Israel Trip, Part 3

Day 3 of our tour started out drizzly and cold.  Huddled under umbrellas, we took a brief look at an old church that was built to commemorate the location where Jesus cast demons out of men and into pigs.

It's pretty incredible to see mosaic floors that have stood the test of hundreds of years' time!

Shortly after that stop, the sun came out!  We made our way to the Tel Dan Nature Reserve where we enjoyed a lovely nature walk that included lots of foliage and rushing water.  This is the location of multiple natural springs that feed into the Jordan River.  It was a very refreshing place to be!

Some of our team on the hike.

Eventually, our hike led us to ruins that were the location of this passage in Scripture:

"And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.  Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.  And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.  And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.  And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi." (1 Kings 12:26-31)

A re-creation of the altar structure that likely would have been used in Jeroboam's day built on top of the original ruins.

Up the steps you see to the right would have been the "high places" that we read about so often in the books of Kings and Chronicles where pagan worship took place. 

High places were also located at the city gates (the stone altar in the background is an example).  I love this verse that was posted about King Josiah and his legacy: "And he...defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense...and brake down the high places of the gates..." (2 Kings 23:8)

Another verse says, "Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove." (2 Kings 23:15)

Overall, visiting the city ruins at Dan was an enlightening field trip into understanding this part of Old Testament history.

 

Jumping back into the New Testament, our next stop was Caesarea Philippi where Jesus' famous conversation with the disciples took place in which He asked them, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?"  Due to the natural springs that are also found here, the area in Jesus' day was dedicated to the worship of a false god named Pan who supposedly lived in nature.

Shrines which remain from the idolatrous worship that took place here.

Over to the left, you can see a large cave opening in which was a giant rock slab used for various forms of sacrifice to Pan.

As the conversation goes between Jesus and His disciples, Peter answers the question with, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Then Jesus says to him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.  And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  (Matthew 16:13-19)

Nathan believes that Jesus might have been using this well-known rock as an object lesson to illustrate His point that He would build His church upon Himself (THE rock), and the various rocks of paganism and death would never overcome it.

 A Syrian rock hyrax (also known as conies in the book of Proverbs).

More beautiful views of the natural springs.

We continued our tour along the Golan Heights and eventually came to a small town (whose name now escapes me) where we stopped for lunch at a modern-day olive press.  After eating pizza, we were shown a video about how this family-run business has developed an innovative process for not just making high quality olive oil but for using the whole olive - skin, pit, and all! - to make all-natural skin care products as well.  In the picture, Nathan and another guy on the team are washing their hands after trying out the exfoliating olive wash that left one's skin feeling so soft!  I really enjoyed the learning experience and the opportunity to support this unique Israeli business.

Sampling the olive oil with bread.

That's a lot of olive oil!

The olive press is located in a beautiful facility...a warehouse of sorts with trees and birds inside!

After buying out their gift shop (or so it seemed!), it was time to load back on the bus.

The snow-capped peaks of Mt. Hermon

Here I am standing on the border of Israel and no-man's-land, with Syria just beyond it.  We could hear artillery fire coming from Syria's civil war conflict and were reminded just much of a powder-keg the Middle East is!  It's really amazing to learn how God has super-naturally protected and preserved His people in the midst of it all.