Day 3 in Israel

Day 3 – Tel Dan, Caesarea Philippi, Gideon's Spring, Beth Shan

We were up in the northern most area of the Promised Land where the tribe of Dan lived. The walls in the remnant of this city are 3,000 years old. The Dan Spring is one of the three sources that feed the Jordan River. The name of the Jordan River comes from the Hebrew (Yar Dan which means “descends from the Dan – Jordan). At the highest point is the temple that King Jeroboam built when the kingdoms split after King Solomon’s death. Jeroboam leads the people in pagan worship by adopting the pagan religions of the people living nearby. He places a golden calf inside the temple next to the huge altar that was built for sacrifices to the true God. After our devotion we sang, “Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness.”


Then we came to something totally unexpected. Just a few years ago an archeologist found a Canaanite city gate that predates Abraham by 300-400 years. The city gate was at least 4,000 years old! After Lot was captured in Sodom, he was carted all the way to the north. Abraham got his men together and traveled 200 miles at about 20 miles a day to rescue his nephew. He must really have liked Lot a lot! These are the city gates Abraham would have passed through to get to Lot. Pastor Gene Kock, a retired pastor who is leading this pastor’s familiarization tour said, “30 years ago when I came here, this wasn’t here.” One of the other pastors replied, “It was here, Gene. You just couldn’t see it.”



Then we came to one of my favorites of the trip so far. We visited Caesarea Philippi. This is the location where Peter made his beautiful confession to Jesus, “You are the Son of the living God,” in Matthew 16. Jesus replies, “On this rock (of Peter’s confession) I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” After our devotion we sang a fitting hymn, “Built on the Rock.” Where we stood we could see a huge rock base where there had also stood a temple to the pagan god Pan – the half goat, half human god of the shepherds. The huge cavern is where these pagans believed was the entrance to the “gates of Hades,” the path into the depths of hell. You can imagine Jesus standing either below or on top of this huge, solid rock and making his statement that “Not on this rock, but upon the rock of your confession, I will build my Church. And even the gates of Hades that are right here cannot overcome this confession.” Wow! A very different perspective on these statements than what I had always pictured! Very cool!


Then we headed to Gideon’s Spring where God chose the 300 to fight for him against the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples who had settled in the valley as thick as locusts. Those men who cupped the water in their hands and brought it up to their lips while still keeping a lookout for the enemy were chosen for battle.






Another very cool archeological dig that we visited, that I wasn’t expecting, was the ancient city of Beth Shan. This is the 3,000 – 4,000 year-old Philistine city where King Saul and his sons were taken after they were killed in battle. The Philistines found their bodies and hung them up on the wall around their temple on a hill so the birds and rats could pick at them. In 1 Samuel 31, brave Israelite men snuck into the city and took down the bodies and burned them and then buried their bones. Just an amazing city! The wealth that must have been in this city in New Testament times! There are mosaic tiles on the sidewalk! They had so much money that the ruler covered over the mosaic sidewalk with marble! The pagan Roman temple is set on a hill. There are shops, bathhouses, a theatre and more.

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