 Thursday, March 1, 2007
Tel Dan - Headwaters of Jordan - Foot of Mt Hermon
Tel Dan Nature Reserve is located on highway 99 in the northeastern tip of Israel in the Huleh Valley. It is one of the three sources of the Jordan River. During the First Temple Period of Israel this was a ritual location for the northern tribe of Dan.
 Today this is a beautiful nature reserve. We started with a walk in the trees and along some creek beds to the ritual site where we had a Bible Study on 1 Kings 12. Idolatrous worship practices began in this area during the priesthood of Moses's grandson, Jonathan, and were continued by his descendants (Judges 18:30) until it became a national center for idolatry under Jeroboam around 922 BC. Just a short distance from this site you can see southern Lebanon. Our guide pointed out an old rusty tank just over the boarder that remains from the 1982 Lebanon war. Our walk continued past "Abraham's Gate" where Abraham entered this land almost 4000 years ago. So much of this land has a long and rich history that is hard for us to capture when our own country is less than 250 years old.
 Cesarea Philippi (Banais)
Back onto the bus. It is starting to look like it will rain soon. We drive a relatively short distance to another Nature Reserve in Banais at the foothills of Mount Hermon. Here we see one of the three main sources of the Jordan which starts with a stream that comes out of the mountain in a cave in the temple to the pagan god Pan. The name Panais is changed to Banais in Arabic. Named Cesarea Philippi during the time of Jesus we read in Matthew 16 of Peter's confession that Jesus was the Messiah. Located about 25 miles north of Galilee and about 40 miles to the southwest of Damascus.
We were a bit cold but still took time to look at the ruins of the ancient Greek temple to the god Pan. Jesus took his disciples here to get away from the pressures of Jewish society and to place them in a place that represented the peak and perfection of paganism and their failed gods. This is also the source of the water that was vital to survival. With such a rich background to compare Jesus to the disciples could clearly see that their Messiah was standing there before them. As we are here there is almost an eerie feeling as you look at the places carved in the rocks where the idols were placed know of the false worship that took place in this beautiful location.
 Golan Heights
Shortly after getting into the bus it began to pour. It was cold and wet. We continued our drive along the boarder of the DMZ with Syria in the Golan. Since it was wet and cold we skipped the Nimrod Castle tour and went to a bunker that was a strategic site of the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Our guide had spent some time in the reserve in a tank group here and pointed out a lot of interesting sites to us as seen from his personal experiences there. Perhaps politically biased we still got to see something of the struggle that Israel has faced in its short 60 year existence that Americans seldom think about or talk about. While there the rain broke and we continued in our bus back to Tiberias.
 Galilee Experience - Movie
This was a wonderful movie / multi-media presentation about the history of the Galilee area. Nice to sit in the warm theater and take this in. After that we returned to the Scotts Hotel for the day. This photo was taken outside the theater where we saw the move in down town Tiberias. I loved the colors and design of the photo. |
