The place where everything changed

Tel Dan was an incredible adventure.

First, the 4,000+-year-old Abrahamic gate.

Then, walking into the ancient city, through the next set of gates, and sitting at the spot of the king:

The rocks are so rounded, that they look like something from a theme park, haha.

View from inside the gate:

Once again, a place just outside the gate for the city's idols to stand at the entrance. Visitors and vendors would pay homage on that high place. This would have been before the Israelite time (I think).

Then, you go through newer gates:

The view from inside, looking out:

To the residential area:

this last photo cracks me up a bit (the sign):

Then, to the place that broke my heart:

“After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other.” 1 Kings 12:28-30

It’s not often you get to ‘witness’ the point where everything changed for a nation. More often than not, these things are more of a “frogs set to a slow boil” situation than a sudden point of no return.

Here, at Tel Dan, is a replica of an altar commissioned by Jeroboam, who had golden calves placed for worship at Beth-el and Dan, all so the people wouldn’t go to worship in Jerusalem (and maybe swear allegiance to Rehoboam). Off to the side of the altar, in these other buildings, implements were found that just like what were used in the temple to carry incense, proving the record of worship here.

It may have been a slow boil up until this point, but right here is where everything changed- forever.

I can't over-emphasize how sobering it is to sit and look at the altar (the metal form is just to give us an idea of what it looked like), and realize that this is whenever everything changed forever for Israel. The weight, and grief, of this place is indescribable.

After visiting Tel Dan, I watched Sergio and Rhoda's video of their visit there, and they said the same thing. I'm pasting it here so you can hear it from the mouth of Israelis.

The 4,000-year-old Abrahamic gate

It's not every day you see something that is over 4,000 years old.

This mud gate, with its iconic triple arch, has been verified to being present at Dan in Northern Israel during the time of Abraham.

“When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.” Genesis 14:14.

This gate was only in use for about half a century before it was covered over— because mud and rain don’t mix well. The arch over the doorway is one of the earliest compete arches found in the world.

The gate has a view of Nimrod fortress in the distance, which I still need to visit!

This is only part of my visit to Tel Dan Nature Reserve, which I will talk about more next week. This reserve contains part of the Dan Stream, which makes up one of the 3 headwaters of the Jordan River. It was unlike no other park I've been to in Israel, as we got to walk through the woods and sometimes, through the streams.

And it made this North Ga girl's heart so happy! There's nothing like being in the mountains, forests, and rivers!

Idolatry within the city gates

There's more to the story of Tel Hazor than meets the eye.

The size and expanse of the site is incredible, and there's so much to learn—which I did on my first visit there. But on my 2nd, I learned to look for the small details that tell an even greater story—a story with implications that last millennia, even to this day.

As I stated in the last blog, Hazor was a significant city guarding the Via Maris. Joshua 11:10 calls it "the head of the kingdoms of Syria and Babylon" because of its important location.

There was a lower city and an upper city. The tel is the upper city, and the lower city is underneath this field. At the entrance from the lower city to the upper, is a dark stone.

It's obvious it's cracked, but it's several thousands of years old. No big deal, right? That's what you'd expect to see. Except... that's not why the stone is cracked. No, it's because during Joshua's campaign in the early chapters of Joshua, God commanded them to destroy everything, to kill everything that breathes, and to destroy all the high places and places of idolatry.

That dark, rectangular stone is cracked because it was where idols were placed at the entrance of the city. 

It's not accidental destruction or decay because of the march of time, or even earthquakes. 

It was intentional.

An act of obedience. 

Needless to say... I completely lost my chill. But my guide wasn't done.

He took us into the palace, sitting next to one of the excavated walls. He spoke to us about the history of Hazor, and its later appearances in the Bible: 

Jael drove a spike through Sisera's temple (the general under the king of Hazor). 

Solomon later built up to city in the same way as Megiddo and Gezer, and it became an Israelite city. 

And then, in 2 Kings 15:29: "In the time of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maakah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. He took Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people to Assyria."

Since the Assyrians burned everything, it makes sense that archeologists find evidence of that fire in the remains—which they have.

But... wait... it looks like there are 2 sets of burn marks, and the distance between them shows quite some time passed between the fires. Why?

Are you ready for this?

Joshua 11: 10-11: At that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and put its king to the sword. (Hazor had been the head of all these kingdoms.) Everyone in it they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed, and he burned Hazor itself.

That, right there, is evidence to support the record in God's Word. 

And... I lost my chill again. WOW!

But, why did the destruction of Hazor by the Assyrians in 732 BC have to happen at all? 

Further up the ancient city is lies the reason why God allowed for first the Assyrians and then the Babylonians to invade Israel and takes its people into captivity:

That standing stone is a base for an idol. It is well within the city gates, in the area dating to the time of the Israelites.

Despite God's command to have no other gods before Him, idolatry had crept back into the land. 

