The rain isn't too much of a concern as we have packed our light jackets for this day. It will be the only day they are with us on the bus. Our journey to Dan is uneventful except for the outstanding scenery and the teaching that is going on as we travel. We have our maps out and are orienting ourselves with the geography.
Dan is much different than I imagined. It is quite hilly, green, long grass grows everywhere between the rocks which cover so much of the land. No wonder Ephraim and Manasseh wanted to put down roots here. After wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, Dan would be a beautiful place. This would be the region that became Samaria, the northern kingdom of Israel. The fact that they still pasture cattle here makes so much sense.
We debus and in the distance hear what sounds like gunfire. This is typical as we are near an Israeli weapons firing range. We are very near the border with Lebanon and military training is ongoing. We are told hearing the weapons fire "is a good thing."
We all spill out into the parking lots of the Tel Dan excavations. There are piles of rocks everywhere and we (Indiana Jolie and I) are in full rock picture taking mode. These are amazing piles of rocks. I notice that there are all kinds of nationalities represented here. Many are Asians, there are many black skinned nations, all speaking excitedly in languages I do not understand. I guess the Asians are probably Korean (I have no idea) and I find out many of the black people are from Nigeria.
We enter Dan by the city gate.
It is that strange and amazing feeling I was to feel many times when I was treading upon or touching something that connected me directly to biblical history. I was standing on Judges 29:18.
Judges 18:29 (NKJV)
And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However, the name of the city formerly was Laish.
It is constructed as all ancient gates were constructed, an entrance, a right angle left and on into the ancient city of Dan. We are shown that the thick, square rock at the city gate was where the king of the city would sit during the day and those who would enter the city would bow, show respect and offer their gifts to him. There are sill the bases for the posts that supported a canopy over the king.
Just inside the city gate we are paused for some instruction from Dr. Nunnaly. He tells us it was right in this area one of the most important archaeological discoveries concerning the Bible was found. The reason this discovery was so important was because it was a non-Jewish, non-Bible inscription that mentions "the House of David." This is important because it is an outside source that speaks to biblical history that is not a part of biblical history. It takes biblical history out of the realm of legends and myths.
When archaeologists only find biblical history in the Bible, they cannot take the Bible as reliable on it's own (we as believers do, but the science world does not). So, when an unrelated, outside source is found that verifies the accuracy of the Bible, it is a really big deal. To find something this ancient and important here makes Dan a very important site. We will see the actual inscription briefly in the Israeli National Museum in the days ahead.
We wander and wind through the pagan altars,
mangers, walls, granaries of Dan. We walk further into the deep forested growth, looking to the right and left of the path we are on into the deep brush and see with our archaeology savvy eyes tantalizing clues sticking up out of the bushes, part of a wall here, part of a pillar there, places that have never yet been excavated. I ask a guide why this has not all been excavated and he smiles, it is money. It takes a lot of money to do archaeology work. He tells me it is better to leave it to the forest covered up to discourage looting until it can be properly excavated.
The air is cool, damp and the foliage is thick. There is running water.
It is beautiful water, clear, cold and inviting. I haven't seen water like this yet in Israel. There are streams with smooth gravely bottoms. The vegetation on the banks spill over to lick the flowing water. Vines from tree branches reach down to drag in the stream. It is absolutely beautiful. This we are told are the head waters of the Jordan river. Now this I can really appreciate. This is the Jordan river water I would want to get baptized in again. That brown, silty, slow stuff on the lower end of the Sea of Galilee doesn't hold a candle to this. I want to linger on the little foot bridges crossing the stream, just stare at the beauty that is so unexpected. But we must keep moving...
Dan is a very large site. We walk quite a ways until we come to a place that catches me so unexpectedly I stop in my tracks. The archaeologists have done us a favor to help us visualize the scene from Joshua 22. It is right here at this exact spot a replica has been constructed to show us where the bronze altar the inhabitants of Dan built in Joshua 22. This bronze altar replica of the Jerusalem altar becomes a snare to Israel in later years when Jeroboam adds golden calves and instructs Israel to worship them and uses this altar in Dan to burn sacrifices to these golden calves, 1 Kings 12:28-32. This is that place. I am completely fascinated.
The rocks at Dan show the construction of the walls, the additions of later civilizations and we take lots of pictures.
Once again there is too much to see in the time we have. We are instructed to continue moving through the site to a more ancient city gate, one that pre-dates the Israelite occupation of Dan.
This city gate would very well have been the city gate Abraham would have entered the city by. It is walled up and hard to discern, but there are unmistakable arches and walls that let to the more ancient city site. This excavation is more fragile and it is covered and off limits to us tourists that would love it to death. I would love to touch with my own hand the gate that Abraham might have touched in his day.
We must go. We must keep moving. What could be more important than what we have only begun to understand about Dan? Our next destination takes us from Old Testament to the New. Caesarea of Philippi.
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