Friday, March 20, 2009

Caesarea Philippi - Tel Dan - Mount Hermon



Shabbat Shalom from Israel!


It's Friday evening and Shabbat has just begun. We've sure been learning a lot of new things on this tour, it seems like we're getting a semester worth of study in 1 week!

We began our day in Caesarea Philippi, also known as Banias, this area has quite a history. Pagans used to worship the "god" Pan at this site and the large cave became known as the "gate of hell." There is also a natural spring that comes from under the the mountain (Mt. Hermon). This spring is one of three that flow into and feed the Jordan River with water. The others are Dan and Hazbani, the word "jordan" means "descending from dan."

This is the area where Jesus asked Peter "Who do you say that I am?" and Peter responded, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus responded, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:13-19). Notice that they were outside the place of idol worship known as the "gate of hell" when Jesus said this.




We traveled and hiked to the end of this spring where the river is formed, it's called Banias Waterfall. The roar of the water is incredible. It's believed that Psalm 42 was written at this place. Be sure to open your Bible and read this Psalm.




Next we visited Tel Dan, where the tribe of Dan lived, it was originally called Laish. Dan introduced idolatry into the land of Israel. King Jeroboam set up a high place of worship to a golden calf at Dan (1 Kings 12:25-33). This photo is of the excavations of the altar (recreated with steel shown here, the stone is original though) and the steps in the back led up to the temple he created. Dan was the first city to fall when Israel was invaded in the north.



This tree is over 2,000 years old!




A view of the whole site.



This is one of the coolest things. It's near the excavation of Dan and dates back even farther than the city of Dan, 4,000 years to the time of Abraham. It's the Canaanite city gate that Abraham may have gone through when he came to the land (Genesis 14:14).



This is the spring of Dan that forms the Dan River. The Dan River is the largest and most important source of water to the Jordan River. An interesting fact, just this past November, Hezballah in Lebanon completed a dam to cut off 1/4 of the water that feeds the Jordan (and all of Israel's water source) from the Hazbani River (the third source to the Jordan). Since this happened, God has given Israel 3 months worth of rain that equals what they normally receive in 5 years!



This is the seat for the king at the entrance to the city.



Mount Hermon, the hightest point in Israel, located at the northeastern most point of the country, it actually is part of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. It's believed that the transfiguration of Jesus took place on Mount Hermon (Matthew 17).



We bumped into Ido Kenyan, one of our guides on last year's tour, as well as Pastors Gino Geraci from CC South Denver and Chris Ward of CC Maricopa. We also saw Zvika, another of our guides on last year's trip.