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SPECIAL EDITION Volume IV No.11 Nicholas Scrolls February 2009 The
Land where GOD walked as a Man Part Five Shalom, brethren, friends and neighbors, Our journey continues through the
Part 5 will take us to the most
northern part of Tel
Dan Nature Reserve Traveling north again from our
hotel in Tiberias, we headed for the Tel Dan Nature Reserve. Northern Israel is
the richest part in flora and fauna and is also where three river systems feed
into the Until the 1967 “Six Day War,” the
Dan River was the The preservation of this
watershed is critical to Flora
and Fauna of the Dan Reserve Entering onto the well groomed
trail of the Reserve we were entreated to bird song coming from the tall trees
flanking both sides of the trail. A quick eye can see jay’s flying about.
Though difficult to spot, the trained ear can hear the chirping of Cetti
warblers nesting in the thickets and rarer is the sight of white wagtails which
sometimes nest on little islands situated within the tributaries of the Looking intently into the calmer
tributaries, one might catch a glimpse of little fish scurrying about called, Ancient
Dan formerly known as Laish Excavations originally began in
1966, led by Professor Avraham Biran. What he uncovered were the impressive
ruins of an ancient settlement complete with formidable stone walls, gates and
the site of Jeroboam’s transgression. The earliest known structures belong to
the Ceramic Neolithic Age at the beginning of the fifth millennium BC when the
Canaanite’s first settled here building a city. The city was populated between
2700 and 2400 BC. In the eighteenth century BC, during the middle Canaanite
period, an earthen glacis (mound forming an earthen wall) surrounded the city
protecting it for many centuries. This Tell or hill as we call it is identified
with the city of Though we did not get to visit
the museum at Beit Ussishkin, it is there where relics were uncovered from a
Mycenaean grave found at the Dan reserve. One such relic was a piece of
fossilized tablet dating back to the second half of the 9th century
BC. Carved on its surface is an inscription from Hazael, King of Ritual Site of the Golden Calf As we approached the infamous “High Place,” the path changes from a nicely groomed forest trail to a paved avenue made of the same kind of basalt stones we’ve seen used elsewhere in building construction. We’re told these very stones have served to mark this trail since the time of ancient monarchy – that is, what is recorded for us in the two Books of Kings. The larger stones are all original and some areas of the pathway containing smaller paving stones were added in recent times to restore millennia of wear and tear. We were literally walking on the same paving stones that were laid down after the 12th century BC. It is largely believed by archeologists that this area was generally inhabited by Israelites during the settlement period in the 12th century BC, a time before any of these existing structures and dwellings were built. The stone paved road takes you
all the way to the ritual site where Jeroboam lied to the children of A metal frame in the shape of an altar now stands where the original altar of sacrifice was constructed to give visitors and idea of the scale of such a construct. During the period this ritual site was being used, the same stone walls still standing to this day have withstood the ravages of time, wars and circumstance. It is understood that the early settlers added walls, stories, chambers and courtyards in various places opening up existing partitions. The original altar stood in front of a large platform made of finely chiseled stones. Near this area, archeologists discovered a round reservoir containing many animal bones dating back to the Hellenistic period. On the western side of this site, small altar rooms and priestly chambers were discovered containing a number of special implements used in the offering of incense. A stone wall built in the Hellenistic period surrounds the entire ritual site. Here, an inscription was found in Greek and Aramaic, “to the god who is in Dan.” Archeologists and scholars believe this site was used for ritual purposes until the Roman period. 1 Kings 12:27-29 “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 Just above this site is an old “command-post
outlook” used by the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1967 Six Day War. This
site overlooks the huge valley below showing The
Ancient Canaanite Gate Continuing along the stone paved
path, the trail turns back into the tree lined forest trail filled with birds
perched among the tree branches singing their lovely songs. Not far from the
ritual site we happen upon a great find; most probably This location could very well be
the place where Abraham passed through going into Sichem and Moreh. Genesis
12:6 “And
Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of
Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.” Other passages in
scripture also confirm this region to once have been the land of the Canaanites
who were eventually destroyed never allowed to be among those counted in the
House of the Lord. Zechariah 14:21 “Yea, every pot in Descending down the path past the Canaanite gate we pass “settlement pits” that archeologists have dug up discovering various tools and artifacts belonging to a sparse community generally thought to have been part of an Israelite settlement from the 12th century BC. Descending further we again start seeing massive sized structures built of large basalt stones leading to the main gate of an ancient Israelite city from the time of Ahab. Continuing toward the gate being careful not to twist our ankles (paving stones are very large and irregular) you are led to an observation platform which offers a view of the entire gate complex. Passing through the gate one notices a formidable threshold, stone door-step and the indentations where hinges were once located securing a massive sized doorway. All these are said to be original structure and are in remarkable condition. The gate appears to be almost indestructible by its dimension and thickness constructed from three pairs of beams. Passing through into a large court yard entirely paved with these large basaltic stones, you begin to marvel at the immense city wall standing as it has for many millennia. The wall was also built of large basalt stones topped with hewn travertine (limestone) blocks. Its no wonder these structures have survived so many millennia having been built to survive invading armies. To the left was a bench where it is said that here city elders sat and visiting delegations came making offerings to the king of the city. Much of this city and the massive wall was built during the first temple period. Settlement in the Dan Nature
Reserve spans several millennia of biblical history. Mentioned more than a
dozen times as a city in Old Testament passages, it became a place of forbidden
idolatry and transgression under the rule of Jeroboam. Note that the Tribe of Dan
were to be judged according to the Law just as the Tribes of Israel were so commanded.
Genesis 49:16 “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of In the end they all perished and were not counted as a member among the 12 Tribes of Israel. Thus they are not listed among the 144,000 (Rev. 7:5-8) that will become the Jewish remnant in the New Millennium when Christ will rule and reign in righteousness. Before boarding our bus and heading to Banias, our tour group meandered through an avocado grove adjoining the reserve. Though the fruit was not yet ready to eat, a number of our group shook tree limbs to gather some fresh avocados before jumping on board. Hermon
Stream Nature Reserve Traveling deeper into the north along highway 90 we saw open fields fenced and left unattended as we neared Banias. Hela, our tour guide tells us that many of these fields to the right or left of the highway along route 90 are still filled with active land mines left over from the Syrians during the 1967 War. She tells us that every once in a while a cow will wander off into these open fields and get itself pulverized by an old land mine; “Hamburger anyone?” We were now as close as we were going to get to the Syrian border and at one point we passed Syrian security check-point just feet from the roadway on our way out of Banias. If the knowledge of our being near active land mines wasn’t unsettling enough we were in for a real treat upon entering the Hermon Stream Nature Reserve at Banias. Upon arriving at Banias and disembarking our tour bus we saw several Israeli police and military vehicles parked right in front of the walk-in gate. I could see that one of the vehicles was a “Bomb Squad Unit” and with its back doors left open I could see one of those remote controlled robotic vehicles used by so many metro police and SWAT teams in our own country. Not being allowed to enter the Park we gathered near the entrance gate as park attendants informed us there has been a security bomb alert inside the park. The bomb squad was dispatched to investigate and minimize the threat. After about 30 minutes watching the heavily armored men run electrical cables from the gate to a place inside the park, attaching them to a control box, a warning was sounded, “Fire in the hole!” A boom went off and one of the officers proceeded back into the park where the threatening package was destroyed. Moments later he walked out carrying a ragged backpack, like any used by high school and college students in his left hand and two mutilated US Passports in his right hand. Oops! Evidently, some member of a tour
group had left his backpack behind in the park earlier that day. With the Hamas
rocket attack just 36 hours earlier in southern It is here where much of the As some of you will surmise, the
pagan worship of Pan in At the end of the 1st
century BC about the time that Jesus was born, the Romans annexed Paneas to the
Not much remains of the Matthew 16:17-19 Jesus answered and said unto 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 (Cephas), and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Despite what the Book of Mark indicates of Jesus’ travels, the early church fathers (Roman Catholic Church) identified this Paneas as the place where Jesus healed the “woman who had been subject to bleeding.” The early church fathers further claim that “In gratitude, the woman placed a statue of Jesus at the door of her house,” making this most probably the first statue of Jesus ever made. Bull-hockey, I say! You really have to watch those Catholics. They are so steeply entrenched into idolatry that they have to find ways to justify their many graven images. Though I disagree with the RCC position, it is worthy here to recount this miracle once again. Mark 5:25-34 And a certain woman, which had an
issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians,
and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew
worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his
garment. For she said, “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” And
straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body
that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself
that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said,
“Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said unto him,
Thou sees the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, ‘Who touched me?’ And
he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman
fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before
him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and
be whole of thy plague.” With the rise of Christianity
during the Byzantine era during the beginning of the 4th century AD,
Paneas began to change its character. The pagan worship of Pan came to an end
and the temples were abandoned. Yet the city continued to prosper and the Paneas declined to not much more
than village status after the Muslim conquest in the 7th century AD
but was again revitalized in the 10th century AD with Muslim waves
of immigration. Jews were also allowed to immigrate back into The
Crusaders and the Muslims The Roman Catholic Crusaders
regarded the location of Banias to be a natural border between their Kingdom in
After Saladin defeated the
Crusaders in 1187 AD at the Battle of Hattin, Banias declined in importance.
