Jericho – Garden City
February 2012
Jericho is a special place, definitely worth visiting, as it is the
lowest (230 meters below the sea lever) and the oldest (around 10 000
years) town on Earth. Arriving in Jericho you will be astonished by its
natural setting, with its vibrant colours, aromatic fragrances and the
backdrop of the Dead Sea and Moab Mountains beyond in Jordan. The city
has a subtropical climate making it a perfect place for flora and fauna
to thrive.
Jericho can be called an oasis as it is situated on a very rich land
with a couple of perennial springs, surrounded by the wilderness of
Judean Desert. For its perfect agricultural conditions, the town looks
nowadays like a great plantation – dates, cabbages, eggplants, lettuce,
zucchini and many more kinds of vegetables are grown here to support the
people. In the winter time, plenty of citrus trees with yellow, orange
and pink fruits are delighting our eyes with its bright colours.
But Jericho is actually called “City of Palms” date palms dominate
the area. While touring Jericho you must buy a pack of its delicious
dates – Majoul dates, which originally come from this region. Bananas
also grow plentiful in Jericho, and they were introduced to the area
during the Islamic period.
Jericho, with its alluvial soil, lively three springs and tropical
climate was an attractive place for the ancient nations to settle the
remains of which are called Tel es Sultan or simply Ancient Jericho.
This site is also mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, It became a city of
Joshua, who conquered it with the famous trumpets, symbolising the holy
intervention of God. (Joshua 2:1-4:24)
Where is the Zacchaeus Tree?
According to the New Testament gospel of Luke, Jesus came to Jericho
and as he was passing a wealthy tax collector, Zacchaeus was trying to
see Jesus walking through the crowd. However, Zacchaeus was too short to
be noticed by him so he climbed on a sycamore fig tree to see Jesus
better. (Luke 19:1-4)
On my last visit to Jericho, I wanted to find the sycamore tree of
Zacchaeus, but how do I know which is the exact tree Zacchaeus climbed
on? I entered the site of the Catholic Convent of the Good Shepherd in
Jericho. Behind the church, on its big grassy yard, I saw a very
beautiful, green tree – can it be the sycamore of Zacchaeus? According
to the Franciscan brothers – yes it might very well be.
My quest might have finished at this point, had I not continued to
the Greek Orthodox monastery, where I saw a trunk of a very old tree
protected by a glass frame. An icon placed in front of the tree presents
the biblical story of Jesus and the tax collector. Frankly, its easy to
believe that this might be the infamous tree. It is dry and appears
older than 2000 years.
But my map and the town signage indicate another site – a third tree?
I followed the signs and I found myself next to the recently erected
Holy Land Museum and Russian cultural center, founded by the Russian
Government. In the museum’s beautifully designed garden, stands a giant
tree, which is considered the ‘real’ sycamore fig. I wanted to
investigate a bit more, so I searched for some information about the age
of the tree. And indeed, some preliminary tests showed that the
sycamore is more than 2000 years old. So is it the proper one? Perhaps.
To approach this tree, you will step on a walkway consisting of recently
excavated Byzantine-era mosaic tiles.
Clearly, like so many other sites in the Holy Land is difficult to
determine where the real Zacchaeus tree is, if it even still exists at
all. However, it is quite interesting to simply search for it and while
doing so you can enjoy an interesting and easy self guided tour of
Jericho. Good luck!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment