Ruins and excavations of Old Testament Jericho. The most famous story about Jericho is the battle of Jericho which Joshua led, when the walls fell outward, rather than inward (Joshua 3--8). This happened about 1,400 B.C. But the history of Jericho goes back hundreds of years before Joshua. Jericho is actually three cities--the Old Testament city and the New Testament city, separated by about a mile, and modern Jericho near Old Testament Jericho. In modern Jericho we find Elisha's Springs, or Elisha's Fountain, known today as the Ain es-Sultan Spring. When the people of Jericho complained to Elisha that the water was bad, Elisha threw a bowl of salt into the spring and miraculously purified the water (2 Kings 2:19-22).