by Pastor Patrick Cho
This morning, we had a chance to visit Bethsaida, another significant biblical town. In the Old Testament, this city was called Geshur. This is where Absalom fled after killing Amnon and avenging his sister Tamar (2 Sam. 13:37-38). We had a chance to walk into the ruins of the Old Testament city. Sadly, at the entrance to the gate, there were some standing stones and an altar to Baal.
In the New Testament section of Bethsaida, there were a couple very large homes. One belonged to a fisherman and the other to a winemaker. In the winemaker’s home, archaeologists discovered a wine cellar. It was odd to see a fisherman’s home in Bethsaida because the city is almost two miles from the Sea of Galilee. It would have been quite a chore walking down to the water, catching fish, and hauling the catch back home each day.
Bethsaida was originally the hometown of Peter and Andrew before they moved to Capernaum. It is feasible that they moved because Capernaum is right on the water and not two miles away. Besides, business would have been considerably better in Capernaum. Bethsaida is also the biblical location of the feeding of the 5000, but one of Jesus’ most interesting miracles took place in this city as well. In Mark 8:22-26, Jesus heals a blind man in two stages. At first, his sight was blurred but then he was healed completely. The text doesn’t explicitly say why Jesus did not immediately heal the man, but at the time there must have been a clear teaching point or reason.
From Bethsaida, we drove up to Hazor (pronounced “hot-sore”), which is another major city on the International Coastal Highway. Hazor is actually the largest uninhabited tel in Israel (almost 200 acres), and most of the city has not yet been excavated. There is a classic example of a four room Israelite house that was discovered along with an oil press with stone weights and basins. There was also a very impressive palace in the city. It was said that in ancient days, the Babylonian ambassador lived in this city, so it was a significant place.
Biblically, Joshua defeated Hazor during the time of conquest when Jabin was its king (Josh. 11:11). This was one of the three cities that the Israelites destroyed (Jericho and Ai are the other two). As we walked around the walls of the city, we could see clear signs of burning. Later in the period of the Judges (about 200 years later), Hazor was the city that Deborah and Barak defeated under a different Jabin’s rule (Judg. 4). Archaeologists say that the ashes found in the palace were three feet deep, and because of the massive quantities of olive oil found, it may have heated up to 2000 degrees!
We left Hazor and drove up to Tel Dan, which is one of the northernmost cities in Israel. (Earlier in the trip, we were at Eilat, which is a port city on the southernmost tip of the country.) In the Old Testament, this area was referred to as Laish before the Danites relocated here (Judg. 18:27-29). In an act of covenant treachery, the tribe of Dan resettled in the north, taking land that was not part of their divinely appointed inheritance.
Sadly, in the divided monarchy, this was also one of the locations that Jeroboam set up a high place and altar for sacrifice. He placed golden calves at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28-30). We had a chance to take a gorgeous hike up to the high place where we saw the foundation stones of the altar. It was gigantic. The altar itself would have been at least ten feet tall! I tried to imagine all the people who would have made a pilgrimage here to bow down and worship before a golden idol.
Dan was also where archaeologists discovered a Middle Bronze Age gate, which dated to about the time of Abraham. The Book of Genesis says that when Lot was taken into captivity, Abraham went as far as Dan to rescue him (Gen. 14:14). We can’t know for sure, but Abraham might have walked through that gate. Unlike stone gates that were built later, this one was constructed with mud bricks. There was a giant canopy built over the site to help protect it from the elements.
Our last stop for the day was at Caesarea Philippi, also known as Panias or Banias. This was a city built by Herod Philip II, which he dedicated to Caesar. In the city, there was a massive multi-temple site dedicated to the gods Pan, Zeus, and Nemesis. The city is surrounded by considerable natural beauty with cascading waterfalls and a gorgeous spring. It’s no wonder that the largest temple was dedicated to Pan, the god of the forest. Interestingly, Caesarea Philippi is the location of Peter’s great confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). This is interesting because the massive cave where Pan’s temple was located was said to be the gateway to Hades (cf. Matt. 16:18). Jesus may have used it to illustrate His point.
We ended our day with a play stop at the fortress at Nimrod. This was an old fortress built by the Muslims from the time of the Crusades. It was a giant, impressive fortress up on a very high hill, and it even had a secret passageway. We had about half an hour to run around the castle and have fun. One of the men from our group found an arrowhead that was probably used during the Crusades. Even though the fortress is called Nimrod, the biblical person named Nimrod did not establish it (Gen. 10:8). It was constructed much later. Even though it had no biblical significance, it was a fun stop nonetheless.