Notes from the Author:
1) First and foremost–I offer this post to Our Lord through the intercession of His Mother and St. Joseph: in reparation for my sins and the sins of the world, for our repentance, and for an enduring peace throughout the Middle East and the world as quickly as possible.
2) It has been a while since I have posted. My previous post can be read here: https://zistezesto.wordpress.com/2024/04/21/chapter-7-exploring-little-known-sites-in-the-holy-land-stairway-to-the-sanhedrin-the-mosque-of-the-ascension-the-humble-empty-tomb-of-our-lady-and-st-stephens-battleground/
3) As a reminder, copy/paste GPS Coordinates listed below into Google Maps to see or travel to each location. Satellite imagery used below is from Google Earth.
4) I apologize for any annoying ads wordpress.com automatically and randomly posts within this article–they are not of my choosing.
5) Lastly, if you enjoy this post and want to learn more, check out my one-of-a-kind book, The Second Person of the Trinity in Time and Space: What is Known Historically About Jesus and the Holy Sites of the New Testament, sold on Amazon.com! (link at the bottom of this post)
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After getting a good night’s rest, I woke up early to get on the road. I walked to the parking garage in Jerusalem where my car was waiting and drove through the quiet streets of metropolitan Jerusalem on the way to the highway. Small groups of Hasidic Jews in black two-piece suits and ties with hats walked on the sidewalks already actively about their daily business. I drove up and down the densely populated hills around Jerusalem and eventually made it to Highway 1 and headed east. I was now on the modern road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Although I was not traveling along the same road from Our Lord’s time (I would later that day) and was not walking, it was still moving making the same journey as the man helped by the good Samaritan in the parable. East of Jerusalem, the rugged, tan desert of Judea quickly surrounds you. Rolling empty hills mixed with rocky hills all line the steep road down to the lowest point on earth elevation-wise. There is even a sign on the side of the road marking sea level as you speed downwards, going lower and lower!
Eventually the highway leveled out and I found myself in the plain of Jericho inside the magnificent Jordan River Valley. The views are incredible…numerous groves of date and banana trees dotted the desert landscape. In the distance to the east is the Jordan River and on the far side of it was the country of Jordan and its impressive highland ridges looming over the valley–silent, ever-present witnesses of such consequential events as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the fall of Jericho’s walls, and the Baptism of Our Lord.
It was a beautiful, clear, and cool January morning, and the sun was beginning to peek above the Jordanian Highlands, illuminating the great valley. I eventually came to a “T” in the highway and took a left north towards the city of Jericho–one of the leading contenders for the title of “world’s oldest city.” A city has been on the plain here since around 10,000 B.C.! As I drove northwards, I saw a road sign on my right indicating the direction towards the Baptismal Site of Christ! I couldn’t believe I was where I was!! Although I would have liked to take a quick detour down to the Jordan River to see the site, I had been there before and needed to keep on my way to my first destination of the day: the site of Byzantine Gilgal and the Lord’s Field.
According to a very antiquated story not found in the Gospels, but remembered in tradition and documented on an ancient papyrus document written before A.D. 150 (Papyrus Egerton 2 Fragment 2, verso (down)), at some point in His life, Jesus sewed seeds which bore fruit near the Jordan River.
According to Theodosius, a source writing in around A.D. 518, the field where this event took place was considered to be the same location of Gilgal–the site where the Israelites first encamped after crossing into the Land of Canaan after wandering in the Sinai Desert for 40 years. He also recounts that the twelve stones which the Israelites took out of the Jordan River were on display there as well (ref. Joshua 4). Theodosius says:
“From (Byzantine) Jericho it is one mile to Gilgal: The Lord’s Field is there, where the Lord Jesus ploughed a furrow with His own hand….The Lord’s Field in Gilgal is watered by Elisha’s Spring, and bears about six bushels. Half this field is ploughed in August and is ripe by Easter, and it is used in Communion on the Day of my Lord’s Supper and on Easter Day: and when this has been mown the other half is ploughed and ripens for a second crop. The vine also is there which my Lord planted and it gives its fruit at Pentecost. This is used for Communion in Constantinople, and the produce both of the field and of the vine are sent there at their respective seasons” (from John Wilkinson’s Jerusalem Pilgrims 2002, 103, 111).
The Madaba Map, created in around A.D. 560 shows a church at “Galgala” (Gilgal) and twelve stones just to the northeast of the Byzantine city of Jericho and just east of the Fountain of Elisha. The Fountain of Elisha is immediately adjacent to the site of the city of Jericho from the time of the Israelites’ conquest in the Old Testament (when the walls came tumbling down!).
