Israel - Day 5

Today we explored different routes people would have gone up to get to Jerusalem. Much of it is difficult to explain without being here and looking at a map. The most exciting thing of the day was to go to Jericho (800 ft. below sea level). Here, there was the remains of a civilization that lived 6000-10000 years ago. They advertise it as the "Oldest City on Earth." It was also neat to see the archaeological evidence that confirmed what the Bible says. All scholars agree that the walls fell outward. There is also evidence that points to the city being destroyed by fire. This confirms what the Bible said about Joshua burning the city after they overtook it, which was not their normal protocol. (This was only one of three cities that they set on fire because they wanted to preserve the infrastructure for settlement in the land.) We ran into rain pretty much all day, but it was exciting to see rain at Jericho as it only gets 3 inches per year. It's amazing to see that Jericho and Jerusalem are only 20 miles apart, and Jericho gets 3 inches of rain per year, while Jerusalem gets 24 (about the same amount as London).

We have two more days in Jerusalem before heading south towards the Sinai Peninsula. We will be in the south for four days or so.

Tomorrow is a free day so we may not be posting.

This is overlooking Gibeon while it's raining.

These are the ruins at Jericho.

A camel that some in our group were able to ride.