In Jesus's Footsteps 
跟随基督的脚步

Jericho

耶利哥

耶利哥（希伯来语：יריחו ，读音：Yeriẖo）是一座位于约旦河西岸附近的城市。这是耶利哥省的行政中心。2007年，这座城市拥有18,346人口。这座城市曾于1949至1967年被约旦王国占领，并在1967年被以色列收回控制权；其行政控制权在1994年被交给了巴勒斯坦权力机构。耶利哥被认为是世界上最古老的城市之一。

考古学家已在耶利哥的遗迹上发现了超过20个连续的沉降点，最早可追溯到11000年前（公元前9000年），几乎要回到地球历史全新世刚开始的时期。

在希伯来圣经中耶利哥城被描述为“棕榈树之城”。几千年来，该城市及周边的大量温泉不断吸引人们前来定居。

根据基督教福音书的记载，拿撒勒人耶稣曾经过耶利哥，医治了这座城市中一或两个瞎眼的乞丐，还鼓励了这里一个名叫该撒的首席税吏官从其不诚实的行为中悔改。

耶路撒冷和耶利哥城之间的道路就是好撒玛利亚人的比喻中故事的发生地。约翰·卫斯理在新约路加福音的这一段故事旁边写到：“约有一万二千个祭司和利未人住在那里，他们都参加圣殿的服侍”。

Jericho (יריחו Yeriẖo) is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Governorate. In 2007, it had a population of 18,346.

The city was occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967, and has been held under Israeli occupation since 1967; administrative control was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 1994. It is believed to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world.

Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of more than 20 successive settlements in Jericho, the first of which dates back 11,000 years (9000 BC), almost to the very beginning of the Holocene epoch of the Earth's history.

Jericho is described in the Hebrew Bible as the "City of Palm Trees". Copious springs in and around the city attracted human habitation for thousands of years.

The Christian Gospels state that Jesus of Nazareth passed through Jericho where he healed one or two blind beggars and inspired a local chief tax-collector named Zacchaeus to repent of his dishonest practices.
 

The road between Jerusalem and Jericho is the setting for the Parable of the Good Samaritan. John Wesley, in his New Testament Notes on this section of Luke's Gospel, claimed that "about twelve thousand priests and Levites dwelt there, who all attended the service of the temple".

After the fall of Jerusalem to Vespasian's armies in the Great Revolt of Judea in 70 AD, Jericho declined rapidly, and by 100 AD it was but a small Roman garrison town. 

A fort was built there in 130 and played a role in putting down the Bar Kochba revolt in 133. Accounts of Jericho by a Christian pilgrim are given in 333. Shortly thereafter the built-up area of the town was abandoned and a Byzantine Jericho, Ericha, was built a mile (1.61 km) to the east, around which the modern town is centered. Christianity took hold in the city during the Byzantine era and the area was heavily populated.

A number of monasteries and churches were built, including St George of Koziba in 340 AD and a domed church dedicated to Saint Eliseus. 
At least two synagogues were also built in the 6th century AD. The monasteries were abandoned after the Persian invasion of 614.

In 1179, the Crusaders rebuilt the Monastery of St. George of Koziba, at its original site six miles (9.7 km) from the center of town. They also built another two churches and a monastery dedicated to John the Baptist, and are credited with introducing sugarcane production to the city. 

In 1187, the Crusaders were evicted by the Ayyubid forces of Saladin after their victory in the Battle of Hattin, and the town slowly went into decline.