Mount Adummin (Adomin)
An unsafe pass on the direct route between Jerusalem and Jericho.
Inhabitants or Natives
No known inhabitants, but this mountain is infested with brigands who do not hesitate to kill when necessary.
Description
The "Adomin ascent" is a steep pass, ravined by the Wadi Qilt, which connects the hills of Jerusalem to Jericho and the Jordan Valley. Its paths are exhausting and dangerous.[1]
This heavily traveled route is infested with brigands who assault and sometimes kill merchants and pilgrims, especially at nightfall.[2] The Apostle Philip was a victim of one of these assaults.[3] This frightening reputation[4] gave its red rocks a nickname (which is the root of the word Adumin): the "ascent of blood." Especially in a desert section[5] that escapes any police operation.[6]
Simon the Sanhedrist takes advantage of this reputation of impunity to attribute the murder of his father Eli-Anna — which he commissioned — to one of these thieves.[7]
In contrast to his Apostles, Jesus is not afraid of the place: he goes there to pray[8] or seeks to evangelize the brigands.[9] Nevertheless, the apostolic group worries every time it must take this route to reach the region of Ephraim (where the persecuted Jesus takes refuge), or Mount Cherith.[10]
Notable Events
Jesus, through the parable of the Good Samaritan, transforms this place of bad reputation into a venerated place for his acts of charity (Luke 10:30-37) — Jesus receives orphans captured by thieves there.[11]
Its Name
מעלה אדומים
"Maaleh Adummim" means "ascent of the (red) rocks," which tradition (Westphal Dictionary – Bible Dictionary (Robert Laffont 2003) – Osty Bible (footnote 473) – Jerome of Stridon (Epistola 108 – Ad Eustochium Virginem, § 12) – and others…) confuses with its nickname: "ascent of blood," for the reasons explained above.
However, Maria Valtorta seems to reserve the nickname "ascent of blood" for a section of this route and not the entire mountain: "…she had set out alone along the Adomin. But she was followed and stopped near the 'Ascent of Blood'…", …"[12] An astonishing detail for a place almost ignored by the Bible! Yet it is corroborated by the testimony of Baptistin Poujoulat (1809-1864) cited in the "Calmet's Bible Dictionary": The "place of blood" is on the slope descending toward Jericho.
Topography confirms Maria Valtorta: this place is called Tala`at-ed-Dumm (ascent of blood in Arabic) on this map made in 1880/1882 by the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Denominations
Adoumim means "the reds" (plural of Adom). Other names: Maale Adumim, Ascent of Adoummin, Adummim.
Where is it mentioned in the work?
EMV 224 : "…this time we were attacked, all my Family and I and many people from Bethsaida in the Adomin gorge!" replies Philip.EMV 281 : "A man who was going from Jerusalem to Jericho, by the mountain gorges, fell into the hands of thieves. They cruelly wounded him, stripped him of all his possessions and even his clothes, leaving him more dead than alive by the roadside.
EMV 379 : "Let's stop here for the night, orders Jesus. Or rather, stop here. I am going to pray on these mountains..." - "Alone? Ah! No! You are not going alone on the Adomin! With all those thieves lurking, no, you’re not going!" says Peter firmly. "And what do you think they could do to me? I have nothing!"
EMV 481 : "…to descend to Ephraim, by the Adomin and Mount Cherith, and from there to Bethany" - "Long and hard road, especially if it rains." - "Dangerous! The Adomin..."
EMV 482 : "…The evildoers know well that no one, Galilean or Jew, would pursue them here, and they take advantage of it. And nature also serves them. These mountains..." – "But the mountains, yes, serve them a lot. The two highest, then... yes... but... how they bring the Adomin and the Ephraim gorge! Of all races, ha! ha! And... Roman soldiers are cunning... They won't find them. Only snakes and eagles can know their dens and enter. And they tell dreadful stories…"
EMV 522 : He is young, a thief, yes, a thief. One evening, when I had gone to the Adomin to wait for three of my fellows who were coming from Ephraim with livestock bought cheaper, I found him lying in wait in a gorge. I spoke to him...
EMV 535 : Simon the Sanhedrist hides the parricide he just committed: "But, if I was able to honor the corpse, I could not catch the assassin: certainly some thief, coming down from the Adomin to sell the proceeds of his thefts in the markets... Who can catch him now?" -
EMV 548 : Jesus comes to Bethany via En-Shemesh. They must have made a truly exhausting walk along the dangerous paths of the Adomin mountains. The Apostles, out of breath, have trouble Following Jesus.
EMV 550 : You will go to Ephraim in the meantime, right away. Ah! It was said that I would not be able to leave You! But I will come through the Adomin mountains.
EMV 553 : I went at dawn to the Adomin mountains because I know that there are unhappy souls whose Soul is made leprous by crime.
EMV 559 : She is a [woman (Nike) brave and she had set out alone along the Adomin. But she was followed and stopped near the "Ascent of Blood," and she, so as not to betray your home and to justify the provisions she had on her mount, said: "I am going to one of my brothers who is in a cave on the mountains.
EMV 579 : "…Yes. The Adomin mountains are unsafe at night..."
Learn More About This Place
Excerpt from the Geographical Dictionary of the Gospel Salton Maria Valtorta, by Jean-François Lavère:This mountain overlooks the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. A steep pass connects the hill region to the Jordan Valley. It marked the border between the territory of Judah and that of Benjamin. The name appears only twice in the Bible (Josh 15:6-18; 18:16-17) see below.Saint Jerome speaks of a place on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, called Adomin: place of blood, which got its name from the blood frequently shed there by the brigands who infested it. This is what some dialogues in the work evoke: “Dangerous! The Adomin”; “This city is at the edge of the desert and the Mountains of Blood (...) we will show you a path known only to us.”
See also Ascent of Blood.
Biblical References
"The border went up toward Debir from the valley of Akor and turned north toward Guilgal, which is opposite the ascent of Adoummim, south of the ravine. It passed near the springs of Ein-Shemesh and ended at Ein Rogel" (Joshua 15:7) "It turned north and ended at Ein-Shemesh and at Gueliloth which is opposite the ascent of Adoummim, then it went down to the Stone of Bohan, son of Ruben" (Joshua 18:17).
Explore
- Mount Adomin (map below): 31° 46' 51'' N / 35° 17' 48'' E
- Ascent of Blood: 31° 46' 30'' N / 35° 17' 53'' E or 31° 48' 59.29'' N 35° 21' 30.48'' E