“Joshua fought the battle of Jericho
and the walls came tumbling down”
The Old Testament’s Book of Joshua tells of a great battle when God commanded Joshua to destroy Jericho by marching his army around its walls for six days with the Ark of the Covenant, and then blowing their trumpets on the seventh day.
Even back then Jericho was an ancient place. Modern archaeologists have found remains of the city that date back 11,000 years to 9000 BCE.
Jericho is located 15 miles northeast of Jerusalem, and the road between was the setting for the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The Dead Sea is five miles to the south, and the baptismal site of Jesus on the Jordan River is seven miles east.
Towering over the city is Mount Quruntul, also known as the Mount of Temptation. It was there, according to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, that Jesus was tempted by the Devil after having fasted for 40 days in a cave on the mountain.
In about 327 AD, when Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, was touring the Holy Land, she identified the Grotto of the Temptation on the Mount. About 15 years later, Saint Charlton the Confessor built a monastery for hermit monks alongside the Grotto. Over the centuries, several other churches and monasteries were established there.
A Greek Orthodox Monastery was built on the Mount in the 6th century, and today it remains an impressive site, perched on a cliff 350 meters (1200 feet) high, and overlooking Jericho and the Jordan Valley. If you want to visit, there is a steep path leading up to the monastery, but it’s a pretty strenuous, 30-minute hike.
Or, you can get there more comfortably by riding the cable car. That’s what our group will be doing on a Saturday morning next February. Later that afternoon, they’ll also go to the Jordan River where they can have a baptism in the same water where Jesus was immersed by John the Baptist.
Would you like to join them? There are still spaces available in our “Heart of the Holy Land” Women’s Pilgrimage. This small group tour is available to women and feminine gender-identified people, and will be happening February 5 – 17, 2023.
Participants will follow in the footsteps of Jesus through the Holy Land in the company of women. We’ll visit places associated with women who were close to Jesus, and are often overlooked in traditional Christian pilgrimages. For example, we’ll go to Magdala, hometown of Mary Magdalene; Bethany, home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus; Ein Karem, where Elizabeth, cousin of the Virgin Mary lived; and Nazareth and Golgotha, where Mary gave birth and witnessed the crucifixion.
An optional extension includes Jordan, with Petra, famous for its carved out buildings including the famed “Treasury” and an opportunity to do some exotic shopping in an ancient bazaar.
Get All the Woman’s Holy Land Tour Details Here
Photo credits:
Battle of Jericho by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872) Public Domain via Wikipedia
Mount of Temptation Alexey Goral, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Jericho cable car Abraham at Polish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons