Jericho is one of the oldest inhabited sites in the world, with archaeological evidence of habitations there as long ago as 8000 B.C.E., nearly ten thousand years ago. It is situated 840 feet below sea level, in a pass rising up from the Jordan river and about six miles west of the river, near a copious perennial spring called the 'Ain es Sultan, which accounts for its habitability. The city was destroyed several times: by the Amorites from the east in about 1900 B.C.E., and by a Canaanite people from the north in about 1400 B.C.E., but there is no archaeological evidence for the famous story of Joshua and the walls came tumbling down, which should have been about the middle of the twelfth century B.C.E. It was rebuilt during the time of the northern kingdom, lasting until it was destroyed again by the Babylonians in the sixth century B.C.E. The city was rebuilt by the Romans further south, near a stream flowing into the Jordan called the Wadi Qilt. In the Middle Ages and modern times the city, now known as Ariha, has spread back up to the waters of the 'Ain es Sultan.

On the final leg of his trip to Jerusalem, Yeshua decided to make a trip eastward to Jericho. Possibly this was to meet some of his disciples and followers who had taken the route down the eastern side of the Jordan river through the region of Perea. Or it may have been in order to pay a farewell visit to the region round about the Jordan where he had been baptized into Yohanan's movement only a little more than a year before, since that was only a few miles south from Jericho.

On the way he was again encountered by some Pharisees who tried to trap him with a trick question. This time the question was about grounds for divorce. There were two schools at that time: the one following the great rabbi Hillel, who taught that divorce could be gotten by the husband for any reason he didn't want to continue the marriage; and the other following Rabbi Shammai, who was stricter in observance of the Torah than Hillel, and taught that divorce was possible only for infidelity. Hillel's position was in a way more liberal, but was certainly to the greater disadvantage of the wife. Anyway the Pharisees asked Yeshua, "Is it lawful to divorce your wife for every cause?" apparently to find out which of the two schools he sided with. Yeshua asked them what Moshe had commanded, and they replied that Moshe had specified that the husband should write a get, a kind of certificate of divorce, and send her away, which permitted her to marry again. This commandment is found in the first verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, and may be taken to support either or both Shammai and Hillel, since the reason may be any cause for disfavour, or any uncleanness. This law was actually intended originally to keep the husband from simply kicking out his wife; it was an unfortunate fact of the time that the husband had complete power over the continuation of the marriage, and the wife was regarded as little better than a chattel. But Yeshua cuts this law to the quick:

The disciples must have had some of these same questions, because when they got back to the house they were staying at on the way to Jericho, they asked him themselves for more explanation. Yeshua answered,

It seems most likely that what Yeshua is saying here, just as he was in the Great Sermon, is that if you leave one person because you want sex with another person, that is adultery, because sex is not the most important reason for marriage. The most important reason for marriage is the fulfilment of each others' lives in a spiritual sense, and sex should not be used as a reason for abandoning that commitment. Perhaps we can extend "man does not live by bread alone" to "man does not live by sex alone." Yeshua means, If you want a divorce, get one; but it is an act of spiritual violence. You cannot claim that you are free from adultery if you break a commitment to one person because you are attracted to another person.

Then the disciples, who couldn't imagine being committed to a marriage they couldn't get out of, said to Yeshua, "But if that's the case, it's not a good idea to even get married." Yeshua told them,

Then there happened one of the sweetest episodes in the life of Yeshua. The parents in the crowds brought all their children to him, for him to lay his hands upon. The disciples thought this would bother Yeshua, and they tried to prevent it, shouting, "Get away from there!" and "Leave Yeshua alone!" But when Yeshua heard this, he was indignant at the disciples, and told them:

But we can notice that his simple and direct statement above was modified by Matthew as follows:

Next day as they were walking along the road to Jericho, there came a young man and kneeled before Yeshua, asking, "Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" This must have been one of the leading questions of the day; the lawyer asked the same question as they were passing through Samaria; and Yeshua told his disciples earlier, "Whoever seeks to find his life shall lose it." But Yeshua reacts negatively to the way he is addressed, and corrects the young man:

After he had gone, Yeshua looked around at all of them, who were thunderstruck by his words, and repeated his assertion that there was a conflict between God and mammon, between wealth and practicing his and Yohanan's teachings:<

Anyway the disciples could not believe their ears at Yeshua's words, and exclaimed, "But no one can do this!" Yeshua looked at them, thought a moment, and said:<

Matthew and Luke attribute a saying to Yeshua that when the son of man sits upon a throne of glory, so shall the disciples sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. But this saying cannot be from Yeshua. Never has he said he would sit upon a throne. He has consistently described the days to come not as days of glory but as days of destruction and disaster. In Jerusalem perhaps we shall get a closer glimpse at what he meant; but he cannot have promised his disciples twelve thrones because not only were the twelve tribes long vanished but it contradicts all his prior teachings: they are to put themselves last, and be the servants of everyone, and deny any title such as rabbi, or master, or Abba, or judge.

Nevertheless, the very next day Yakub and Yohan come to Yeshua and ask him to do for them whatever they are going to ask. Matthew says it was their mother who asked it. Either way, Yeshua must have been suspicious of the question, and he asked what it was they wanted. They said, or she said, "Please promise us that we two, Yakub and Yohan, may sit on either side of you in your glory, on your right hand and on your left hand." This interminable obsession with their rank and power! it must have exasperated and disappointed Yeshua. In Kephar-Nahum he had told them to quit jockeying for position and just take care of each other and other people, as salt seasons and yeast leavens. So he says to them sharply,

There is one last healing which occurred in Jericho which has the same hallmarks that the others have had: it is not claimed as a sign, and it is attributed to the person's faith. It was like this: A blind beggar, whom Mark names bar-Timaeus, which is Aramaic for "son of Timaeus", hears that Yeshua is passing by, and cries out for Yeshua to help him, and the rest of the crowd try to shut him up. It is the only place in the gospels where Yeshua is called the "son of David", but that was an oriental way of praising someone and did not refer to Yeshua's ancestry. Anyway Yeshua calls him over to him, and asks him what he wants. When the blind man answers that he wants his eyesight back, Yeshua tells him, as so many times before:

Finally they arrived at Jericho, and entered into the city. The crowd had heard he was coming, and had filled the streets to get a look at this preacher whose fame had spread throughout tine. Yeshua was passing by a tall many-branched sycamore tree, which is a wonderful climbing tree, looking a little like a menorah, the Jewish candlestick used to celebrate Hanukah, and he spotted a short well-dressed older man clinging to a branch, looking down at him as he passed. Yeshua also noticed that there were many persons in the crowd who were pointing to the man in the tree and muttering below their breath. Somehow, Yeshua had heard the man's name, and he called out to him: