Cesarea Phillipi....and Tel of Dan.

At the time when the land was divided by tribes, this land was given the name of Dan. It is recorded in the book of Judges.  The area was originally held by Canaanites. The people were from Crete. The whole area of Israel is considered the panhandle of Galilee. The earliest of maps of that area shows that the Dan assignment by God extended far above where the present country line. The city of Tyre was in Israel and it is now in Lebanon.

The area has had a Jewish presence for many more years, earlier than the Muslim who claimed that it was their land. Their religion had not been invented yet. There are two large springs that spill out large amounts of water from the surrounding mountains, making the whole area park-like with deciduous trees.

The stone railing is built up to the small river's making it a pleasant place to walk. You can see the cattails growing in the stream along with other water plants. You can hear rapids from different parts of the river.

The streams build up and become the headwaters of the Jordan River.  The river is a major source for water to all of Israel as it travels all the through the Sea of Galilee and beyond.

At the side of this park area is Mount Hermon.  It is a range of mountains along the stream. In a area at the base of the mountain near there is a site of a palace in ruin. It has been there for thousands of years. 

 

At the site of the palace are carvings of niches along with a cave. The niches were created to hold false gods, idols. for people to worship.  The Jewish people were influenced at the time that they lived there.  One of the idols that your are familiar with would be golden calves and wooden Baals.  The Jewish people were familiar with this kind of worship as they saw it being done in Egypt.  So the people in the area who were not Jewish encouraged this type of beliefs and the  Jewish people joined in to the practice.

The practice of idol worship got the Jewish people  throughout Israel into trouble with their God and he allowed the Babylonians drag them off into slavery.The land became vacant and different wandering desert tribes moved in to the  area.

When you first see the carved niches in the mountain you do feel that something special was placed into them. The Jewish people changed their people's fate for quite a few years before they were really able to return in 1949. It was more than 2,000 years.

As we left this area we were bused a few miles south to go on a walking tour up in the hills of Dan. As we meandered through a lot of forest to go the two sites, we crossed bridges that went over the Jordan River.

My point that the springs put out a lot of water is proven here by seen all of the water rushing out of the area.

While on the hill of the Tel of Dan we find this gate.  It was a part of a walled-in area that controlled who was allowed to enter.  The whole piece is so fragile that the canopy was built to protect it from the weather. This whole area was another time period from the many different sets of people who lived in the area. When the   Jewish people first lived here their were Crete people who did not build the different things up on this hill.

I have seen tourist spots on the net showing that the doors do open.  I imagine there is just ruins of walls behind them.

The stairs are really rugged remains of what were probably smooth steps at one time.

Walking further up the hill is another time period where a king of the area, not Jewish, who would sit here at the gate and count his livestock as they passed by him.

In the same area you can see the remaining walls of the walled city area. The stones place on the ground could have been original ones but then they were filled in so the road would be smooth. These rocks were very difficult to walk on. It is interesting to see that the Jordon River is keeping things growing in the area with deciduous trees. Israel is more desert than this so the river really helped make things grow, including grass.

Further up on the hill is another generation of a civilization.  King Herod build a worship center here hoping it would compete with the Temple in Jerusalem.  He didn't want the people in Northern part of the country to travel down to Jerusalem.  The ironic part of this area was that false gods were worshiped here instead of God. The king thought it would maybe dilute down the worship of God for other gods that the  Jewish people saw being worshiped in Egypt.  Three of the last photos were used from a web site called BiblePlaces. com.  It is a good place to visit to see all of Israel.

Northern Israel......the Journey.

As we drive north to the top of the country we see many orchards of oranges and lemons. There are a lot of figs and dates grown in this desert and as the Israel farmers learned how to irrigate. When the State of Israel was established in 1949 the people already knew they had to learn how to adapt to the desert.  They discovered that there was a lot of water underground but it was saltwater from the Mediterranean.  They learned how to irrigate with drip hoses and how to use the saltwater to water their crops.  They also had a system to take out the salt.  By trial and error they learned to slowly drip water on their trees and crops and they grew quickly from that.

The directional signs often has the names of cities that were named in the bible. We did eventually go to Tiberias but that was where our hotel was going to be that night, on the Sea of Galilee.

There is a lot of history as we ride along the roads. All of Israel became in a country when God sent the former Jewish slaves into the land. The only other people ever to live there were Cananites. They had a  direct  anncestory to the people of Create. The Jewish people were told to move in and take over.  The land remained a Jewish country until the Romans started to invade the area. The Roman's  goal was to kill all of the Jewish people or send them away.  At that time a Roman king decided to name it Palestine.  It was a name to insult the Jewish people as the root meaning of Palestine meant a title from the Philistines. The Philistines were arch enemies of the Jews and the king wanted the land to have a distasteful sound to the Jews.

The Jewish people ended up being scattered out of the land, leaving it a desert land of Roman buildings. Any Arab group that started to move in, liied in tents and built no buildings. The Jewish people were driven out for 2000 years. Lebenon formed into a country north of the land and Jordan also formed into the country they are today east of the land. Syria to the northeast of the Jordan country. It was a lot of the land then called Palestine.

The Jews that were exiled did survive and create groups in northern Africa and all other parts of the world. Because of the practice of the Holoaost,  the world took notice.and it is one of the reasons for World War 2, which was to stop the killing of them in Europe.  In 1948 the State of Israel was established through the United Nations and the Colony that England held, was turn over to the  Jewish nation.  Of course it was not welcomed by all the surrounding countries and Israel had to fight for a whole year to get itself onto the land.

Back to today's time we are traveling by a kibbutz  established through time to place cities in northern Israel. Because of Lebanon continual dislike of the Jewish people and the establishment of the country 70 years ago, frequent missiles are sent into to these places.

The people of Israel really have created their own oasis lands with there technology with water.

The trees are planted in some of the areas to help stop the enemies from shooting farmers who are working in the fields.  If they can see them they do shoot at them.

The creation of the cities are a creative work as they set up a civilization in a desert.

The structures built in northern Israel are built with a foot thick or more of concrete.  Every building has a bomb shelter if or when needed.

They are modern looking cities with businesses and grocery stores to make the city work.

Modern filling stations and grocery stores are seen from the highway. Thins are not so Americanized as much as they build in modern design. There are no franchises here from any other country.

The land is a perfect place for orchards when irrigated, with many acres of trees. Some crops are grown under netting like tomatoes and vine plants. The hills are the ones that sit in Lebanon, the northern most edge of Israel.

A photo taken from the bus shows the trees planted to keep sniper fire from killing or wounding farm workers.  I was hoping too that they didn't shoot at tour buses. I guess that might damage their image if they kill world travelers.

Beyond here is the Golan.  It is called the Golan Heights by the Arabs but it is just the Golan. Jordan sits to the east of here and the strip of settlers in Golan continues to grow by leaps and bounds in population. The land is disputed even though it was always a part of the original land.  It is funny that the Arabs are jealous of it but have never ever built on it. When Jordan attacked Israel in 1967 their intent along with the Lebanon and Syria was to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth. Instead, Israel won the war that they did not start and they took back all of the land that was originally their land. Jordan up to that time was still holding Jerusalem and the Temple mount.

The land is of no value at first glance until it is cleared and an irrigation system is created. The soil is not perfect but it will grow many things.

The borders of the narrow part of Israel are continuously challenge. Rockets fly every once in a while into the farm land and Kibbutz towns to remind Israel is just not liked by them.

My next visit will be at the Tel of Dan, the utter most top part of Israel.