In the Shadow of Mount Hermon
Not in the shadow of, exactly—we spent most of our day Thursday with a spectacular view of Mount Hermon as we made a large circle up the Golan Heights, to Gamla, then to Mount Ben-Tal, then over to Caesarea Philippi and to Tel-Dan.
But let me back up. I mentioned our hike to Magdala and the beautiful modern church there. Here are some photos of the church:
So on Thursday morning we had a bit of breakfast, then piled into the car (without luggage!) for a short drive up to Gamla Nature Reserve. I’ve been there once before, but did not get to where I wanted. Gamla was a Jewish town on a spur from the Golan Heights (first century Gaulanitis) that overlooked the Sea of Galilee in the distance. The notoriety today comes from Josephus’s account of their defense of the city against the Romans in the Jewish War of AD 66-70. Apparently they held off the Romans for several days, but in the end flung themselves off of the cliffs when defeat was inevitable.
The Gospels never indicate Jesus went there, but along with Hippos/Susita, could be Jesus’s reference to a “city on a hill” in the Sermon on the Mount.
The excavations revealed a first century synagogue, along with those at Masada and Magdala, one of the earliest synagogues in Israel we are aware of (there is evidence of first century synagogue at Capernaum too). There are certainly many more (the Gospels and Acts mention numerous ones), but these give an idea of their layout and construction. The hike down and back up was rugged but fun.
From Gamla we went north to Mt. Ben-Tal and looked over into Syria, just a few miles to the north and east. Prior to 1967 Ben-Tal and the entire Golan Heights belonged to Syria, but they lost the region at that point. The pass between Mt. Ben-Tal and Mt. Hermon was likely the route Paul was heading to Damascus when he encountered his vision of Jesus.
One of the amazing features of all the north end of Israel is the massive amount of agriculture, especially temperate fruit like apples and cherries, possible from the water available and the high altitude. As we continued our trip the terraced hill-sides were brimming with fruit trees, then at lower elevations changed to olive trees.
Our last two stops were related. Both were large springs from which the Jordan originated.
First Banyas.
Banyas is the current name of Paneas or better known as Caesarea Philippi. This spot has an enormous spring flowing out from the the mountain and the spring apparently flowed straight out of a cave in the ancient period. Over several hundred years numerous temples were built on the site, mostly to honor Pan (hence Paneas). Herod the Great built a temple honoring Caesar Augustus, and his son Philip named the city Caesarea (hence Caesarea Philippi). Agrippa II (the one Paul made his defense before) made this his capital.
We, of course, remember this place primarily for Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah, Son of God. Where exactly that confession took place no one knows, but Jesus’s reference to the “gates of Hades” in Matt 16:18 could be an allusion to the spring cave as an entrance to the underworld, thus a reference to death and all of the pagan myths surrounding Hades.
Our next stop was Tel Dan, site of the ancient city of Laish, which became Dan when the tribe of Dan migrated there in the time of the judges. The most striking feature of the site are the massive gushing springs from the foot of Mount Hermon that produces 250 million cubic meters of water a year
But historically there are several other notable sights: first, the Israelite King Jeroboam declared this a cult site and a golden bull was set up here as well as a temple and a huge altar. Second, two large city gates have been excavated, one from the Middle Bronze Age (time of Abraham) and one from the Iron Age (Israelite Kingdom). Finally an inscription featuring the phrase “house of David” was discovered here during excavations.
That was a long day (and drive) but well worth it. We have now seen the land “from Dan to Beer-Sheba.” One of the notable observations is the movement from absolute desert in the south to the lush and agriculturally rich land to the north.
It is also easy to see why Jesus set up his primary ministry in the Galilee as a true cross-roads to the north, south, east, and west, and separated enough from Jerusalem to allow his preaching to flourish.
An Invitation
Are you interested in learning New Testament Greek? I will be teaching an intensive course with 50 hours of live instruction via Zoom from June to August. Please contact me at jack.painter@gmail.com or go to https://www.rightonmission.org/intro-to-new-testament-greek for more information. I would love to have you!
I am loving the photos and discriptions of these ancient/modern places.