Galilee, Day 2

October 26, 2008
Looking back, it is amazing to me how much, and yet how little, we’ve done today. Perhaps it’s just that there is a completely different feel and completely different goals on this trip as compared to a short-term trip. I think we had 6 stops today and a little time to explore each of them. On the short term trip I know that we stopped a couple of the same places, but I remember being so much more rushed. I think on the same day was stopped at least as many places (though I think we were stressing places of New Testament significance more) and started later and got back earlier. All that to say that I’m enjoying visiting a few different sights, and having more time to explore a few of the same sites, and just over all getting a different feel for the land. I was so disoriented on that first trip most of the time.

At any rate, it was a good day. We started briefly at a sort of war memorial at Gadot? From there we could look over the Huleh basin, see the rise of the basaltic plug (Rosh Penah), and see the natural crossing point (the “bridge of Jacob’s daughters”). We could also see the fences with the signs, “Danger! Mine Field!” Which immediately brings to mind that song by Petra…but anyway. It’s kind of sad that so much good land can’t be put to use because of mine fields.


From there we crossed to the other side of the Huleh basin and stopped in Hazor. I was really excited to see Hazor. It has the third Solomonic Gate (so now I’ve seen all of them!)

and it has Middle Bronze remains (which we learned about in Archaeology). It’s a huge tel with upper and lower cities. In its heyday, it was around 200 acres in size, which, for a city of that time, was really huge. Especially for Palestine. They’ve found scattered cuniform tablets around the site (from Middle and Late Bronze Ages) and are currently still searching for an archive.

We spend some time, in what was probably a Bronze Age temple or palace, while the rain poured down, looking at the battle of Joshua against King Jabin of Hazor. (See Joshua 11.) It’s really an interesting story. Jabin did not do what I would have done, knowing the geography. (Which is not to say that he didn’t know the geography, just that he made an odd choice.) At any rate, Joshua defeated Jabin and his armies and took Hazor and burned it. It’s possibly that his destruction of Hazor is still in evidence today in the form of cracked basalt bricks (as sign it's been burned) from around that time.

Side note on the Huleh basin: it contains the combination of the best soils, in a warm area, with lots and lots of water. Continuous growing season. Apparently, if alfalfa were planted, you could get up to 18 cuttings a year? How amazing is that??

The next stop was Dan. I like Dan. Dr. Wright said that the water is as low as he’s seen it in years, but it still seemed like a lot of water to me, especially when compared to everything else I’ve seen in this land. It was amazingly lush and green. We got to see the Canaanite gate (an arch!), like the one in Ashkelon.

I’d seen it before, but I think I appreciate its significance a little more now. We saw what is generally thought to be the high place of Dan (though Dr. Barkai apparently thinks it’s more likely a palace of some sort because of its architecture). We also saw an Israeli bunker and looked into Lebanon.

My favorite parts of Dan were…(in no particular order)
1. The Winnie the Pooh tree. (Yes, that's me in the tree.)

2. The sign near the tree that said, “Invertebrates Research Area. Do Not Enter the Water!” I’m not sure what kind of invertebrates were being researched (though I saw a lot of snails around), but apparently, most humans are not spineless enough to be on their list.
3. Wading in the pool (where it was allowed). The water is the coldest natural water I’ve felt here yet. Not quite Boulder-River-painful-numbing-cold, but close. (wading pool below)

4. Acorn Ian.
5. Wandering with water and greenery.


After Dan we went to Baniass or Banyas or Panias or Caesarea Philippi. Really, who knew one place could have so many different names with so many different spellings?! It was interesting to talk about reasons why it was likely that this was the region of the transfiguration (Mt. Hermon). It was interesting to note that after the transfiguration, Jesus is about as far away from Jerusalem as He ever gets. And he immediately “sets his face” towards Jerusalem and makes his way there. A nine month “triumphal march” through all the territories he had visited before, ending in the “triumphal entry.”


We stopped momentarily just outside a Druze city to buy apples and look at a crater lake. It’s a volcanic area. Perhaps I’m displaying my ignorance, but would that be a caldera? I ate one of my apples tonight – yummy! I really liked that area. It was fun to see the reflectors along the road for the snow plows. It was fun to be in a mountainous area, to be in the wind, and to feel like it’s fall.

The last stop of the day, just in time for sunset, was the top of Bental, a basaltic cone with a decommissioned military base on top.
(Here we are exploring some of the tunnels)

The cone has eroded into more of a horseshoe shape, but hey. There are not a whole lot of Biblical stories of this area – it’s really a land between. One notable exception is the story of Og, the King of Bashan. The other exception, which oddly I had never thought about, is the story of Saul’s conversion. The road to Damascus travels right by these basaltic cones, so it’s likely he was in that area when God caught him. We couldn’t quite see Damascus from where we were, but we could see the border between Syria and Israel.

The nations have been warring for thousands of years over this land. Lord, come soon and bring peace!