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Jericho is
world's oldest, lowest town
By TERRY HOUSHOLDER
Jericho has the distinction of being the oldest known inhabited
town on Earth. It's also the lowest, at 820 feet below sea level.
The ''City of Palms'' is steeped in biblical history. It was
the first town taken by Joshua after the Israelites entered the
Promised Land after crossing the River Jordan.
Obeying God's directions, Joshua had his people encircle the
city; when the priests blew their trumpets, and the people shouted,
the walls came tumbling down.
Jesus used the road to Jericho as the backdrop for his parable
about the Good Samaritan, and it's here that he healed the blind
beggar, Bartimaeus. Jesus also dined with the rich tax collector,
Zaccheus, who had climbed a sycamore tree in Jericho to get a
better view of him.
A half-hour drive east of Jerusalem, Jericho today is a green,
lush oasis in the Judean desert. It was the first
city turned over to the Palestinians by the Israelis a few years
ago.
The historic sites of Jericho aren't much to look at. The most
significant one is Tel Jericho, where 23 layers of civilization
dating back to 8,000 B.C. have been uncovered. To many visitors,
it basically looks like mounds of earth. But it was an important
archeological find.
On our visit to the center of town, we stopped to see a large,
ancient sycamore tree reminiscent of the one Zaccheus climbed.
Although clearly marked by the Palestinians as ''the tree,''
our guide said there is no basis for that as being fact, although
he said the tree could have been alive at the time of Christ.
A fence prevents tourists from coming near the tree. But a local
Arab man, speaking only Arabic, approached our group, cut down
a branch and handed each of us a leaf from the tree as a souvenir.
The tips he earned made it worth his while and the tree didn't
look any worse for wear.
Leaving the city, we also got a glimpse of the $50 million Oasis
casino which opened in September. Built by Austrian investors,
it is controversial. Gambling is illegal in Israel, and the Muslim
religion also condemns gambling. But Yasser Arafat's Palestinian
Authority hopes it will provide his cash-strapped government
a jackpot in the form of gaming taxes.
Also planned for the resort are three luxury hotels, golf courses
and convention facilities.
On the way from Jerusalem to Jordan for the final four days of
our vacation, we had an unplanned return visit to Jericho. The
border crossing at the Allenby Bridge to Jordan was not open
until 8 a.m., so I asked our driver if he would take us to Jericho,
two miles down the road, where we could kill 45 minutes.
He agreed, but when we got to the outskirts of the town, the
Palestinian military checkpoint was closed. A guard told our
driver the city was not open until 8 a.m.
It reminded me of the Biblical passage about the fall of Jericho,
Joshua 6:1:
''Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites.
No one went out and no one came in.''
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