JERICHO (jer'i-ko), (Heb, 1117„ yer-ee-kho., fragrant).
A town in the plain of the same name, not far from the river Jordan, at the point where it enters the Dead Sea. It lay before the Israelites when they crossed the river, on first entering the Prom ised Land; and the account which the spies who were sent by them into the city received from their hostess Rahab, tended much to encourage their subsequent operations, as it showed that the inhabitants of the country were greatly alarmed at their advance, and the signal miracles which had marked their course from the Nile to the Jordan. The strange manner in which Jericho itself was taken must have strengthened this im pression in the country, and appears, indeed, to have been designed for that effect.
(1) Destroyed. The town was utterly de stroyed by the Israelites, who pronounced an awful curse upon whoever should rebuild it ; and all the inhabitants were put to the sword, except Rahab and her family (Josh. vi :25).
In these accounts Jericho is repeatedly called 'the city of palm-trees' ; which shows that the hot and dry plain, so similar to the land of Egypt, was noted beyond other parts of Palestine for thc tree which abounds in that country, but which was and is less common in the land of Canaan than general readers and painters sup pose. It has now ahnost disappearcd even from the plain of Jericho. although specimens remain in the plain of the Mediterranean coast.
(2) Rebuilt. Notwithstanding the curse, Jericho was soon rebuilt (see Him.), and became a school of the prophets (1 Kings xv1:34 ; 2 Kings ii :4, 5). Its inhabitants returned after the exile, and it was eventually fortified by the Syrian general Bacchides (Ezra ii :34; Neh. :2 ; Macc. ix: 5o). Pomp,*, marched from Scythopolis, along the valley of the Jordan, to Jericho, and thence, to Jerusalem; and Strabo speaks of the castles Thrax and Taurus, in or near Jericho, as hav ing been destroyed by him (Joseph. Antiq. xiv : 4, I ; Strabo, xvi :2, 4o).
(3) Varied History. Herod the Great, in the beginning of his career, captured and sacked Jericho, but afterwards strengthened and adorned it, when he had redeemed its revenues from Cleo patra, on whom the plain had been bestowed by Antony (Joseph. Antiq. xv:4, 1. 2).
He appears to have often resided here, probably in winter; Ile built over the city a fortress called Cypros, between which and the former palace he erected other palaces, and called them by the the voord of the Lord which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun" (1 Kings xvi:34)• Previous to this, however, and almost immedi ately after the death of Joshua, reference is made to the city of palm-trees, which was captured by Eglon, king of Moab (Judg. :13), and it was
nearly too years before the rebuilding by Hiel that David's ambassadors, who had been so grievously insulted by the king of Ammon, were directed "to tarry at Jericho until their beards were grown" (2 Sam. x:5).
We are to infer, from these several statements, that Jericho was rebuilt soon after its destruction by Joshua, but not upon its ancient foundations —a change by which the penalty was avoided.
names of his friends (Joseph. Antiq xvi:5, 2: De Bell. Ind. 1. 21. 4. 9). Here also was a hip podrome or circus, in which the same tyrant, when lying at Jericho on his death-bed, caused the nobles of the land to be shut up. for massacre after his death. He died here; but his bloody intention was not executed (Joseph. Antiq. xvii: 6. 5: De Bell. Jurl. i. 33, 6-8). The palace at this place was afterwards rebuilt more magnifi cently by Archclaus (Antiq. xvii (4) Site Changed. In order to render the several notices of Jericho contained in the Bible consistent with each other, and with the descrip tion in Josephus, it seems necessary to suppose more than one change of situation. Joshua "burned the city with fire, and all that was therein," and said, "Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this ,_ity Jericho; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates thereof" ( Josh. vi :26). It was about 52o 3:ears after this, in the impious reign of Ahab, that Hiel rebuilt the city, and suffered the fearful penalty that had been denounced against such an act of daring impiety. "He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to The malediction had probably fallen into oblivion, or. if remembered, was likely to be treated with contempt in the infidel and idolatrous age when Hiel restored the original city. It was, accord ing to the common chronology, about thirty years subsequent to this restoration that Elisha healed the fountain from which the city derived its supply of water. It is probable that the accursed site had been again abandoned. upon the catas trophe that followed the impious attempt of Hie]. for the existing city seems. to have been at some distance from "the spring of the waters," which produced sterility and disease (2 Kings ii:2t). It may have occupied, at the era of Elisha's miracle, the same site as it did when visited by our Savior, and described by Josephus.