Jericho

Jane and I.  Herod's Winter Palace used to be behind us.  At this site we learned that Herod was an incredible builder, not to mention powerful.  He had many accomplishments but is mostly known for how terrible he was towards people.  For example, he murdered his wife and had his brother-in-law drowned because he was paranoid of power.  Not only that, but he wanted Christ killed as a babe.  These bad traits are the things he is known for, not his accomplishments.  Herod's bad example helps us realize how we want to leave a legacy. How will you and I be remembered? We will leave an impact whether we want to or not--let's leave something our posterity can be proud of.

This is in Jericho, next to the found remains of the ancient Jericho wall that got destroyed numerous times.  We saw Neolithic tower which was dated to about 9000 BC! It is hard to fathom these ancient buildings are still here. Something I thought was impressive was that you can still see the old mud bricks, which is what I focused this picture on above. 

Jericho!

Jericho is the oldest city and the lowest place on Earth. Who knew? I didn't, until about two days ago.  There was also a rumor going around that they also had the best bananas.  Unfortunately, that was proven false today; however, on the optimistic side maybe today was just a bad banana day.  Jericho is a nice city, which was a bit surprising because everything until then is a vast desert with Bedouin communities surrounding it.  Bedouin communities fascinate me.  It was fun to see camels walking around today too.  I think they are one of my new favorite animals.  I can't wait to ride a camel in Jordan next week!

St. George Monastery, Wadi Qelt Between Jerusalem and Jericho.

This was such a great surprise as we walked among the vast desert and came upon this vision.  What was even more special was that we read the story of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37, because this is that very road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Can you see how it is a place thieves would like to be in?  What a perfect canyon to rob someone and leave them where nobody would see. Thankfully the good Samaritan didn't pass on when he saw his neighbor in need. In this chapter we learn that everyone is our neighbor.  It is ironic the Samaritan, somebody not looked highly upon in this old society, was the one who stopped instead of the Priest. 

The most important lesson the Savior teaches us from the story of the Samaritan here is, "Go, and do thou likewise."

To the left of this is Mt. Temptation, the possible site where Christ fasted and Satan tried to tempt him. 

There was a restaurant down the hill called Temptation Restaurant; I thought it was pretty funny. 

Christ's fast shows self mastery, which is why we fast--spirit controlling the natural man

Looking around, there is not much here besides a bunch of rocks.  Satan's temptation of bread would have seemed pretty nice after fasting for forty days. Strangely enough, the rocks slightly resembled pita bread. No joke.

We read the story in Matthew 4:1-11. 

We read that God stayed with Jesus this whole time, even though Christ was fully capable of resisting temptation. God will stay with us to help us through trials; and with God, anything is possible.