We stopped in Jericho on the way to Beit Shean. If you’ve every really wanted to tell someone something years after their death you’ll understand how I felt there. I never heard my mother swear in a conventional manner but when she said Hell’s Bells (the buckets of blood were never invoked) you knew you were in trouble.
If things went further she would shout “Go to Jericho!” often accompanied by throwing something. So when I actually found myself in Jericho, the oldest city in the world but possibly not the most exciting, I was thrilled. If only I could tell her I made there!
The Real Jericho
The most exciting thing we found there was what is supposedly the Zacchaeus tree.
The story is that Zacchaeus, a tax collector, was to short to see over the crowd so he climbed up the tree to see Jesus. When Jesus reached to tree he told him to come down and visited his house.
Close to Jericho is the Mount of Temptation or Mount Quarantal where it is believed Jesus was tempted by the devil during his forty day fast.
