The legend of jericho wall

Legend has it that the indestructible city of Jericho collapsed, which is a well-known story in the West. The city guards the entrance to Canaan, with high walls and strong defenders. It was an extremely strong fortress in ancient times. Although there are millions of Jews, it is a group of thugs who attack the city without any ability and technology. However, according to the Bible, the Jews walked around the city for seven days and then blew the horn together. God miraculously destroyed the city wall, making it easy for the Jewish army to enter. There is also a story about Rahab, a prostitute, who couldn't bear the cruelty of Jericho people and helped Jewish spies, so when the army entered the city, it didn't destroy Rahab's home. Jews have been telling this story for thousands of years. Is this a historical fact? Or a fairy tale? From 1907 to 1909, archaeologists Selin and Wasinger excavated two ancient city walls in Jericho. The outer city is six feet thick and the inner city is twelve feet thick. 1930, archaeologist Garstang made a detailed investigation and found that the space between the two walls was full of broken bricks and stones, and there were traces of fire. It is also found that the outer wall collapses outward, while the inner wall collapses inward. That's a strange thing. If it is because of the earthquake, the wall should fall outward. If this is a siege, this wall should collapse inward. Why do walls always fall out and in? It's a little incredible, but his identification date is BC 1400, which is consistent with his early departure from Egypt. It seems that Jericho was really occupied by Jews. But in the 1950 s, the archaeologist kenyon, after further investigation, thought that there was no evidence to prove that the city collapsed in 1400 BC, but he set it as 1550 BC, so he opposed the previous statement and thought it was the city. The walls of Jericho collapsed on both sides. Many experts are very excited because the double walls of Jericho collapsed on both sides, which is consistent with the miracle described in the Bible. However, experts have been disappointed for decades because the appraisal date of kenyon is BC 1550, which does not conform to the fact that other Canaan cities such as Hazor were destroyed. But there was a dramatic breakthrough in the 1980s. 1990, an archaeologist from the Middle East, Bryant G. Wood, visited Jericho and criticized kenyon's conclusion based on newly unearthed data. Because she died in 1978 and didn't read any new identification data, the two volumes of local ceramic films published in 1982 and 1983 were different from her identification date, which was around 1400 BC. Huth pointed out that kenyon only excavated in a small area, because she couldn't find the popular Cypriot pottery at that time, so she thought it must have been earlier, which was wrong, because the scope of her investigation was not commercial artery, so it was normal that she couldn't find it. But new evidence was found elsewhere. The previous Garstein discovered an Egyptian beetle-shaped sculpture (scarab), the date of which was generally later than 1550 BC, and in the third period of Tumos, that is, early Egypt, its name was being carved with a beetle-shaped sculpture. The beetle-shaped sculpture in Jericho can be inferred from BC 1400 to BC 1340, which is consistent with the verification date of pottery. br/>； The Origin of the Jericho Wall: The Jericho Wall is quoted from the movie One-Night Stand (US: 1934), which tells the story of a rich girl spending the night with a reporter. The reporter made a wall between them with a blanket and said, "This is the wall of Jericho". According to the records in the Old Testament (Old Testament: Joshua), "Jericho" is a famous city wall famous for its strong fortress. It is a "city of palm trees" with bare stone beaches and hills near the suburbs. The ancient city of Palestine, near the northwest coast of the Dead Sea. It is a fortress guarding the lower Jordan Valley. According to the Old Testament, it was conquered by Joshua and destroyed in the northeast of Jerusalem. Arabs call it "Eliha". According to legend, it is the oldest city in the world, located 30 kilometers east of Jerusalem. Now it is also widely used in many works and can be used as a person's name.

Joshua Chapter II Section 1-24

The author of Deuteronomy described Israel's occupation of Canaan as a holy war. According to the ancient oriental way of thinking, there must be miracles when there is jihad. And when it enjoyed the prestige of thousands of years of myths and miracles, it captured the city of Jericho, which is at the forefront of the battlefield. This story can be traced back to the ancient legend of Jijia, a temple of Benjamin tribe. Ai, who also fell after Jericho, is inextricably linked with these religious legends.

Joshua sent two spies to Jericho before crossing the Jordan with a great army. They came to Rahab, a prostitute, and spent the night in her room built on the wall of the big city. But someone betrayed these two people. That night, King Jericho received news that there were two Israelis in Rahab's house. The king of Jericho sent to Rahab to hand over these two spies. Raha replied that there were indeed two people in her house that night, but they went out of the city just after dark. If they catch up quickly, maybe they can catch up. The king's angel listened to the prostitute and immediately rushed to the Jordan River. As soon as they went out, the city gate was closed.

In fact, Rahab hid Joshua's spies in straw on the roof. After the king's men left, she climbed onto the roof and told them the reason why she protected them: because she believed that the God of Israel was the God of heaven and earth. God gave them this land, especially after their battle fame spread, all the residents were more afraid of them. Laha tied a red rope to the window of the house, from which it could lead to the other side of the city wall. She asked them to climb down the rope. But before saving them, she asked the two spies to swear to God that once they occupied Jericho, they would treat her and her family's property well. The two promised not to hurt their lives, but they must strictly follow the following instructions: when the city of Jericho is occupied, they will tie this red rope to this window. This is equivalent to telling all soldiers to be kind to everyone in this room. Once anyone in their family leaves home at this time, their life has nothing to do with them. Laha promised to abide by every word of their agreement. Before the spies went down the mountain, she let them hide in the mountains for three days to disperse the king's pursuers.