In around A.D. 570 an anonymous pilgrim from Piacenza, Italy, wrote the first description of the church at Gilgal and its position in relation to the Lord’s Field:
“The stones which the children of Israel brought up from the Jordan are in a basilica not far from Jericho. They have been placed behind the altar, and they are huge. In front of the basilica is a plain, the Lord’s Field, in which the Lord sowed with his own hand. Its yield is three pecks, and it is reaped twice in the year, but it grows naturally, and is never sown” (from John Wilkinson’s Jerusalem Pilgrims 2002, 137).
Study of the archaeology of the Jericho Plain by Father Augustin Augustinović led to the identification of an area known as “Tell el-Matlab” with the location of Byzantine Gilgal. This attribution continues to be supported by Jericho archaeological specialists from Sapienza University of Rome and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Palestine.
In fact, the site of the Byzantine Church of Gilgal has been identified by these specialists with the 30 meter wide by 90 meter long southern mound (GPS Coordinates: 31°52’0.57″N, 35°27’50.30″E) within the Tell el-Matlab area.
According to an email I received from “Dr. T,” a Research Fellow from the Department of the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies at Sapienza University of Rome, “The architectural remains (of the church) are no more visible because the site was severely pillaged and the architectural material reused for various constructions. Despite all, some architectural elements are preserved at the (local) Russian Museum.”
Although there wouldn’t be much to see, I could not resist traveling to such a little-known Holy Site. The fact that this may have been the place where Our Lord Himself visited and planted seeds which bore fruit is incredible. And that this place was so important and venerated by the Eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantines) that they would go through the trouble of transporting its produce approximately 914 miles by land or 1,141 miles by sea from Jericho to the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (modern Istanbul) so it could be used for Holy Thursday and Easter Masses at the Empire’s capital speaks volumes. It not only emphasizes the site’s importance but also lends credence to its authenticity as a place Our Lord actually was, and provides Christians of today with a significant model of reverence for the sacraments and of the Holy Places where God Himself–Our Lord Jesus Christ–physically encountered us in human form.
I arrived at the site (indicated by the red pushpin in the map below).
Ironically and tragically, the site of the Byzantine church of Gilgal is little more than an undeveloped, garbage-riddled property lot today. Below is what I saw upon first arriving at the site early in the morning. The sunrise was beautiful, and it felt to me in a mysterious way that the Lord was happy I was there and had found this quiet, non-descript, but special place:
There used to be a road sign here identifying the site as Tell el-Matlab and another sign placed by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities detailing the history of the site…
But *both* were sadly gone now! (see below)
I had the opportunity to walk the site of the Byzantine church. It was amazing–after researching this site over the last several years, I finally had the opportunity to visit it. I meditated about Our Lord walking around this area and sowing seeds. If this was indeed an actual historical event, I wonder why it happened and what the context was?
As I walked the grounds, I looked for any signs of the church. There wasn’t much. I did find pottery shards on the ground which is an indicator of ancient habitation at the site, but I couldn’t tell with confidence what era the shards were from.
I walked a little farther and found a large hole into the mound! I’m not sure why it was there, but it was interesting to see a “cross section” of the mound. All the larger round stones that were piled on top of one another were particularly interesting. It’s possible those could have been there from a collapsed building (perhaps one of the churches on this site?).
After walking around a bit more, I didn’t see anything else that stood out to me.
It was also unfortunate to see garbage strewn over this site but, as I’ve learned over many pilgrimages in the Middle East, Our Lord loves to shroud the exceptional with contradiction. I’m sure the people living around this place and the people who littered here probably aren’t aware that the Divine Master Himself in earthly form sewed seeds to bring forth new life.
As I mediated on this and offered prayers of thanksgiving for the opportunity to visit a truly “little known site,” I scooped up some of the precious soil, rocks, and leaves from the Lord’s Field as a memento of this still mysterious (I hope someday it will be excavated!), but special place.
After visiting the site of the Byzantine church of Gilgal and the Lord’s Field, I set off for my next destination: the area of New Testament Jericho.
In Old Testament times, the city of Jericho was centered at a site today known as “Tell el-Sultan.” (GPS Coordinates: 31°52’10.78″N, 35°26’37.54″E) Right next to this site is Elisha’s Fountain (indicated by the red pushpin in the map below), a spring which the Prophet Elisha miraculously made potable by adding salt to it (see 2 Kings 2: 19-22).
I had visited Old Testament Jericho in 2012, which was incredible…
… but my focus was now on visiting the town Jesus “intended to pass through” on His final journey up to Jerusalem before His death and Resurrection. The site of Jericho in Jesus’s time was different than the site of Old Testament Jericho. New Testament Jericho is also much less known and took some research for me to discover. Due to the ravages of time, there are not many archaeological remains from the town in Jesus’s time.
However, archaeological studies have given us a good indication of where it is. According to Dr. Michael Jennings’s superb doctoral thesis “Beyond the Walls of Jericho: Khirbet Al-Mafjar and the Signature Landscapes of the Jericho Plain” from 2015, “based on physical features, different areas of the Jericho plain have been conducive to different types of settlement. There is an underlying pattern of interactions between human beings and the pre-existing natural conditions in Jericho, and by looking for such patterns, we can gain a new understanding of its settlement history” (3). Water supply pattern changes after the Hasmonean period, Roman road development, and maintaining access to water for agriculture while lessening risk of flash flooding to the north all were likely conditions leading to additional settlement to the southeast (downslope) from Elisha’s Spring and Old Testament Jericho into the red area in the map below (Jennings 2015, 2, 12, 31, 77). Additionally, in 1999, as part of a joint project between Birzeit University and the University of Bergen in Norway, an archaeological walking survey was conducted in Jericho, collecting ceramic sherds and lithics; this survey showed the highest cumulative preponderance of Hellenistic and Roman finds in the red area below (Jennings 2015, 111). The proximity of the remains of Jericho’s Herodian hippodrome (horse race stadium) spoken of by the Jewish historian Josephus (from the First Century A.D.) further reinforces the identification of this area as the town of Jericho at the time of Jesus (again, see map below).
I drove westwards from Tell el-Matlab towards another tell (archaeological mound) called Tell Abu-Hindi (indicated by the red pushpin in the map below, (GPS Coordinates: 31°51’53.55″N, 35°26’40.59″E). According to the 1999 walking survey, it was this site that had the highest concentration of New Testament (NT)-era ceramic finds (pottery shards) on the Jericho plain, indicating it may have been near the city center at the time of Jesus.
There was not much at the tell (which is defined as a small hill, likely containing remains of subsequent ancient structures). There were the remains of a mud house sitting on top of the tell, but I imagine the house was probably only about 100 years old at the most.
As I walked up the mound, I could see shards of ancient pottery scattered across its silty surface, indicating an area of settlement for centuries.
Once at the top, I got a closer view of the house…
…and took in the pretty view of the surrounding agricultural plain, and the area of New Testament Jericho (see below, looking northwest towards the site of Old Testament Jericho). I imagined Our Lord walking along the dirt road in front of me, followed by bands of disciples and the apostles hanging on his every word as he wove his way through the town in this very place! Surreal!
I then turned around and looked toward the southeast. Before me, I saw an impressive field of lush banana trees. Beyond it, in the green wooded area at the foot of the peaked hill, ran the main road from Jericho westward (towards the right in the photo) up to Jerusalem in Jesus’s time. The road is still in use to this day. As He made His way through the town of Jericho, our Lord’s gaze would have been fixed on this very sight–towards the same road upon which He would make His final, heroic, climatic journey to the Holy City.
I then hopped back in my car and started driving west. While I was driving, I saw some of the beautiful Bougainvillea bushes with striking red, yellow, and purple flowers…I had to stop and take a picture. The Holy Land is so beautiful!!
I drove over to my next stop: the remains of the Hippodrome (horse/chariot racing stadium) of Herod the Great–the same jealous king who tried to kill our infant Lord. This stadium, which had a theater attached to it as well was, according to the First Century Jewish historian Josephus, the site of two significant events towards the end of Herod the Great’s life: 1) his gathering of Jewish dissidents and Jewish leaders in the theater there to reprimand them all for the dissidents pulling down a graven eagle from a gate into the Temple, and 2) his trapping of people in the hippodrome who would be slaughtered by soldiers upon his death so that at least some in his kingdom might actually mourn at his death (which at that time was imminent):
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1) “For the King had erected over the great gate of the temple a large golden eagle, of great value: and had dedicated it to the temple. Now the law forbids those that propose to live according to it, to erect images or representations of any living creature.13 So these wise men persuaded [their scholars] to pull down the golden eagle: alleging, that “Although they should incur any danger, which might bring them to their deaths, the virtue of the action now proposed to them would appear much more advantageous to them, than the pleasures of life.
