Hazor, Caesarea Philippi, and Dan

Today we went to the Biblical sites of Hazor, Caesarea Philippi, and Dan. Hazor is a city located north of the Sea of Galilee, and is also credited with being completely destroyed by Joshua in the Bible. Though a burn layer was found, supporting the idea of destruction, there was also Canaanite remains found above the burn layer which suggests that the city wasn't completely destroyed. This is also the location of 1 of 3 '6 chambered gates' that are thought to be built by Solomon. There may be Scriptural evidence of Solomon creating the city, but there is a very noticeable lack of physical evidence of that fact. There is actually very little physical evidence of either David, or Solomon existing, so the thought of Solomon creating Hazor would built support for the existence of the two. Within Hazor we also found an example of a typical 4 room house that the Israelites would have lived in, which helped us get a better understanding about how life might have worked. There were also some storage rooms/stables that were unearthed just inside the gate. Scholars cannot agree as to whether these store rooms were always just used to store foods and other things, or if they were also at some point used as stables like has been seen at other sites. Underneath a covering from the sun we were able to see a reconstructed mud brick wall that was found in the city. See the reconstruction helped us to see how simple things were back then and how people lived.

After Hazor we went to Caesarea Philippi, which gets it's name by it builder, Philip. This city is also the location of the famous Confession of Christ as Messiah by Peter found in Matthew 16, and also the Transfiguration as found in Matthew 17. Aside from this, Caesarea Philippi was also the location of a cultic temple, the Temple of Pan; this is how the city got it's other name, Panias. Along with being the location of a cultic temple, the city was also right next to two neighboring kingdoms, the Ptolemies and Seleucids. Within the area Caesarea Philippi showed it's importance though by also being the place where springs flowed.

Dan was the last place we traveled to today. Dan is known as the northern most city in Israel, and has also proven to be an important place. Another mud brick formation was found in this location as well, though this time it wasn't a wall but an entire city gate. The gate had been filled in though, apparently because it was dysfunctional. The famous Tel Dan Inscription was also discovered here. This inscription was a tablet of propaganda from the King of Damascus, which was not well received in Dan. This can be concluded by the fact that the tablet was found flipped over and used as a paving stone for a walkway. Three pieces were ultimately found, and each piece helped find he dig for a few more years but to date no new pieces have been found. Dan too was the location of a cultic temple built by Jeroboam 1. This temple is 1 of only 2 temples, outside of Jerusalem, to follow the Levitical laws stated in the Bible completely; the second is found in Bethel.   The presence of cold running water throughout the area that has, in modern times, been pooled into a wading pool would have been a necessity in temperatures that regularly go above 100 degrees. Our very own Brian Bernius has had the pleasure of digging at this location twice over the years.

Though we are still learning, everyday is one step closer to us gaining a clearer picture to how things were in ancient Biblical times. May God continue to move in and though us.