Galilee Day #9 - Hazor, Dan

The first ruins we visited today were from the ancient city Hazor which is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. In Joshua 11 the Canaanite city Hazor was burned in the conquest of the land. The coolest part of this site is that we could see the burn layer on the ruins which more or less archaeologically proves that biblical account.

The writers of the Old Testament often used the phrase 'from Dan to Bersheba' to mean all of Israel because Dan was the northernmost city and Bersheba was the southernmost city. We visited Bersheba during the first month, and today we visited Dan so now I can say that I have been 'from Dan to Bersheba.' The most interesting archaeology to me was a arched city gate that dates back to the time of Abraham. When Abraham came here (Gen 14:14), it is likely that he passed through this gate. At this site they have also discovered the ruins of the high place / altar that the apostate Israelite Kingdom used instead of the Jerusalem Temple. Right behind the altar are some trenches from the pre-1967 border. From this outlook we could see Syria and Lebanon. In the mine field in front of us there were cows grazing. I don't know if I believe this but our professor said that the cows are used to de-mine the field (I guess it is better for cows to be blown up than humans). The rest of Dan was beautiful with a bunch of trees, plants, and springs.

Caesarea Philippi was the most spiritually significant site of the day for me. The account of Peter testifying "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" occurred in this region. I learned a few contextual facts that made the verses in Matthew 16:13-20 more meaningful to me. The city Caesarea Philippi was a Greco-Roman gentile city with temples to pagan gods. One of the temples was dedicated to Caesar Augustus who claimed to be 'the son of god' because his step father Julius Caesar had been proclaimed god by the Roman senate after his death. This concept contrasts with Peter's declaration that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the LIVING God. Also there is a large stone face where the pagan temples were and also where a spring began. Possibly Jesus used this stone outcropping as an example when explaining that Peter would be the rock upon which He would build his church. Bro Harper did an excellent job of explaining that the best way we can know anything is from divine revelation which is the way that Peter knew that Jesus was the. Savior.

The rest of the day was full of nice walks and cool views. We walked around some waterfalls near Caesarea Philippi. We also went to Nimrod's castle which is a 13th century Malmuk fortress which would have been quite an impressive building back in the day. The final place we went was another former border of Israel. On top of this mountain they had old trenches and bunkers. We could also see Syria from the top.