Day 4
We left Tiberius today and detoured around the normal route outside the city due to a marathon in the area. It ended up being awesome because we drove through a BEAUTIFUL area of mountains and valleys. I was in my glory with my nose pressed to the window. We made our way to the very north of the country. En route, Uri (our tour guide) gave us interesting information, as usual. We passes by the Hula Valley, where a massive swamp used to exist. In the 1950's, the government drained the swamp (against advice given by conservationists), and it was a bit of an ecological mess. The ground under the swamp was peat, and after a few years the ground just began burning and turned into dust. Apparently this happens when peat doesn't have any moisture in it. They had to let some of the water back onto the land, and it is all in much better shape now.
We stopped first at the Dan Nature Preserve, a lush, green area along the Dan River, which feeds the Jordan. Psalm 42 was likely written in reference to that spot because of the geographical locations it mentions in verse 5. What a pretty area! We went for a walk that eventually led to the high place used by the city of Dan. The tribe of Dan was given a piece of land in The southern regions, but because of constant attack by the Philistines, they decided to take over a city way up north. When they moved, however, they brought their own priest (not a Levite) and ended up worshipping idols (read Judges 17 and 18 for the whole story).
The high place that we arrived at (high places are referenced numerous times in the Bible for worship of gods) was nothing like I had envisioned when I read about them. I always thought it would be on top of a mountain. Instead, it was the highest place of the city, which wasn't really all that high compared to the surrounding area. I loved it.
When Israel split into the Northern Kingdom and Judah in 930 BC, Jeroboam became king of the Northern Kingdom. He built a temple for his people to use so that they would not feel the need to go to Jerusalem to worship because was afraid that would lead to them switching allegiances (check out the story in 1 Kings 12). His worship, though, was to golden calves that he had made. The ruins of the temple were there, and we were able to stand on them. They are so old!!! From the time of Judges! There was also a "newer" temple that King Ahab built a little behind it 100 years later.
Right next to the temples were Israeli trenches left over from wars with Syria in the mid-1900's. Uri gave us a really great history lesson on that time. And...Val and I ran through the trenches and bunker. Elizabeth joined us for a photo:
We moved on through more remains of the city of Dan, which was quite a big area. Eventually we made it to the city gates. There were two sets: the original gates, built in the 11th century BC, and the "newer" gates built when they expanded the city in the 8th century BC.
The city gates are where kings and elders would sit to offer advice and make rulings, and I really enjoyed seeing how it was set up in relation to the city.
GFrom there, we headed to Caesarea Philippi, which is one of the locations Jesus visited with His disciples. It is the headwaters of another of the rivers that feeds the Jordan, and where it came out of the rock wall steam often arose from it due to warmer water. As a result, people referred to it as the Gates of Hades (Hell). Next to the water source were built multiple temples. I thought I had a picture on my phone of it, but it's on my camera. Here is the spot where the water used to come out of (it comes out at a different spot now).
The city back in the 1st century was crazy. Caesarea Philippi worshiped the god of Pan, the half man half goat, and they did some pretty sick things in their worship. I won't go into detail here, but it involved hundreds of men, women, and goats. The word pandemonium came from their times of worship because people would get into such a frenzy. It was at this location (and highly likely during a time of worship) that Jesus and His disciples arrived on scene.
This is the exchange that took place as they were in the city, likely looking on at all that was going on from Matthew 16:13-19.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked.“Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.18 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. 19 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.”
The Gates of Hell (Hades). They were standing next to a steaming spring that was called that specifically! What?! There is so much more meaning going on in the Bible that we don't pick up on! Jesus had a reason for everything He said, and he used the visual picture available to Him in that moment to make a point....as he was talking to Peter (the rock) standing next to a giant rock that was pouring out water and steam called the Gates of Hades. Ahhhh! I love it!
After that mind-blowing experience, I noticed a sign that said "Nimrod" and pointed up a trail. I asked our guide about it. Here is our exchange:
Me: "What is Nimrod?"
Guide, excitedly: "It is a freaking awesome castle with dungeons and turrets and dragons. It is absolutely amazing."
Me, also excitedly: "Are we going there?!"
Guide: "No."
Me, hopeful: "Can I run up quick and check it out?!"
Guide: "No. You need to come back and do a trip where you backpack the trail that goes from the northern part if Israel to the southern end! Then you can check all this stuff out."
I was disappointed after our conversation, but kept a good attitude.
But...that wasn't the end! I told Val about it, and she brought Nimrod up to him later. She said if he didn't agree, we could always stage a coup. He admitted he was totally fine with us deviating from the schedule a bit. We would just have to push lunch back another hour, which was why he was hesitant. You could tell he wanted to go. So we did!!! We were not disappointed. That castle was AMAZING and so massive. I can't even describe it in words.
It was built by the Mamelukes in the 13th century, and is the biggest Crusader-era castle in Israel. No one knows why it was built, but the structure was so fun exploring. Val, Elizabeth, and I ran around ducking in every available passage and room. Our trip had been moving at a really slow pace, so it felt so good to blast around and race up stairs. Uri (the guide) had such a good time, too. He loves the place and actually thanked me for pushing to get us there. He hadn't been there in a few years and just enjoys it. I really appreciated his flexibility and the obvious love of his job.
Our final stop of the day was to the mountain of Ben Talk. From there, you can look down into Syria which is only a couple of miles away. Uri explained that in the town that we were looking at, people were getting killed daily. It was a sobering moment. From the top, we could also see Damascus. It is along the stretch of road we saw leading to Damascus that Paul experienced his conversion.
Today is my favorite day so far. Not only did we see some mind-blowing things, but I just had such a good time running around with Val and Elizabeth. This was how I had envisioned our trip being...laughing, joking around, enjoying each other, and seeing the Bible come alive.
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