Israel Day 9 - Area of the Tribe of Dan

We started off the morning at the Dan Nature Reserve in Northern Israel. There, we took a beautiful and short hike along the Jordan river up to the temple built by Jeroboam in Dan. One of the great things about the Bible is that it doesn't edit out the less-than-flattering parts of our heritage, and this temple is one example. It's in Dan that Jeroboam decided to build a temple to distract or discourage the Israelites from going to Jerusalem to worship as God had commanded. Background - Jerusalem was in Judah and Dan was in Israel, so if the Israelites went to worship in Jerusalem, Jeroboam would have lost some power/control over his constituents. This site reminds us of the divided kingdom of Israel, the religious power that we so often hand over to our politicians, and our selfish nature that seeks power over goodness. We read parts of Psalm 1, Psalm 42, Judges 17-18, and 1 Kings 12 during our hike and at the site of Jeroboam's temple. We continued our hike to see the oldest city gates of its kind in the world! They're Canaanite gates made of dried mud bricks and from the time of Abraham! Finally, we saw some of the most intact excavated city gates from the 8th century BCE. This was also the site that an inscription on a rock was found that referred to the "House of David" - the first and only extra-biblical mention of King David. We read 2 Kings 23 here!

Walking along the Jordan River

City gate from the time of Abraham!

The little square in the middle of the picture is the throne of the King at the City Gates

Next, we went to Caesarea Philippi which was the site of pagan worship of the gods Pan, Nemesis, Echo, and the gates of Hades, among others. It was also potentially the site where Peter professed Jesus' divinity in Matthew 16. The site was below a huge cliff, which made envisioning Jesus's response to Peter, "On this rock, I will build my church," even more interesting. This was a site of pagan worship and even pagan wrongdoing (Hades the god of the underworld/Hell, Nemesis the god of revenge) and Jesus uses it to announce His deity. Again, it may not be the exact spot that the events in Matthew occur, but it added some complexity to the passage by understanding people's worship of Roman gods.

The gates of Hades

Finally, we visited the tel of Hazor which contains remnants of both an ancient Canaanite city from the Late Bronze Age and a city from the time of King Solomon. The Canaanite city was the largest one ever discovered, although it has not been completely excavated yet. We were able to see a large palace made out of sun dried mud bricks (same as the Canaanite gates we saw today). They have to keep the structures under protective roofs because they can disintegrate so quickly. We also saw a water system, olive oil press, and four-room home from the time of the Israelites. Four-room homes are designed with one long room across the back for storage and three parallel rooms to fill the rest of the house. Two are separated by columns (not a wall) while the other rooms have walls. It's also believed that they'd have a second floor for living quarters because remnants have been found that suggests another story. A second story has never been excavated intact so artists' renditions change depending on their thoughts! It was interesting to learn how people from King Solomon's time would have lived their daily lives! 

The oil press! 

The olives would have been placed in the black basket and pressed until the oil came out.

The two of the three front rooms of a four-room house

These two rooms are only separated by columns instead of a full wall. This is where animals would have been kept! 

Tomorrow, we're off to explore the Sea of Galilee! We even get to sail around for a few hours! So excited!

UPDATED 1/13/19 11:51AM CST
An earlier version said Jewish people instead of the Israelites during the time of Jeroboam. This distinction was not made until after the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Thankful for our guide who knows much more than me and can make sure I'm getting an accurate picture of the sites we get to see!