Saturday, October 15
Dan
The Dan Nature Reserve is one of the most robust sites we’ve visited. It is at the top of Israel, and you can look into Lebanon from it. This is a buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon. Here our guide Kira is showing us where we are on the map.
And here is the view into Lebanon:
In the distance on the left is a small village that was once a part of Lebanon, but after the last war with Lebanon, the people of the village asked Israel to annex them. They were a persecuted Muslim minority in Lebanon. Now they are protected citizens of Israel.
Dan is where Lot and his family were taken captive, and where Abram took 300 men to rescue him. They traveled from the bottom of Israel, near Egypt, all the way up to Dan, at the top, to do this. See this video:
Dan is an area with rich water reserves, and was a heavily fortified city. Here is what the gate to the city looked like. Soldiers stood guard on the top of this and inside. People lived and farmed outside of the city walls, but would rush inside for protection if attacked by an enemy.
The king taxed all of the people to build the city wall and fortifications. He also judged, with the elders of the city, any disputes that the people had with each other. Within the gate was a spot where the king and the elders would hold court.
This is that spot:
The king would sit on the platform just at the end of the wall, and the elders in front of the wall.
Sadly, Dan was also the site of great apostasy. A small replica of the Temple was built here:
And the people there were told to worship the calf gods “who brought you out of Egypt.”
Jeroboam Makes Gold Calves
25 Jeroboam then built up the city of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and it became his capital. Later he went and built up the town of Peniel.
26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “Unless I am careful, the kingdom will return to the dynasty of David. 27 When these people go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple of the Lord, they will again give their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and make him their king instead.”
28 So on the advice of his counselors, the king made two gold calves. He said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. Look, Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!”
29 He placed these calf idols in Bethel and in Dan—at either end of his kingdom. 30 But this became a great sin, for the people worshiped the idols, traveling as far north as Dan to worship the one there.
31 Jeroboam also erected buildings at the pagan shrines and ordained priests from the common people—those who were not from the priestly tribe of Levi. 32 And Jeroboam instituted a religious festival in Bethel, held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month,[e] in imitation of the annual Festival of Shelters in Judah. There at Bethel he himself offered sacrifices to the calves he had made, and he appointed priests for the pagan shrines he had made. 33 So on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a day that he himself had designated, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar at Bethel. He instituted a religious festival for Israel, and he went up to the altar to burn incense.
-from 1 Kings 12