Field trip to Tel Dan

A large number of families from the Israelite tribe of Dan relocated during the 12th C from the central region of Israel to the area around the Canaanite city of Laish. The area on the foothills of Mt. Hermon was a perfect place and is situated in the area known as the Galilee Panhandle. The Bible tells how 600 families of the Dan tribe looked for a substitute for their location in the center of Israel, by sending 5 spies to the Canaanite city (Judges 18 1-2): "...in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valor... to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land".

They later captured the city (Judges 8 27): "and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire".

The Israelites renamed the city to Dan (Joshua 19 47): "And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father". After their conquest, this set Israel's borders from Dan to Beersheba. Archeology has yielded evidence of the Danites' conquest, of the "House of David," and of Jeroboam's idolatrous altar.

Lead by Dr. Allred, we hiked the trail to the area.

To the west is the southern part of Mount Lebanon; to the east and north are the Hermon mountains. Melting snow from the Hermon mountains provides the majority of the water of the Jordan River, and passes through Dan, making the immediate area highly fertile. The lush vegetation that results makes the area around Dan seem somewhat out of place in the otherwise arid region around it.

Photo: fig tree.

The Dan River is a tributary of the Jordan River and is named after the city of Dan. Although it is only 12 miles long, its flow provides water to the Hulah Valley.

The sources of the river are multiple springs emerging from Tel Dan along underground fault lines.

At the foot of Mount Hermon, Laish/Dan controlled the headwaters of the Jordan River, as well as an east-west trade route between Tyre and Damascus.

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Photo: Idolatrous alter built by Jeroboam, Israel's first king following the division (1Kings 12:25-33).

Archeologist, A. Biran, found the remains of Jeroboam's altar and high place. For the prophet Amos (8:14), Dan thus became a symbol of apostasy.

In 1966, the Dan River was a cause of dispute between Israeli water planners and conservationists. The result was a conservation project of about 120 acres at the source of the river called the Tel Dan Nature Reserve. Due to its location close to the border with Syria and Lebanon at the far north of the territory which fell under the British Mandate of Palestine, the site has a long and often bitterly contested modern history, most recently during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Photo: bunker.

Photo: Garth and Kathy both bonked their heads in the bunker . . . ouch!

Photo: Garth and Kathy with students.

This is an arched, mud-brick gateway perhaps dating to about the time that Abraham pursued Lot's kidnappers to Dan in order to rescue him. Genesis 14:14 The Middle Bronze gate was preserved when the gate went out of use and was buried under a later phase of the rampart of the city.

II Samuel 19:8: And the king arose and sat in the gate . . . and all the people came before the King. Ruth 4:1-2: Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there . . He then took ten men of the elders of the city and said, 'Sit ye down here. And they sat down." (Ruth 4: Boaz takes Ruth to wife --Ruth bears Obed, through whom came David, the King.)

REVIEW: Abraham pursued Lot's kidnappers to Dan. (Gen 14:14)

The Tribe of Dan conquered its new inheritance in the north. (Josh 19:40-48)

The expression "from Dan to Beersheba" marked Dan as Israel's northern border. (1 Kings 4:25)

Jeroboam set up an altar at Dan. (1 Kings 12:25-33)

1 Holyoak 8:09: And the Lord said, thou shalt, Garth of Burley, take thee a wife . . . and her name is Kathleen from the land of BYU.

1 Holyoak 8:10: And Garth obeyed the Lord and found his Kathleen and the girls of Jerusalem jumpeth with joy!