Wadi Qelt
In Harm's Way: the Good Samaritan
Location - Prat River
Map Coordinates - 31.840048, 35.348923
One of the most beautiful places on earth is Ein Fawar, a spring-fed creek that runs through Wadi Qelt, flowing downhill seventeen miles toward Jericho.
Probably the most remarkable thing about this canyon is that this was the path that Jesus walked on whenever He went between Jerusalem and Jericho. The path is a stone table that runs along the creek, and in some places it is only two feet wide. You can literally walk in Jesus’ three-foot circle down this path.
This is also the setting of Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), since this canyon was a favorite lair of ancient thieves. By visiting this location, one thing that I learned about this story is what happened when it says that upon seeing the injured man, the priest and the Levite passed by on the other side (Luke 10:31,32). For my entire life I thought that this meant on the other side of the road. However, what Jesus meant was that the priest and Levite walked on the other side of the creek. It only takes a simple hop to get from the path on one side of the creek to the other, as you can see in the photo below.
Here I am walking on the same path that Jesus walked on as He traveled between Jerusalem and Jericho.
Jesus’ parable of The Good Samaritan was told as occurring in Wadi Qelt.