It's A Good Day To Be Me: 06/15/10 Day 7

shToday we drove to the Tel Dan Nature Reserve. We walked about 2 hours on a beautiful, lush, and cool path beside the running water. Here at the foot of Mt. Hermon are springs coming out of the mountain that are the head waters of the Jordan River. This area is named for the Israelite tribe of Dan. The tribe of Dan moved here and conquered the Canaanite town of Laish and among the archaeological excavations that were discovered was the city gate as well as a pagan altar that may have been the shrine on which King Jeroboam of Israel sacrificed one of his golden calves.

"So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit--the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan" 2 Kings 10:28-29.

The ruins of the city of Laish

City gates of Tel Dan

Next we go to Caesarea Phillipi. This is the area where Jesus told Peter "on this rock I will build my church" as well as the possible place of the transfiguration of Jesus. Mt. Hermon is the highest point in Israel and some bible scholars believe it happened here. (Matt. 17:1-13)

"When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ."

Matthew 16:13-20

There were also pagan temples found here.

Danny,our guide, was so good explaining things to us, especially dates. He would always use his arms and head as a time line. His left arm was BC, his head Jesus, and his right arm AD. So he would point to the appropriate place on his arm "timeline" for each date. This would be about 100 BC.....

or 1000 BC......

or about 200 AD.....

We had lunch at another local restaurant. We had the standard "salads", humus, pickles, wonderful pita bread, and these "poultry" (hopefully chicken) shishkabobs

cooked outdoors on a grill. And yes, all meals come with french fries, even pita sandwiches are filled with french fries. We also had soft goat cheese with olive oil and honey.....very tasty.

Then on to the Golan Heights, on the Syrian border. There has been fighting here over the control of borders.