Joshua 6 .
Evidence as found later:
- As the finds were dated again after it was discovered that Kenyon had committed an error in her own dating, the fall of the city was found to be around 1400 BC, consistent with the Bible.
- The fortifications of the city were virtually indestructible. The city had two outer walls, the base wall being 5 meters thick, and the inner wall being 6 meters thick. The base wall was below the inner wall, which would have made it infinitely more difficult for intruders to get through should they ever have been able to breach the first. Both walls were 8 meters tall, a huge feat to overcome.
- In the Hebrew translation of the Bible, it states that the wall 'fell beneath itself'. After searching, there was a substantial amount of evidence that this is indeed what happened. A mud-brick retaining wall collapsed against the stone base wall, which was found by several teams who excavated the site.
- As stated in the Bible, the Israelites burned the city and everything in it. The ample evidence of this fire was so great it was thought to be the only reason the city was destroyed in Kenyon's first uncovering.
More and more as archaeology develops people discover that the finds they bring up support the Bible, the ruins of Jericho are among them.
See Also
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References
- ↑ Jericho, West Bank The Visible Earth, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Related reading
- Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho? A New Look at the Archaeological Evidence by Bryant G. Wood. Biblical Archaeology Review 16(2) (March/April 1990): 44-58
- Has the biblical city and story of Jericho been verified? by Bryant G. Wood. Christian Answers.net
- Is the Bible accurate concerning the destruction of the walls of Jericho? by Bryant Wood and Gary Byer. Christian Answers Network
- The Story of Jericho by David Down, Journal of Creation 20(1):86–92, April 2006.
- The Walls of Jericho by Bryant G. Wood, Bible and Spade 12:2 (1999)
- The walls of Jericho: Archaeology confirms: they really DID come a-tumblin’ down by Bryant Wood. Creation 21(2):36–40, March 1999
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