Near the Jordan, Jericho is mentioned in the Old Testament as a city of palm trees and springs. The city was made famous by Joshua, who took over from Moses to lead the Jews, then called “Israelites” out of exile and into their promised land, However, Jericho existed long before Joshua; twenty different layers of civilizations have been unearthed at Jericho, the oldest as early as 9,000 B.C.E.
During the Hellenistic period we see Herod making arrangements to “rent” Jericho from Cleopatra and Mark Anthony who were holding the reigns in Egypt at the time. According to the Scripture, it is said that Jesus healed blind beggars in Jericho as he was passing through and the Jericho-Jerusalem highway is understood to be the backdrop for the Good Samaritan parable.