Mount Gilboa: Where King Saul died

And now we've come to Mount Gilboa, where Saul, Israel's first king, and his sons died. 

Or rather, the view from this mountain. It's likely Saul and his sons were killed closer to the base of it. And then, of course, their headless bodies were carried back to Beit She'an and hung from the city gates (of the town on top of the tel).

Do you remember why this mountain is barren?

In 2 Samuel 1, David cursed it for being the place where Israel's first king died. More than 3 millennia later, except for a patch where the Jewish National Fund planted some trees, the mountain is still bare.

Now, it's a place for people to come and hang out, picnic, and even hang glide over the Jezreel Valley. There are kibbutzim at the base of it, and hiking trails up to the place called "Saul's Shoulder".

WOW! Definitely a surreal place to visit in the Jezreel Valley.

King Saul's last battle: the view from Ahab and Jezebel's back porch

I’m actually not sure if there is anything cooler that looking out over the Jezreel Valley while your guide reads from the Bible and says, “So, Saul’s men were camped there at the trees” (bottom right of the below photo)

“and the Philistines were near there” (the town on the left edge) “and then Saul went to the witch of Ein Dor over there” (not pictured) “who foretold his defeat and death.

When Saul and his sons retreated in battle to Mount Gilboa” (the barren mountain below),

they died (Saul fell on his sword)… and then their headless bodies were taken back to Beit She’an, which you visited before lunch!”

😂

Oh, and all of this was told to me while we were sitting from the back porch of Ahab and Jezebel's winter palace in the Jezreel Valley. 😱

I don't really have pictures of the ruins, because they are all covered up and dangerous to wade through. They were behind me, but because of the rise of the mountain, I couldn't really see anything. Apparently, there's nothing there to really see, as it was never built back up into a park.

Just this amazing view, and the ability to see exactly the last battle of Israel's first king.

Oh, and do you remember why Mount Gilboa is barren? 

Where Gideon's men drank from the spring

There's nothing like a cool drink on a hot day!

Unless you're Gideon, and the way your army of 10,000 men drank from the spring means that all but 300 of them have to go home. 

Gideon was nervous about going to battle against the joined forces of the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern armies (120,000 soldiers), and he wanted as many men in his army as possible. Completely understandable. 

(the view from the opposite mountain)

But God wanted to show that He was the victor.

So he whittled down Gideon's army bit by bit, until this final test, here, at Ein Harod (not Herod).

This is the actual place where Gideon's men drank (Judges 6-8). The water comes up from the cave. While a fence blocks the entrance of humans, you can see where it comes out. 

The water is so clear that you can see the bottom.

Today, this place is a national park where people can come and play in the springs, camp, and enjoy the beauty of the Jezreel Valley.

Gideon's army would have camped on top of the mountain and came down to drink at the spring.

After visiting this site, I watched Sergio and Rhoda's video about this place. At the end, they point out something really cool: the water in this spring comes an underground water resevoir underneath the ancient cities of Nablus and Jenin in the West Bank. Gideon's hometown of Ophrah (not Oprah, haha) is in the same area.

They also found a photo of this place from over a 100 years ago, and it gives a better idea of how 10,000 men could have gathered and drank from here:

They also noted the lack of trees in the photo... so all of the ones present in today's time (photo above) have grown in the last century. WOW!

And, in case you were wondering... no, I didn't drink from the springs, haha. :)

Beit She'an: Trapped in Time

Beit She’an is one of those places that I knew was cool when I visited in 2017, but was unable to fully grasp just how incredible it was. I think I was on overload at the time.

So when I went back, I got to be amazed all over again!

One of the 2 cities of the Decapolis as mentioned in the NT that is in Israel (the other being Susita in the Galilee), Beit She’an was a thriving Roman city during Jesus’ day. It was built at the foot of a tel dating back millennia- the same place where the Philistines hung the headless bodies of King Saul and his sons over the walls (1 Samuel 31:8-13). From a theater to a bathhouse and public toilets, this place had it all.

The bathhouse:

View from the main street (cardo):

The cardo, or the main street going through the center of town:

The statues here show at least 1 thing this city was known for...

Until 749 AD, when a massive earthquake shook the entire region- the largest in recorded history. All this splendor fell down and cracked open, stately columns rolling this way and that until they finally stopped laid in testament to the tectonic game of pick-up sticks the earth played on that fateful day. When the city was found and excavated, coins dating to 749 AD were found, marking the exact date of destruction almost as well as a stopped clock.

These columns are massive... grown men can't wrap their arms around them.

Once again, I went up to the top of the tel. The view was stunning!

On a clear day, you can see all the way into Jordan from the other side:

At the top of the tel lie more ruins, this time of the Philistine village. But, they dug deeper and even found the governor’s house from when the Egyptians controlled the area! That’s MILENNIA ago!

WOW! If you ever get a chance to visit Beit She'an, I highly recommend it! The magnitude of it is overwhelming.