The Mamelukes did fortify the city but finally abandoned its fortress which was
then taken over by belligerent Bedouin chieftains. Banias was once again
reduced to mere village status and so it remained until the area was conquered
by the Israeli Defense Forces in the 1967 Six Day War. Shortly afterwards,
Israeli authorities began archeological studies of the area eventually
preserving it and turning it into the Nature Reserve it is today. For those of
you who are interested, I published an extensive Scroll detailing the history
of Leaving the Hermon Stream Nature
Reserve we stopped a short distance away at a Druze village to have lunch.
Druze villages are scattered all about northern A strategic stronghold for the
Israeli Defense Forces, Bentel is one of two mountains named after two brothers
that gave the IDF great advantage during their defeat of Syrian forces in the
1967 Six Day War. The mountain top was a stark contrast to the lush Reserves we
had just traveled from. It was windy, cold and rather unappealing as a tourist
stop. The view however was stunning and provided for clear vantage of occupying
forces and enemy encampments below. From the top, the famous “Road
to The perimeter of the mountain top was still surrounded by barbed razor wire and we toured through an impressive underground bunker system that protected Israeli forces from rocket attacks during their campaign. There was a small café and coffee shop located on the site and after walking around the perimeter of the mountain top viewing the relics of wars past and taking in the 360 degree view of the valley below, we stepped inside out of the cold to get a hot espresso before continuing our journey to Gamala. The Golan Heights is referred to
as the Gamala
Nature Reserve Gamala is located on a high
plains plateau above the There is a nicely groomed path
winding through the park that takes you past many flowering plants and grasses
as you proceed to the canyon site. Except for a scant number of scattered
building remnants used to decorate the pathway, there is not much to see in the
way of ancient ruins. There is however an abundance of wildlife here,
especially fowl. Many birds occupy the Gamala reserve. The largest among them
are the vultures. I had not seen so many vultures in one place since I was in
Ezekiel 39:17-18 “And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord
GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble
yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do
sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye
may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye
shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the
earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Gamala is also historically
significant for being the place where 5000 Jewish rebels plunged to their
deaths in 66 AD in order to escape capture by the invading Roman armies. It was
here under the Command of the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus that the Jews
held out for two years before being overcome. Similar to the fate of Jews at The trail leads to the canyon
crest where the Jews were said to have leaped to their deaths. The canyon walls
are very steep. The pitch of the slope at the top makes it impossible to get
close enough to see the bottom of the canyon. Down below one hears the
waterfalls and sees a rich forest fed by one of the tributaries leading to the Isaiah 34:14-15 “The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lie, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.” Thousands of Roman soldiers died during their assault on 9000 Jews at Gamala including women, children and infants holding out in a city construct which they built on the steep slopes of the canyon walls. This made it difficult for the Roman Garrisons to reach the Jews. Josephus records that the houses were built on steep precipices, one over the top of another. He records that as numbers of Roman and Syrian soldiers did gain entry into some of the upper houses, they collapsed under the weight of too many men, one house falling on top of another and so on down the steep canyon cliffs. The invasion though difficult, continued despite the heavy losses of Vespasian’s soldiers. A great wind stirred up during
this battle making it difficult for the Roman arrows to hit their targets but
also for the Jews scrambling upon the precipices for they too would loose their
footing falling to their own demise. The Romans, angry over the heavy losses
they were taking increased their rage and added to their numbers completely
surrounding the Jews. “A great number
also of those that were surrounded on every side, and despaired of escaping,
threw their children and wives, and themselves also down the precipices into
the valley beneath, which, near the citadel, had been dug hollow to a vast
depth; but so it happened that the anger of the Romans appeared not to be so
extravagant as was the madness of those that were now taken, while the Romans
slew but four thousand, whereas the number of those that had thrown themselves
down was found to be five thousand;… they spared not so much as the infants; of
whom many were flung down by them from the citadel. And thus was Gamala taken.”
Flavius Josephus – Wars of the Jews Last Night in Tiberias Disappointed that we did not get
to see Gamala this time, I reflected on my prior visit and shared with Renée
the best that I could what she missed at this site. On our exiting the Reserve,
we caught a better view of the forested canyon with its vertical steep cliffs
as the tour bus descended in elevation toward the This was going to be our last
night in Tiberias so after dinner, Renée and I went down to the lobby to visit
my friends who own and run the gift shops. I let her barter for a reasonable
price on selected jewelry but later we found out that the diamond was zirconia
which didn’t please my daughter. By then it was too late to exchange for we were
already in END Part Five With all Sincerity and love for the truth and my scattered brethren abroad, Nicholas A. Stivers – a humbled God-fearing disciple, scribe and messenger |