Jericho (Yericho), also called the City of Dates, is a city on the border between the territories of Binyamin and Ephraim, west of the Jordan river, and located in the Jericho Valley (named for the city).

Currently identified with Tel es- Sultan (Y. Aharoni).

• The conquest of the Land of Israel in the days of Yehoshua began with Jericho after Yehoshua had sent spies there (Joshua 2, 1).
• When Yehoshua came to conquer Jericho, it was enclosed by a formidable wall (Joshua 6, 1).
• Yehoshua announced that he who built up Jericho would be cursed (Joshua 6, 26).
• Yehoshua sent men from Jericho to Ai (Joshua 7, 2).
• Yehoshua's conquest of powerfully fortified Jericho caused the surrounding nations to panic (Joshua 9, 3; Joshua 10, 1; Joshua 24, 11).
• King Eglon of Moab, along with the Bnei Ammon and Amalek, conquered Jericho (Judges 3, 13).
• King's David men came to offer condolences to King Hanun of Ammon, but after he shaved half of their beards and humiliated them, they stayed in Jericho until their beards grew back (II Samuel 10, 5; I Chronicles 19, 5)
• During the reign of King Ahav of Yisrael, Hiel of Beit El rebuilt Jericho, and Yehoshua's curse took effect (I Kings 16, 34).
• The prophetic apprentices ("sons of the prophets") lived in Jericho when Elisha healed the bitter waters there (II Kings 2, 15-22).
• In the days of Pekah son of Remalyahu, the people of Yisrael brought captives from Yehuda to Jericho (II Chronicles 28, 15).
• Jericho was one of the cities that was inhabited during the period of the Return to Zion (Nehemiah 3, 2; Nehemiah 7, 36).

  Archaeology

• Biblical Jericho stood next to Maayan (Spring of Elisha) (Ein  el-Sultan).
• The city that had stood where the tel is extended to a length of 210 metres and a width of 130 metres. Its area was 24 dunams, and its inhabitants did not exceed 1500 people.
• There are limited remains of (pre-Yehoshua) Jericho’s wall and buildings, and it appears that Jericho lay in ruins for a number of generations.
• The archeological remains that were found indicate that the city was rebuilt in the 9th century B.C.E. This accords with the Biblical reference to Hiel of Beit El rebuilding Jericho.
• In the northwest area of the tel, some archeological remains were found attesting to a Jewish settlement from the period of the Return to Zion, including seals with the word “Yehud”—an indication that during the Persian Period, Jericho was part of a Jewish province.

For further reference, see:

האנציקלופדיה היהודית  at www.Daat.ac.il and Lexicon Mikrai, M. Soliali, ed.