It was a downhill journey from Bethel to Jericho, because Bethel was up in the hills, while Jericho was down below sea level. That's why, in the New Testament, we always read of people going "down to Jericho" (like in the story of the good Samaritan) because although Jericho was north of Jerusalem, there was a difference of around a thousand metres in altitude. Jerusalem is around 750m above sea level, and Bethel even higher at around 860m, while Jericho is around 250m below sea level.
You'd think that walking downhill would make the journey easier for Elijah and Elisha, but this wasn't the case. The change in elevation was so dramatic and the environmental conditions were so radically different that the journey would have been exhausting. While the higher cities probably received around 50 cm of rainfall a year and had what we might describe as a "Mediterranean" climate, Jericho received only 20 cm of rainfall a year and was therefore more desert-like, what we sometimes think of as an "African" climate. The journey is through what today we would call a "rain shadow zone," formed by the steep and confined slope. In fact, Jericho was, and still is, an oasis in the middle of a desert.
The geographical conditions alone - with a tiring journey into a wilderness region - would be enough reason for a traveller like Elisha to feel worn out and tempted to end his journey in the oasis town of Jericho. But when Elijah gave him that option for the third time, we see in 2 Kings 2: 6 that Elisha chose not to give up, and instead committed himself to continuing the journey.
What is our response when life's journey is exhausting and everything seems to be going downhill? How do we react when our surroundings start to feel wilderness-like and the ministry isn't as successful or fruitful as we hoped for? If we didn't learn the Bethel lesson well (see yesterday's post), we might be inclined to renew our efforts and struggle to improve things in our own strength, pushing ourselves towards exhaustion and burn out. Or we might be tempted to throw in the towel and simply give up our journey at that point.
It might not mean that we abandon the ministry - although that does happen for some people in tiring and testing times. A more subtle danger, however, is that we "plateau" in ministry - that we stay where we are, safely within our comfort zone, safely within what we ourselves can accomplish; doing the same things in the same old ways, instead of stepping out in faith to do the new things that God may have on His heart for us.
The opposite can also be a danger, though: that when the "now" things don't seem to be bearing fruit yet, we abandon them and launch into new and different things... but things that aren't quite as faithful to our God-given values. One of our challenges as leaders will often be knowing how to embrace the new things without throwing out our old and eternal values. That's why our value of hearing and obeying God's voice is so important: He is the One who is able to show us the right "new" things, and how to do them in a way that still reflects the values He taught us in the early years of our journey.
No matter how tired and weary he felt, Elisha didn't give up or compromise when he got to Jericho. It became a place where he renewed his commitment for the rest of the journey ahead.
Read on below for more about the significance of "Jericho" on our journey of following God's calling.
