Walking In Peace

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In this week’s Gospel we encounter one of the blind men of Jericho. This was Herod the Great’s city, which he largely built and where he died. His son Archelaus had built himself a palace there as well. Mark and Luke tell of the one blind men and Matthew the other. We hear about Bartimaeus in Mark’s version today.

Jericho is about 25 miles away from Jerusalem and situated in the Jordan Valley. The weather is hot and humid most of the time in this unique part of the world. This brings on tropical and sub tropical plants and insects. Cleopatra extracted oils and perfumes from the plants that could be grown there. Jericho boarders the north end of the Dead Sea.

The history of Jericho is somewhat complicated including some lack of evidence that it was even occupied around 1300 BC when the Israelites brought down the walls. The city has moved over time and has had many political mandates in its history.