Between Lebanon and Syria

Day 3. Today we visited the Tel Dan Archaeological Site and Nature Reserve. (What is a tel? Tel is the Hebrew word for "mound of ruins" and is descriptive of ancient sites that have been destroyed and rebuilt time and again by various conquerors through the centuries and ultimately formed a mound.) This must be one of the oldest cities around as one of the city gates found by archaeologists may have been in place when Abraham rescued Lot some 3800 years ago (Genesis 14:1-16). It is also one of the two places where Jeroboam placed golden calves in order to keep his rebellious kingdom shortly following the death of Solomon in 930 BC (1 Kings 12:25-33).


After Tel Dan, we visited a place today known as Banias, but in the time of Jesus was known as Caesarea Philippi. This is the spot where Peter made his great confession that Jesus is "The Christ, the Son of the living God." But being in Banias brings a whole new context to the story. You see, Caesarea Philippi was the center of worship of the Greek god Pan and at this site is a cave that was considered to be the only entrance to the underworld – in Greek a place known as Hades. Read the story in Matthew 13:16-19 and consider the living God defending the Church and the world against the gates of Hades here at the entrance to Hades itself.