by Pastor Patrick Cho
Today was another bus day, but the schedule was jam packed. We began by heading east over the Mount of Olives into the Judean wilderness on route to Jericho. This was a fascinating stop, and thankfully it wasn’t brutally hot out there. There is a major ridge route called the Ascent of Adummim that would have taken travelers roughly along the course of the Wadi Qilt from Jerusalem to Jericho. This route is the setting for Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). It was really helpful to see how treacherous that journey would have been especially with all the caves and nooks in which robbers could have hidden. This wilderness was also the place where John the Baptist lived while eating locusts and honey (Matt. 3:1-4), and somewhere in the wilderness is probably where Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted (Matt. 4:1).
From the wilderness, we continued traveling northeast to Jericho. There are actually two Jerichos in existence today. The northern Jericho (also Tel es-Sultan) is the city that Joshua conquered in the Old Testament. The southern Jericho is from New Testament times, where Herod built Cypros, a fortress in honor of his mother. Walking around Tel es-Sultan was surreal. I couldn’t believe I was standing on the ground of Jericho! (And I couldn’t help but sing the VeggieTales song, “Keep Walking.”) I learned a few things from visiting the city. First, the city actually had two walls, an outer wall and an inner wall. They probably both came tumbling down when Joshua defeated the city. Rahab’s house would have been built into the outer wall. Second, the vast majority of the city surprisingly has not been excavated. It kind of made me want to get on my hands and knees and start digging! And third, the city of Jericho with its walls that reached to the heavens, was not a very big city. It would take about fifteen to twenty minutes to walk around its perimeter. But for where the city is located (off the beaten path) and for Bible times, I suppose it was a significant city.
From Jericho, we went west to the area of Geba and Michmash. This is the setting of the story when Jonathan defeated the Philistine garrison (1 Sam. 14:1-15). There is a significant canyon separating Geba and Michmash simply called “the pass” in Scripture. Geba is where the Israelites were camped, and Michmash is where the Philistines were camped. Jonathan and his armor bearer climbed down one side of this enormous and incredibly steep canyon and back up the other side before meeting the Philistines in battle. He quickly killed twenty men (after climbing that canyon on hand and foot), and the rest of the Philistines retreated. Needless to say, Jonathan is the man (and his armor bearer was pretty much manly, too). I was tired just climbing to the lookout from the bus!
After a couple more stops to see the Central Benjamin Plateau and learn about the significant biblical events that took place there, we ended our day in Gezer. A couple significant archaeological finds are worth noting from Gezer. First, at the city wall there is a six-chambered gate. This was a significant advancement because most cities only had four chambered gates. This is important because these six-chambered gates could be associated with Solomon. Several other cities that we know Solomon worked to rebuild also had these gates. Second, archaeologists discovered the Gezer calendar in this city. It looked to be a primer for school children about the harvest, but evinces one of the earliest forms of alphabetic writing.
While most of the locations we visited are not as well-known to believers as other major cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the significance of the Central Benjamin Plateau can’t be missed. It provided a major crossroads both north/south and east/west and really was the front door to Jerusalem. It is no wonder we see so much happen in this area, particularly in the Old Testament. Possession of this area was strategic for controlling the land. It was a long day, but a fascinating day of learning.