A Model and Jericho

The Israel Museum had an incredibly detailed model of what Jerusalem looked like during Jesus time.

model of the old Jerusalem in 66AD

In the picture above, you can see the temple in the middle front; to the right are the upper class homes spread out ; in the center are the middle class homes and to the far left are the lower class/poor which is extremely crowded. The sewer system drains out onto that side of the city also.

The Walls of Jericho really did all fall down! Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world.

The stone circular structure (in the middle) is what is left of the wall.

Of course we had to ride a camel. $5 per ride for 2 minutes

Jericho is where Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10) and called Zacchaeus to repent and follow him (Luke 19).

Behind the girls is a sycamore tree, one like Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus.

In Jericho, Bedouin shepherds still live on the mountain side, herding sheep and goats.
Our tour guide was an Armenian Palestinian Christian. Interesting combination huh?

He was one of the few non-Jews studying at the Hebrew University years ago. When we traveled to Jericho we drove through the West Bank and he gave us some insight on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective. Palestine territory (Samaria) was independent for 20 years until the fall of Crusader states which became a part of the Muslim world. In 1948, Jews in Palestine were able to declare an independent state called Israel and the land was divided 50% Israel 50% Palestine/Jordan. In 1967, the Six-Day War occurred and Israel took 50% of the remaining Palestinian area, resulting in 75% of the original area. The remaining 25% is known as the West Bank, which Israel occupies and rules it with their military.  Israeli citizenship is not given to Palestinians. They have very little rights in Israel. You can see why the Palestinians are not happy. They want their land back.

There are 500,000 Jews and 2.1 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. Palestine wants to be a separate state for themselves. Just like the Jews, they are descendants of Abraham. However, there are many Jews that are immigrants/converts and not direct descendants of Abraham, so the Palestinians feel that they are the true inheritors of the land.

NEXT UP: Tunnels and Walls