JERICHO
826
JERICHO
son, " prince of the children of Jitdah," and had by him Boaz, the husband of Kuth and progenitor of David and of our Lord; and, lastly, that hers is the tirst and only Gentile name that appears in the list of the faithful of the O. T. given by Paid (Josh, vi, 25; 1 Chron. ii, 10; Matt.'i, 5;" Heb. xi, ol)— aU these facts surely indicate that she did not continue to inhabit the accursed site ; and, if so, and in the absence of all direct evidence from Scripture, how could it ever have been inferred that her house was left standing? (See Hoffmann, liuhabs ErettuMj, Berl. 1«01.) See Rahab.
Such as it had been left by Joshua, such it was be- stowed by him upon the tribe of Benjamin (Josh, xviii, . 21 ; it lav also on the border of Ephraim [Josh, xvi, 7]), and from this time a long interval elapses before Jeri- cho appears again upon the scene. It is only incident- ally mentioned in the life of David in connection with his embassy to the Ammonitish king (2 Sam. x, 5). The solemn manner in which its second foundation" under Hiel the Bethelite is recorded— upon whom the curse of Joshua is said to have descended in full force (1 Kings xvi, 34)— would certainly seem to imply that up to that time its site had been uninhabited. It is true, mention is made of "a city of palm-trees" (Judg. i, ItS and iii, 13) in existence apparently at the time when spoken of, and Jericho is twice— once hi'fore its first overthrow, and once after its second foundation— designated by that name (see Deut, xxxiv, 3, and 2 Chron. xxviii, 15) ; but these designations must be understood to apply only to the site, in whatever condition at the time. (On the presence of these trees, see below.) However, once act- ually rebuilt, Jericho rose again slowly in importance. In its immediate vicinity the sons of the prophets sought retirement from the world, and Elisha" healed the spring of the waters ;" and over and against it, beyond Jordan, Elijah " went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings ii, 1-22). In its plains Zedekiah fell into the hands of the Chaldieans (2 Kings xxv, 5 ; Jer. xxxix, 5). By what may be called a retrospective account of it, we may infer that Kiel's restoration had not utterly failed, for in the return under Zerubbabel the " children of Jer- icho," 345 in number, are comprised (Ezra iii, 34 ; Neh. vii, 3(5) ; and it is even implied that they removed thither again, for the men of Jericho assisted Nehemiah in rebuilding that part of the wall of Jerusalem which was next to the sheep-gate (Neh, iii, 2). It was event- ually fiirtiliedby the Syrian general Bacchides (1 Mace. ix, 50 ; Josephus, A nt. xiii, 1, 3).
The Jericho of the days of Josephus was distant 150 stadia from Jerusalem, and sixty from the Jordan. It lay in a plain overhung by a barren mountain, whose roots ran northward towards Scythopolis, and south- ward in the direction of Sodom and the Dead Sea. These formed the western boundaries of the plain. Eastward, its barriers were the mountains of Moab, which ran parallel to the former. In the midst of the plain— the great plain, as it was called— flowed the Jor- dan, and at the top and bottom of it were two lakes : Tiberias, proverbial for its sweetness, and Asphaltites for its bitterness. Away from the Jordan, it was parched and unhealthy during summer; but during winter, even when it snowed at Jerusalem, the inhabitants here wore linen garments. Hard by Jericho, bursting forth close to the site of the old city which Joshua took on his en- trance into Canaan, was a most exuberant fountain, whose waters, before noted for their contrary proper- ties, had received (proceeds Josephus) through Elisha's prayers their then wonderfully salutary and prolific efh- cacj'. Within its range — seventy stadia (Strabo says 100 ) by twenty — the fertility of the soil was unexam- pled. Palms of various names and properties — some that produced honey scarcely inferior to that of the neighborhood ; opobalsamum, the choicest of indigenous fruits; Cyprus (Arabic "el-hcnna"), and myroba'anum ("zukkum") throve there beautifully, and thickh- dot- ted aboiit the pleasure-grounds ( Wiir, iv, 8, 3). These and other aromatic shrubs were here of peculiar fra-
grance (Justin, xxxvi, 3; Josephus, Ant. iv, G, 1 ; xiv, 4, 1 ; XV, 4, 2 ; War, i, 6, G ; i, 18, 5). Wisdom herself did not disdain comparison with " the rose-plants of Jericho" (Ecclus. xxiv, 14). Well might Strabo {Geog. xvi, 2, § 41, ed. MliUer) conclude that its revenues were considerable. The peculiar productions mentioned, in addition to those noticed above, were honey (Cedren. p. 104) and, in later times, the sugar-cane (see Kobinson's Researches, ii, 290 sq.).