According to her words, they left their hiding place three days later and went back to see Joshua and told him what happened along the way. The result of their inquiry was very exciting: "the Lord has indeed given the land into our hands;" All the residents in that place were frightened when they heard that we were coming. " 〔24〕

When all the Israelites had crossed the Jordan and were approaching the city of Jericho, suddenly a man came to Joshua with a drawn knife. The leader of Israel asked him who he was, and he said he was the marshal of the Lord's army. Joshua immediately knelt down to the ground to show his respect. This episode is taken from a lost story, which holds that the Lord personally participated in the battle to capture Jericho.

Joshua came to the outside of the majestic wall of Jericho and concluded that there were troops stationed in the city. All the city gates were closed and no one came in or out. It seems impossible to enter the city. However, the Lord himself showed them the way forward. First of all, Joshua and all the soldiers will walk around the city once a day for six days without shouting or making any noise. Send someone to carry the ark at the front of the procession, and seven priests with seven horns go ahead. On the seventh day, they will go around the city seven times. Then, the priest will blow the horn. People should shout loudly when they hear the sound of the trumpet. Therefore, the city of Jericho fell. Only good for Rahl and his family. Finally, the Lord told Israel to be careful: don't plunder property. You can't keep anything for yourself. The vessels of gold, silver, bronze and iron shall be put into the treasury of the Lord. If someone disobeys orders, it will bring misfortune to the whole Israeli battalion.

The soldiers did so. On the seventh day, when they walked around the city for seven times, the priest blew the horn, people shouted loudly, and the huge wall collapsed. Armed with sharp weapons, Hebrew soldiers killed all the creatures in the city, men, women, children, cows, sheep and donkeys. Only Raha and all the people who took refuge in her house survived. The spy took them to the Israeli military camp. To this day, the descendants of Rahab have been living among the Israelites, and the author of Deuteronomy ended the story of the capture of Jericho.

It took a lot of effort to occupy Ai City. An Israeli soldier

Achan, the tribe of Judah, disobeyed the command of the Lord and took something from Jericho. At first Joshua was kept in the dark. But nothing can escape God's eyes. As he had warned before, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Therefore, when the Israelis tried to occupy Ai near Jericho, they were turned back by the local residents. "The human heart will be digested like water." 〔25〕

This is recorded in Joshua.

Joshua tore his clothes and cried out to the Lord for the downfall of Ai. The Lord told him that it was because someone had broken his promise and committed a crime. That sinner should be responsible for this curse. Because people don't know the name of this sinner, they can only find it through God's judgment. A man named Forrest Gump holds the stone of sin. Panicked Achan admitted hiding something stolen from Jericho in his tent: a very expensive Babylonian (cinar) dress, 200 shekels of silver and a gold bar. People found the stolen goods according to his words, so Agan and his family were stoned to death by angry people.

After that, the Israelis launched a second attack on Ai, and this time they planned to capture the city. Joshua held the spear high from beginning to end until all the residents were killed. The whole city was burned by fire, and the king of Ai was hanged from a tree. Ai city means "ruins" in Hebrew.

The walls of jericho

Legend source:

The record of the capture of Jericho and Ai in Joshua also comes from Deuteronomy-style historical works. This story can be traced back to the legend circulating in Jijia. When Deuteronomy wrote this story, the ruins of the wall of Jericho were still preserved. He tried to use this story to explain why the Great Wall was destroyed. The story of the miracle leading to the fall of the city supports some people's assertion that this battle is regarded as "the battle of the Lord". But archaeological research found that when the Hebrews occupied the land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, the wall of Jericho had long since ceased to exist. Its collapse can be traced back centuries. The city of Jericho is located in the south of Jordan Highland, about 250 meters below the sea level of the Dead Sea. The oldest surviving remains here were left around 9000 BC. From the local archaeological research results, we can see that human beings have gradually transitioned from wandering hunting life to settled life. During this period, there was an oldest temple in Jericho. As early as around 8000 BC, the city of Jericho built walls and huge fortresses. This is the Syrian-Palestinian region, perhaps the oldest city in the world. Perhaps the salt, asphalt and sulfur sold by the Dead Sea made the city prosperous so early. From the 50 th century to the 40 th century BC, the ruthless nature severely hit the city of Jericho, but the city fortunately survived and prospered again in the 30 th century BC, which lasted until about 1600 BC. In BC 1550, an Egyptian army destroyed the city, and it has been a dead city ever since. In BC 1400, Jericho came back to life and became an unguarded rural town. When Joshua's army arrived about 200 years later, it remained the same. Similarly, Ai City was in ruins in Joshua's time. This story has no real historical background. It can be considered that this is a special legend of the Benjamin tribe, because they are hostile to the Jewish tribe. In the story, Achan, who led Israel to fail to capture Aidan for the first time, is descended from the Jewish tribe.