The city of Jericho is mentioned a few times in the Hebrew Bible, but always under dramatic circumstances that I expand on in the video about Ancient Jericho. The city changed its location several times. It began on the ancient mound just across the street from Elisha’s Spring. During the Second Temple period, the city moved south, close to the emerging location of Wadi Kelt from the mountains. During the Byzantine period, it was rebuilt in the valley at the foot of the mound, where it is today. Jericho’s proximity to Jerusalem, the mild climate here in winter compared to Jerusalem, its fertile lands, and the abundance of water from its springs, had a decisive influence on its history, especially during the Second Temple period. Kings built their winter palaces here, followed by the wealthy and priests of Jerusalem, and the importance of the city grew.
The fact that Jericho is located on a relatively flat terrain made it possible to irrigate its agricultural areas with relatively small effort, due to the height of Elisha’s Spring, 50m above the agricultural land, so that the water flows through aqueducts or canals by gravity. There is no doubt that the unique development of Jericho is largely due to Elisha’s Spring, which transformed the place into a unique oasis. In the ancient world, villages developed into cities and later into leading districts in places where there were rich water sources, such as along the Nile, and in the case of the Euphrates and Tigris. The residents’ dependence on water sources which brought them wealth since the dawn of history and accelerated the process of urbanization.
A similar process yet on a smaller scale and in a much earlier period occurred in ancient Jericho. The most important water source in the area is Elisha’s Spring, called by the Arabs Ein-es-Sultan – a name first mentioned in the Middle Ages. The virtues of the spring are described in the 2nd book of Kings chapter 2, where it’s also described how Elisha was able to transform the bad water into good water. The water quality of Elisha’s spring has been associated throughout the ages with divine action performed by Elisha the prophet. Many biblical scholars believe that the story of the healing of the spring’s water is another miraculous story intended to glorify God and the prophet Elisha. Many scholars have tried to find a scientific explanation for the miracle. I won’t bore you with all the scientific explanations I’ve read about Elisha’s action, but there is one which I found interesting:
In the early 1950s, snails that live only in fresh water and serve as hosts for the parasite that causes bilharzia were found in Ancient Jericho. Bilharzia is a disease caused by worms that live in fresh water, which infect humans through the skin, and cause symptoms such as fever, cough, and in later stages damage to organs such as the liver or bladder. The snail serves as an intermediate host for the worms. If we assume that the water was “bad” due to bilharzia, then Elisha’s salting of the water could indeed have eradicated it by exterminating the snails – Maby.
Elisha Spring springs at a height of 220 m below sea level. On average, it provides about 4.5 million cubic meters of water per year, and the spring excels in stable flow throughout the year. The most significant spring in the area is Ein Oja, located 14 km northwest of Elisha Spring. Its water volume is about 15 million cubic meters per year, but it is located outside the city limits.
At Elisha’s Spring, occurred what was considered a miracle in ancient times – the so-called high-altitude pools, what are they? The residents of Jericho discovered that if you block the spring’s source, the water erupts at a higher place, which today is called an artesian well or an artesian spring. The result is that it is possible to irrigate fields that are higher than the natural exit level of the spring or to drop the water and utilize the force created by this fall to operate, for example, a flour mill or to allow irrigation coverage for a larger area by using longer aqueducts. Today we know that this feature is characteristic only of springs whose water originates in veins located in the thickness of the earth above their natural exit point. Therefore, they can according to the law of interconnected vessels, rise close to the height at which their underground springs source begins. By blocking the exit point of the Spring, the spring water was raised to a height of about 4 meters above the original exit point and stored in two designated pools called the elevation pools. The southern pool of the two stored water that flooded through an aqueduct to power a flour mill that operated until the mid-20th century. Today, there are no remains of the pools.
Elisha’s Spring is mentioned throughout history in many external sources. I will mention two sources: the first, in Josephus Flavious’ book “The History of the Jewish War with the Romans,” which he wrote 2,000 years ago in the first century. I have included short sections with my translation from Hebrew to English, and so he wrote: “Near Jericho is a rich source of living water, the waters of which are very good for watering the land. This source opens near the old city, which is the first of the Canaanite cities that Joshua ben Nun, the leader of the Hebrew army, conquered with the sword. It is said about this spring that in the past it would destroy the produce of the field and the fruit of the trees, and also harm women’s children, and its waters would bring sickness and death to all creatures, but afterwards the waters were healed and became healthy and fruitful by the hand of Elisha the prophet, who loved Elijah (profit) and became his successor…. He approached the spring and threw a clay vessel full of salt into the water and then raised his right hand to heaven and prayed to atone for the face of the earth and make a covenant with it, asking it to heal the waters and open sweet veins, and he prayed to God…. And with this prayer, which the prophet preceded with deeds with the wisdom of his hands, he healed the spring…”
As for the second source: the sixth-century Madaba map, shows a large building built on Elisha’s spring, from which water flows to Jericho. Above it appears a Greek inscription: “To the Holy Elisha.”
And finally, as usual, a question for you: In what context did the prophet Elisha say: “For thus says the Lord, you shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that brook shall be filled with water, and you shall drink, you and your cattle and your beasts.” The answer as usual, at the end of the video.