[After they pulled down the eagle]…the King had ordered them to be bound, he sent them to Jericho, and called together the principal men among the Jews/ And when they were come, he made them assemble in the theatre: and because he could not himself stand, he lay upon a couch, and “Enumerated the many labours that he had long endured on their account; and his building of the temple; and what a vast charge that was to him: while the Asamoneans, during the hundred twenty five years of their government, had not been able to perform any so great a work for the honour of God as that was: that he had also adorned it with very valuable donations. On which account he hoped that he had left himself a memorial, and procured himself a reputation after his death. He then cried out, that these men had not abstained from affronting him, even in his life time; but that in the very day time, and in the sight of the multitude, they had abused him to that degree, as to fall upon what he had dedicated; and in that way of abuse had pulled it down to the ground. They pretended indeed that they did it to affront him; but if any one consider the thing truly, they will find, that they were guilty of sacrilege against God therein.” But the people, on account of Herod’s barbarous temper, and for fear he should be so cruel as to inflict punishment on them, said, “What was done, was done without their approbation: and that it seemed to them that the actors might well be punished for what they had done.”
2) “And when the physicians once thought fit to have him bathed in a vessel full of oil, it was supposed that he was just dying. But upon the lamentable cries of his domesticks, he revived: and having no longer the least hopes of recovering, he gave order that every soldier should be paid fifty drachmæ: and he also gave a great deal to their commanders, and to his friends; and came again to Jericho. Where he grew so cholerick, that it brought him to do all things like a mad man: and though he were near his death, he contrived the following wicked designs. He commanded that all the principal men of the intire Jewish nation, wheresoever they lived, should be called to him. Accordingly they were a great number that came: because the whole nation was called; and all men heard of this call; and death was the penalty of such as should despise the epistles that were sent to call them: and now the King was in a wild rage against them all; the innocent, as well as those that had afforded ground for accusations. And when they were come, he ordered them to be all shut up in the hippodrome:15 and sent for his sister Salome, and her husband Alexas, and spake thus to them: “I shall die in a little time, so great are my pains. Which death ought to be chearfully born, and to be welcomed by all men. But what principally troubles me is this; that I shall die without being lamented, and without such mourning as men usually expect at a King’s death. For that he was not unacquainted with the temper of the Jews; that his death would be a thing very desirable, and exceeding acceptable to them: because during his life time, they were ready to revolt from him, and to abuse the donations he had dedicated to God. That it therefore was their business to resolve to afford him some alleviation of his great sorrows on this occasion. For that if they do not refuse him their consent in what he desires, he shall have a great mourning at his funeral, and such as never had any King before him. For then the whole nation would mourn from their very soul, which otherwise would be done in sport and mockery only. He desired therefore, that, as soon as they see he hath given up the ghost, they shall place soldiers round the hippodrome; while they do not know that he is dead: and that they shall not declare his death to the multitude till this is done: but that they shall give orders to have those that are in custody shot with their darts; and that this slaughter of them all will cause that he shall not miss to rejoice on a double account: that as he is dying they will make him secure that his will shall be executed in what he charges them to do: and that he shall have the honour of a memorable mourning at his funeral. So he deplored his condition, with tears in his eyes; and obtested them by the kindness due from them as of his kindred; and by the faith they owed to God, and begged of them, that they would not hinder him of this honourable mourning at his funeral.” So they promised him not to transgress his commands.”
-Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews — Book XVII. Found on https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-17.html
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The remains of Herod’s hippodrome can be found just outside the area of Residential Jericho from New Testament times (indicated by the red pushpin in the map below (GPS Coordinates: 31°51’54.35″N, 35°26’25.07″E)).
In fact, modern dirt roads still trace the outline of the hippodrome to this day, and its boundaries can be easily identified, as shown in the map below.
I parked my car on the north side of the hippodrome and climbed onto a large mound, known today as “Tell es-Samrat.” This large mound contains the remains of the ancient theater which was attached to the hippodrome’s north end. The view from the theater mound looking south was spectacular (see below). It’s eerie to think the diabolical king may have spoken from near this very spot looking down on the crowds below. The voice of this villain–the same voice which would have ordered the destruction of all male children under 2 years old in Bethlehem–would have once echoed through this very place!
Below is a side view of the theater, looking northwest.
Adjacent to the mound, I noticed a large bush that looked familiar to me. I couldn’t believe it: right next to me was a thorn bush known as Ziziphus Spina Christi. This bush typically grows in the area near Jerusalem and is one of the leading contenders for the species of thorn that may have been used by the Roman soldiers for the Crown of Thorns!
The next stop on my journey was a very special one for me. I had thoroughly read and compared the Gospels, researched the archaeological record as to the placement of New Testament Jericho, and had reviewed ancient pilgrim accounts in an attempt to narrow down the general location of Christ’s encounter with the blind man, Bartimaeus.
Interestingly enough, the Gospels of Matthew and Mark both place the healing of Bartimaeus (and a second blind man as well in Matthew) as Jesus was exiting the city. Luke, on the other hand, places it as Jesus was entering Jericho or was in the vicinity of Jericho (From “In the Vicinity of Jericho”:
Luke 18:35 in the Light of its Synoptic Parallels” by Stanley E. Porter from Bulletin for Biblical Research Vol. 2 1992, 104).
There has been much debate about this seeming contradiction throughout at least the last 1,600 years–St. Augustine of Hippo even weighed in on the question.
However, based on my research, I’ve been able to narrow down the most likely two locations for the healing based on archaeology, topography, and textual evidence from the Gospels and ancient pilgrim accounts.
First, based on the archaeological evidence I’ve outlined above, which has been corroborated by multiple other experts (Dr. Pierfrancezo Izzo, Dr. Michael D. Jennings, and Father Augustin Augustinović), we can conclude the town of New Testament Jericho was to the southeast of the site of the Old Testament town and extended southwards at least to the Herodian Hippodrome. Based on the archaeological evidence, there seems to have been some kind of gap or sparsening of settlement between the New Testament residential Jericho and the New Testament municipal area of Jericho to the south (see the green area below, this area would have included Herod’s grand palaces). Eventually, the town of Jericho would move further to the southeast in Byzantine times, where its urban core remains to this day (see the yellow area below).
This topographical layout actually coincides with the Gospels. Matthew and Mark say Jesus was leaving Jericho and Luke says Jesus was approaching or in the vicinity of Jericho. The witnesses of the Gospels can be interpreted as Jesus was leaving New Testament residential Jericho (Matthew and Mark) and Jesus was arriving in or in the vicinity of New Testament municipal Jericho (Luke). This narrows down the most likely location of the healing to a stretch of Roman Road (the path of which is still extant to this day) which connected the residential area to the municipal area. If Jesus had passed through residential Jericho (either coming south from the town of Ephraim or west from Bethany beyond the Jordan, depending how one orders/combines the chronology of events listed in the Gospels) towards the main east-west Roman road up to Jerusalem from Jericho, he would have walked southwards on this stretch of road. Another piece of evidence that may also lend credence to the identification of the healing taking place in this area is the fact the hippodrome was along this road and the road connected it with the wealthy municipal district of Jericho to the south. As Matthew and Mark both identify the blind man/men as a beggar(s), one could convincingly argue the stretch would have been one of the most ideal locations to beg–catching wealthy government officials traveling back to their opulent residences, bringing their winnings after a day of gambling at the races. They would not want to be too close to the palaces, so they didn’t get in trouble for soliciting, but not too close to the hippodrome as well to ensure they were most likely to be seen by the wealthy walking south to their homes.
Later medieval tradition relays there was a church built marking the location of the healing where the mountain range ended on the east-west road leading to Jericho from Jerusalem. The site today is known as Bait Jubr at-Tahtani and consists of the remains of a medieval tower that Crusader historian Denys Pringle states was possibly built by the Templars (Corpus of the Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: Volume 1, Pringle 1993, 102). However, the Gospels and the earliest pilgrim accounts do not seem to support this location of the healing.
As mentioned earlier, Matthew and Mark state the healing took place as Jesus was leaving Jericho, but Luke specifically states the healing took place as Jesus was entering or in the vicinity of Jericho and before he was in the process of “passing through” when he would meet Zacchaeus. Additionally, based on the earliest pilgrim accounts, it appears the Sycamore of Zacchaeus was actually the western-most Holy Site on the road up to Jerusalem. The earliest pilgrim account mentioning the Sycamore tree mentions it as the first site seen in Jericho coming from Jerusalem: “Coming down the mountain range you reach a tomb on the right, and behind it is the sycamore tree which Zacchaeus climbed.”
Although there is some uncertainty as to whether Saint Jerome–the earliest pilgrim account to specifically mention a visit to the location (“and the place beside the road where the blind men received their sight”)–is referring to Old Testament (OT) Jericho or Byzantine Jericho after he mentions the place of the miracle (hence “a” and “b” in the map above), he still, like the Bordeaux Pilgrim 70 years before him, indicates the site of the Sycamore Tree was to be seen first coming from Jerusalem. The third oldest source, the Piacenza Pilgrim, indicates this as well. If Saint Jerome is referring to Old Testament Jericho (as opposed to the city of Byzantine Jericho), this lends even further credence to the site of the healing being located along the road between New Testament residential Jericho and New Testament municipal Jericho.
Therefore, based on:
- The witness of the Gospels indicating Jesus’s passage between two separate areas of Jericho,
- Archaeological evidence corroborating two separate areas of NT settlement (residential and municipal),
- Based on the fact the blind men were identified as “beggars,” there is good chance they might have been asking for money from rich patrons of the hippodrome (perhaps gambling winners) as they walked south after a race to their homes/villas in the NT Municipal District in Jericho, and
- St. Jerome providing some sense of the site’s placement with respect to the Tree of Zacchaeus and likely Old Testament Jericho,
it is most likely Jesus met and healed the blind beggars at one of the two locations below (the yellow pushpins with red text), most likely the one along the north-south Roman road. The alternate location may be considered an option as well if Jesus was for some reason approaching New Testament Municipal Jericho from the east.
After stopping at Herod’s hippodrome, I drove down the adjacent ancient north-south Roman Road and arrived at a point about halfway between the hippodrome and the northern edge of ancient municipal Jericho (indicated by the red pushpin in the map below–the “Primary Approximate Location.” (GPS Coordinates: 31°51’33.92″N, 35°26’17.80″E)).
I parked my car on the edge of the road, got out, and walked along that road trod on by countless people over thousands of years…a road that was not only historic, but also very likely a holy road–a road on which the Master Himself probably walked. I was amazed it looked just like one of the unpaved country roads I used to run on to train for cross country back home in Nebraska. I looked southwards and snapped the picture below. This is *the same view* Our Lord and His disciples likely had as they were walking southwards from NT Residential Jericho to link up with the road going up westwards to Jerusalem.
Next to me, on my right (to the west) on the side of the road, I saw a slab of modern concrete leaning against a stone. Ironically, it looked like a seat–could this have been the very place where Bartimaeus was “sitting by the roadside begging”? (Luke 18:35) It was tantalizing to think about…
I couldn’t help but sit down alongside the road to experience this place as the blind man probably did as well, waiting for the Lord to approach…
As I sat and reflected on what it must have been like for Bartimaeus to hear the commotion of the crowd following the approaching Lord–perhaps at or near this very place–the clouds in the distance broke and sunlight beautifully washed through. I couldn’t help but think the stone bench waiting for me along the roadside and the practically heavenly rays in front of me were some kind of Divine indication that I was at or very near the actual place of Jesus’s miracle. What made the break in the clouds even more special is that the area over which the rays were shining down in the distance is the area of the baptismal site of our Lord at the Jordan River just 6.8 miles to the east.
I remembered the Gospel:
“10And immediately, as he was emerging from the water, he saw heaven opened up and the Spirit coming down upon him as a dove. 11And there was a voice from heaven: ‘You are my son, my beloved one. I delight in you.’” (Mark 1:10, from Michael Pakaluk’s The Memoirs of St. Peter: A New Translation of the Gospel According to Mark, 2018)
Could this have been where and similar to what it would have looked like when “heaven opened up” and the Holy Spirit descended on Our Lord after His baptism?
After meditating at this little-known holy place, I began walking back to my car which was down the road to the south. I snapped one more picture facing the north towards the stone bench on which I had been sitting. If Jesus had been traveling southbound down the road when blind Bartimaeus called out to Him and approached Him, the photo below would have been the same view Bartimaeus would have had (looking northbound) after regaining his sight. Amazing!!
Wikimedia commons
After getting back in my car, I started driving farther south down the Roman Road and arrived at the ruins of Herod the Great’s palaces, remains of which are on both sides of the Wadi Qelt (wadis are desert riverbeds in the Middle East that fill during the rainy season).
I parked my car next to some agricultural areas near the red pushpin in the map below (GPS Coordinates: 31°51’7.06″N, 35°26’11.34″E).
Looking south, I saw remains of Herod’s palaces on the near bank (just beyond the agricultural field in the photo below) and far bank (a mound in the distance–center of the picture below) of the wadi.
I also noticed a sign indicating some ruins were nearby. Sure enough, the sign detailed I was in an ancient industrial area where local workers would have developed local specialty goods. The structure in the picture below is a press where workers would crush wet balsam leaves to use them for making perfume!
After looking around the industrial area, I walked southwards towards the ruins of Herod’s third palace. Portions of this palace had been burned down likely by one of Herod’s slaves, but the palace was restored in Jesus’s time. Once of the most famous aspects of Herod’s Third Palace is the opulent, unique construction of some of its walls in the opus reticulatum style. This style consists of square stones set in concrete in a diagonal pattern. It is a very cool building technique that I have rarely if ever seen in ancient or modern constructions. These same walls would have been standing here when Jesus walked through Jericho–incredible!
Ad I walked around the area, I found another sign that had a hypothetical depiction of what the view of the southern wing of the palace would have looked like from where I would have been then standing…
There were more structures on the northern ridge of the wadi, like this bathhouse.
After exploring ruins of Herod’s palace, I got back into my car, drove across the wadi (which was dry) and stopped along a modern asphalt street which traces the same ancient east-west road connecting Jericho to Jerusalem. I stopped at the location of the second most likely place where Jesus would have met the blind men if he approached New Testament municipal Jericho from the east (indicated by the red pushpin in the map below (GPS Coordinates: 31°51’3.03″N, 35°26’55.44″E)).
This photo below is looking west at this location (Jesus’s potential perspective) towards the desert hills between Jericho and Jerusalem.
After driving westwards up the gently-sloping, ancient Roman Road, I drove past the remains of Herod’s palace on the south side of the wadi, through a green wooded modern residential area to the western edge of the area and at the foot of the desert mountains. Here, one can find the remains of the possibly Templar medieval tower known as Bait Jubr at-Tahtani (indicated by the red pushpin in the map below, GPS Coordinates: 31°50’57.80″N, 35°25’42.25″E), referenced earlier as a site venerated (incorrectly, based on my research) in medieval times as where Jesus healed Bartimaeus and his companion.
I climbed up towards the ancient structure and found a way to its top. The view of the Jordan River Valley and Southern Jericho was incredible (see below). It also was interesting to get such a great view of the wooded area at the eastbound exit of the Roman Road from the mountains. I wondered how long this area has been covered with trees…
After looking at the majesty in front of me, I turned around and witnessed another incredible view: the canyon of the Wadi Qelt. Millenia of flash floods have left an impressive, deep cut in the Judean mountains, offering a superb sight to passersby back and forth from Jerusalem to Jericho. It was a looong way down!
My focus then fell on the road before me leading to Jerusalem. Looking on this road gave me chills. Not only was this the same road Jesus spoke of during the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37)–the 13-mile stretch of road between Jerusalem and Jericho frequented by bandits because of its remoteness, rugged terrain, and hiding places–but it was also the last stage of His fateful journey to Jerusalem.
I stared at the road and meditated about this literal path to the human race’s salvation. There was a soft, cool wind blowing and birds chirping in the nearby trees, but other than these, it was peaceful and silent–just as this road was a silent witness to the journey of Our Lord, the Apostles, and His disciples 2,000 years ago. It was a holy highway…not paved in gold–as it very well should be–but humble and inconspicuous. God is mysterious!
Below is the same sight Our Lord would have had as he was departing Jericho and setting forth on the road to Jerusalem–His “face set” to journey to the Holy City (Luke 9:51).
I next drove back east along the Roman road so I could reflect upon and walk the ground where Our Lord would have met the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus.
Up front, it can be reasonably assumed Zaccheaus’s house would have not been far from the sycamore tree for several reasons. First, given the context of Jesus being focused on traveling to Jerusalem, we can’t imagine the visit to Zaccheaus’s house taking him too far away from His route to the Holy City. Additionally, as Zaccheaus was not just a tax collector, but a *chief* tax collector, I imagine he did not get out of his residence often due to his opulence; he probably would have had others working for him, so there would have been a limited need. Thankfully for him, he must have had personal security concerns because of his wealth and also the contempt with which others would have held him. Because of all this, I imagine Zacchaeus was likely not in the best physical shape. Taking this, combined with the fact his running stride would have been short due to his stature and that “running ahead” of Jesus to the sycamore tree would have involved running uphill westwards towards the mountains, Zaccheaus probably did not run far from his residence to the sycamore tree.
As I mentioned earlier, the Bordeaux Pilgrim places the location of Zacchaeus’s sycamore tree near where the Roman road comes out of the mountains; the Gospel of Luke and the other earliest pilgrim accounts seem to corroborate this by indicating the place was further west than other locations in the vicinity of Jericho (see bottom left of the map below).
