Jericho

Today, the modern city of Jericho is located on the West Bank of the Jordan River. It was captured by the British in 1918 towards the end of the First World War and was part of the British-mandated division of Palestine at that time. Upon the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, it was part of the state of Jordan but after the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel occupied Jericho until 1994. At that point, the town was relinquished to the Palestinian Authority. Even in relatively recent times, it has had a chequered history. But what made Jericho important historically was that it was known as a city of palm trees, because many springs made the city a natural oasis.

A place of defiance

The ancient city had massive walls - walls built for military defence, Josh. 24. 11; Heb. 11. 30. As the children of Israel came to the edge of the Promised Land, this walled city stood in their path. It was a fortress city, closed to allcomers, standing in defiance of the invader. The statement it made was simple and clear - you shall not enter here! God had promised His people that they should dwell again in the land, but the people of the land said, ‘No’!

But it was not just the people of Jericho that stood in defiance. Jericho was a symbol, a statement of the will of the people of the land. So, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites stood together. The number of tribes and people were considerable. The city walls seemed impregnable. What could the nation of Israel do against such opposition?

The Bible puts it simply. The children of Israel walked around the city for seven days before, on the seventh day, they sounded the trumpets and shouted. That’s all that it took, because God was in it! He defeated Jericho and opened the way into blessing. The children of Israel placed their faith in God and He accomplished the victory!

If we move onwards some 1,500 years, the Lord Jesus now passes through the town. What comparisons and contrasts can we note as we have read through this account? Was it still a place of defiance? That might be a strong term, but we notice that the Lord Jesus ‘came to Jericho: and . . . he went out’, Mark 10. 46. What happened in the town? As far as the biblical account is concerned, nothing.

Notice, too, that there was ‘a great number of people’ there. A crowd was following the Lord Jesus. There were many, no doubt, carried along by the throng, but how many were blessed that day? The Saviour of sinners was there in their midst but what did they do? Nothing! But what was their attitude to this poor man sat beside the road? Were they interested in Bartimaeus? Did they want him to come into blessing?

No. They told him to stop trying to intervene. Stop trying to delay the departure of the Lord. They did not seem to want a blessing themselves, and they did not want Bartimaeus to have one either.

But Bartimaeus was not to be put off. He knew his need - ‘have mercy on me’, he said, v. 48. He knew who could satisfy his need - ‘Jesus, thou Son of David’. Now was his moment. In that crowd that followed the Saviour on His journey from Jericho to Jerusalem, how many got saved? As far as the biblical records goes, only Bartimaeus. It is an interesting parallel. As the children of Israel came to Jericho some 1, 500 years earlier and destroyed it, the biblical record is equally clear, ‘By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not’, Heb. 11. 31.

The Saviour had come and gone, and the majority just carried on with their lives - it was defiance, silently ignoring the opportunity of blessing and eternal life.

A place of disobedience

As the children of Israel took Jericho and destroyed it, their leader, Joshua, made a profound statement. As the city that had stood in defiance of the purposes of God and the people of God was now rubble, he said that any man who tried to rebuild it would come under the judgement of God. He issued the warning, ‘Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it’, Josh. 6. 26.

Sadly, some 500 years later, Hiel the Bethelite, did exactly what Joshua had told the people not to do - he rebuilt Jericho! It is rather descriptive of human nature. We see a notice - ‘Do not touch - Wet paint’. What do we immediately want to do? Touch it! It is our natural propensity to disobedience, which the Bible calls ‘sin’.

We come now to Luke chapter 19. We have fast forwarded some 900 years from the time of Hiel the Bethelite. The city is rebuilt and back to a bustling metropolis of its day and, some might say, things have changed significantly.

However, we notice first, that ‘Jesus entered and passed through Jericho’, v. 1. But in that journey the Lord meets Zacchaeus, ‘the chief among the publicans’, v. 2 - the chief tax collector.

Whilst tax collectors have never been popular people, in the time of the Lord Jesus they were particularly hated. They had chosen to work with the occupying forces of the Roman Empire. Many would say that they were traitors, working for the enemy. If that was not bad enough, most of them were corrupt and took more in taxes than was needed to pay the Romans in order that they might get rich themselves. This was Zacchaeus - ‘he was rich’, v. 2.

But Zacchaeus’ life was about to change. Intrigued by the fame of this man Jesus, he made his way to see Him. What he had not anticipated was the size of the crowd. Being a relatively little man, he could not see, and he could not get near the Lord. He came up with a plan - climb a tree. That way he could see but not be seen. He could avoid the crowd and get a better view than most and he could do it discreetly. No one need know he had been there - they would be preoccupied with the town’s important visitor.

What Zacchaeus had not appreciated was that he could not hide from the Lord Jesus. But more than that. Even if he had been visible in the tree, why would the Lord Jesus want to stop just to speak to him?

Jericho was a defiant town - one that had stood in the way of God’s purposes and plans for blessing. Jericho had been a disobedient town - built in defiance of the will of God. However, on this day when the Lord Jesus passed through it became a place of blessing in salvation.

The Lord Jesus came to seek out and save those that were lost. Amidst the defiance and disobedience of Jericho, there were those He brought into blessing and salvation from sin - Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus. They were people at the opposite end of life’s economic spectrum - one a beggar and the other extremely rich. Yet both needed God’s salvation. It does not really matter where we may sit upon the social or economic spectrum of life, we all need God’s salvation but thankfully, it is available to all.

A place of disbelief

‘And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send’, 2 Kgs. 2. 15, 16.

Elijah had gone up to heaven, but these sons of the prophets were not convinced. They knew that Elijah was gone. They could see that Elisha had taken up the ministry of his master, but these men would not believe it. In spite of the evidence, they remained in unbelief.

Notice what they said. We have fifty strong men who will go and look for Elijah. We don’t really believe that he has gone to heaven. Perhaps God has just thrown him into some valley, dispensed with him as if dispensing with him like something worn out.

What a challenge for all of us. If we are to get saved, it is by faith and faith alone. We have to take God at His word and believe Him.