So this section is for those who want to “follow with their feet” on our 70-week journey with Jesus. I hope to be able to track Jesus’s movements over his ministry and give you my best estimate of how far he traveled and, hopefully, some information on the places he went. We will just have to see how this goes. I haven’t been able to find anybody who has done this before, so we will just do the best we can.
We did have several weeks of discussion on John the Baptist as a prequel to our 70-week study, and I mentioned that Jesus, prior to his February 16th baptism, would have traveled the 80-mile journey from Galilee to the Jordan River near Jericho. But our walking time begins now.
In The Year of the Lord’s Favor #12, I gave you this information:
For those of you who have elected to follow Jesus with your feet, there is no way to know how much walking Jesus did during these 40 days. Depending on which part of the wilderness Jesus went to, he either had an 8-mile hike to the west from the river to the ‘traditional’ area, or 12 miles if he went to the wilderness east of the Jordan (both paths up in elevation 1000-2000 feet). To better understand Jesus’ experience in these times, try doing your usual exercise routine in isolation. If the local gym is your usual place, do some trail hiking alone. Pray for the spirit to lead you (or drive you). Spend this time alone with God, being aware of any testing coming your way and preparing your heart (and legs) for some Jesus-style walking in the coming year.
So to get to the wilderness (the traditional area west of the Jordan you see in red here), you have 8-12 miles. How much did Jesus walk each day these 40 days? We have no information on this. So I’ll leave you on your own until near the end of March. But if you want to be ready to keep up with Jesus later, I would recommend putting in an average of 2 miles a day. It is, of course, your choice how you log your miles (treadmill, elliptical, hiking, etc.) My personal goal is to try to emulate Jesus’ steps as much as possible. So for the wilderness miles, I hope to get out in whatever wilderness I can find, alone, spending time with the Father.
The Judean Wilderness according to Wikipedia:
“The Judaean Desert lies east of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. The Judaean Desert stretches from the northeastern Negev to the east of Beit El, and is marked by natural terraces with escarpments. It ends in a steep escarpment dropping to the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. The Judaean Desert is characterized by the topography of a plateau that ends in the east in a cliff. It is crossed by numerous wadis flowing from west to east and has many ravines, most of them deep, from 1,201 ft in the west to 600 ft in the east.”
An escarpment is a long steep cliff. Knowing that the wilderness is full of these will become an important fact to understanding a verse later on.
A wadi (in this area) is a dry ravine with steep sides that has water only with rain and typically causes flash floods.
It would be very helpful for your understanding to be able to draw a rudimentary map of Israel. Instructions for this are found in “The months before Jesus’ ministry begins. Winter, 27 AD #2”. The blue line in my map here represents Jesus’ 8 mile trek into the wilderness from the Jordan River.
Jesus began his trek from the banks of the Jordan River, not far from the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth. So he would climb up in elevation from the Jordan at 1250 feet below sea level to the wilderness at 1000 feet above sea level.
On your walk west from the Jordan, you will pass by the city of Jericho, one of the oldest cities in the world with the oldest known defensive wall. It was the first city taken by Joshua and the children of Israel (Joshua 6). Jericho was known as the ‘city of palms’ and, in Jesus’ day, was considered an ‘oasis city’ at the edge of the Judean Wilderness, always lush due to the many natural springs. Herod the Great built a huge palace there with sunken gardens, swimming pools, and a bridge that spanned the gorge of the wadi. (Herod’s land in Jericho was taken from him by Marc Antony and given to Cleopatra as a gift, so Herod had to lease the land from Cleopatra for his palace.)
Here is a 3 minute youtube video with some good information and pictures. (This does greatly overestimate the water sources, but oases make the best pictures.)
Swallow No Camels 