After healing the blind men, Jesus would have crossed over the Wadi Qelt and began moving westward on the Roman road where he must have encountered Zacchaeus. I imagine the Lord would have willed and desired to put some distance between Him and Herod’s palaces (which were at that time probably governmental buildings used by the Romans) so as to assuage concerns of a civil disturbance, which would likely have meant He willed to encounter Zacchaeus in the vicinity of the southwest edge of the municipal area of Jericho. As Zacchaeus’s house was probably near the sycamore tree as I argued earlier, there is further evidence to indicate Zacchaeus’s house (and thus the sycamore tree) could be found in/near this area. The First Century Jewish Historian, Josephus, in his work The Wars of the Jews, Book I, Chapter 21, Section 4 states “But the king (Herod the Great) erected other places at Jericho also, between the citadel Cypros and the former palace, such as were better and more useful than the former for travelers, and named them from the same friends of his (Caesar and Agrippa)” (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm#link2HCH0021). As you can see in the bottom left of the map below, the archaeological remains of the Cypros/Kypros Fortress of Herod has been located by archaeologists. In between the hilltop fortress and the palaces is the currently wooded area where evidence seems to indicate was the location of Zacchaeus’s House and the sycamore tree (the locations of each I believe are most likely are indicated with the pushpins with red text), which appears to have been a residential neighborhood of Municipal Jericho (Approximate Location of Zacchaeus’s House–GPS Coordinates: 31°50’58.02″N, 35°25’54.40″E; Approximate Location of Zacchaeus’s Sycamore Tree–GPS Coordinates: 31°50’56.75″N, 35°25’49.98″E). Moreover, I would not be surprised if the currently wooded area would have existed in some form during the time of Christ. If this was a residential area for the upper class, I anticipate they would have preferred an area that provided some shade from the brutal Jordan River Valley summer heat. Although trees grow in many places in Jericho, that the Bordeaux Pilgrim mentions being able to visit the sycamore as one is “coming down the mountain range” may loosely mutually compliment this possibility.
Another reason for arguing Zacchaeus’s house (and thus the sycamore tree) was in this area is that, being a chief tax collector, he would want to live/operate in a secure location. The proposed location indicated above would allow him close physical proximity to likely Roman authorities (and their soldiers) in Herod’s old palaces and would place the palaces in between him and the population center of the large, likely antagonistic, lower-class residents of Jericho. The proposed location above would have also allowed him quick, virtually unobstructed access to the Roman Road up to Jerusalem. This would be beneficial for multiple reasons: 1) in case Zacchaeus needed to flee a rebellion of Jericho’s lower-class residents which had overwhelmed the Roman garrison, 2) to enable Roman forces easier access to defend him and perhaps the tax collections in his possession.
After driving back east along the Roman road so I was just to the south of the ruins of Herod’s palace on the south side of the Wadi Qelt, I began to snap pictures as I traveled westwards along the upward sloping road. As I traveled westward, I entered the modern wooded residential area through which the Roman road now passes…
As I entered the residential area, I was quickly surrounded by trees and houses with walled yards…
I imagined Our Lord surrounded by His followers striding up this very road…unfortunately, I was 2,000 years too late! haha
Eventually, I came to a fork in the road, but based on Google maps, I could tell I needed to continue to the right. However, as I was stopped here, I noticed something in my left field of vision that piqued my interest…
On my left was a sight I had not seen before during my travels in the Middle East. It was a tree that had a couple wooden pallets–apparently being used as platforms…for a tree house?–sitting up in the tree’s branches. Although this certainly was not the original tree upon which Zaccheaus climbed, I could not help but think I was being given yet another discreet “insider tip” from the Lord that this is where the actual sycamore tree once stood (GPS Coordinates: 31°50’56.75″N, 35°25’49.98″E). This spot would have also been on the right-hand side of the road if one was coming eastward down the Roman road from the mountain range (per the Bordeaux Pilgrim)!
The photo below is facing eastwards down the Roman road from the tree with the wooden pallets (upper right of the photo).
The photo I took below is facing eastwards down the Roman road standing just in front of the tree with the wooden pallets. Ironically, if the course of the Roman road has not changed much over the last 2,000 years, and if the sycamore indeed once stood at the current location of the tree with the wooden pallets, it would have provided a superb view for a long stretch of the road as it stretched east bound. The photo below may very well capture the perspective of Zacchaeus as he strained to see Our Lord, Jesus. Incredible…
For these reasons, I believe the location of the tree with the pallets (indicated by the red pushpin in the map below) is a good approximate location for the actual site of Zacchaeus’s tree.
I kept walking up the road westwards and snapped pictures…
Until I approached Bait Jubr at-Tahtani (the possible Templar tower) at the western edge of the wooded area…
…and began crossing into the desert once again.
I decided to keep walking past Bait Jubr at-Tahtani up onto one of the desert mountains overlooking it, the wooded area, and the Jordan River Valley (and Jericho) below. The view was incredible. It was up in these rugged desert mountains tradition holds our Lord fasted and prayed for 40 days before beginning His ministry.
After this, I walked back to my car which I had parked further down the road. I had spent a lot more time than I had anticipated in Jericho, and it was already halfway through the day! I had more places to see that day…starting with the Roman road to the city of Emmaus…
Thank you for reading and more to come!
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