Page 22 - Holyland Magazine - 2016 Edition

Dan’s lush nature reserve, situated
along a chilly snow-melt stream,
which together with the Banias and
the Senir Rivers do, indeed, unite to
form the Jordan.
Sitting under the old oak trees
overhanging a pool so beautiful that
the reserve’s rangers have dubbed
it “the Garden of Eden,” you’ll learn
that you are near the ruins of the
Canaanite city Laish, which was
conquered and renamed by the
tribe of Dan (Judges 18:7-29).
Along the path, you’ll come to
one of the highlights of your visit,
the high place. It shows signs of
destruction by a huge fire, possibly
during the attack on Dan by Ben-
Hadad of Assyria, mentioned in 1
Kings 15:20. The high place was
later rebuilt, probably by Ahab.
This is very likely the shrine that 1
Kings 12:29 tells us Jeroboam,
son of Nebat, set up at Dan, the
northern extent of the kingdom he
had wrested from Rehoboam, son
of Solomon. (He set up a second
golden calf at Bethel, north of
Jerusalem.) Along the shrine’s
northern wall you can still make
out construction reminiscent of the
description of the wall of the “great
court yard” of Solomon’s Temple
in Jerusalem in 1 Kings 7:11. The
similarity shows that Jeroboam
may have been peering over the
shoulder of Solomon’s architects
during the time he served as one of
the king’s officials.
Sitting on the steps of the shrine,
you’ll see the foundation of a large
altar that was discovered. It once
had the raised corners that gave
this type of sacrificial structure the
name “horned altar.” A statuette of
the goddess Ashtoreth was found in
this area, which continued to serve
as a ritual site down through the
time of the Greeks, who conquered
the land in the early fourth century
BCE. Here, among many other
finds, Professor Biran unearthed
proof of the identification of the site
– an inscription in Greek that reads,
“to the god that is at Dan.”
Next, you’ll pick your way along
the ancient paving stones to the
elaborate Israelite-era gateway,
which you’ll hear was probably
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built in the 10th century BCE by
Jeroboam, together with a huge
fortress. This fortified structure
indicates that the breakaway king
probably wanted to make Dan not
only a cultic center for the northern
tribes by setting up a golden calf,
but his administrative capital, as
well. This gate, rebuilt in the mid-
ninth century BCE, probably during
Ahab’s time, was attached to a
wall 16 feet thick. The area of the
outer gate includes a platform
where the king probably sat, as
the Bible describes David doing in
Jerusalem (2 Samuel 19:9). One of
the most memorable moments for
Dan visitors is when they choose
their own “king” (or queen) to sit
in the gateway. There’s always a
lot laughing and teasing during
the “coronation,” but it serves to
engrain the biblical stories told here
firmly in people’s minds.
The "Garden of Eden" at Tel Dan
In a wall bordering an ancient plaza
east of this gate, beneath debris
from the Assyrian destruction of
the town, an inscribed basalt stone
measuring about 12.6 inches by 8.6
inches was discovered in 1993. (Two
additional pieces of it were found in
1994.) Once part of a monumental
victory stele, it mentions the words
“house of David” for the first time
outside of the Bible. Scholars
think the unidentified writer of the
inscription, who says he killed Joram
(2 Kings 8:25) and Ahaziah (2 Kings
8:28), might have been Hazael, king
of Damascus (2 Kings 8:7-15).
Another gateway at Dan leaves
Abraham’s Gate people open-mouthed when they
find out it goes all the way back to the
time of Abraham. It contains one of
the earliest arches ever found in the
world, formed of mud-brick, which
rarely survives the ravages of time.
Here we let our imaginations take
over, remembering that Genesis
14:14 tells us Abraham pursued
the captors of Lot “as far as Dan,”
to picture Abraham standing at this
very gateway.
After a visit to Dan, the names of
the biblical leaders and their stories
will seem to jump off the pages of
your Bible, and you will possess, as
The high place Edward Robinson put it, “the exact
sense of scriptural record.”