Tel Dan

"...the king made two calves of gold..and he put one in Beth-El. And the other put he in Dan." 1 Kings 12:28-29

Here you see the sacred precinct built by Ahab. Under  the altar (the metal structure stands on the foundations of Ahab's altar), you can make out the bottom of Jeroboam's altar.  After Solomon's reign his kingdom split into Yehudah and Yisra'el. Jeroboam son of Nabat headed the northern kingdom and in Dan he built a temple. Subsequent temples were (re)built in the same spot.

Photo:Temple; © 2003 Mark Dulick

While Tel Dan brings the Bible to life better than virtually any other archeological site, it also sits on the springs of the Dan River offering some stunningly beautiful walks.

"Yarden" (Hebrew for Jordan) means "to go down from Dan" thus making the Dan the source of the Jordan.

All this on the border of Lebanon and, before 1967, Syria as well. Here you can walk over the tel, follow the lush trails along the flowing waters and creep through the trenches once used by the Israeli army.

You can even climb Winnie the Pooh's tree, as did Jeffrey Chinsky and his son Josh (at the top) and Josh's three fellow students at the Hebrew University.

Tree on Trail;© 2005 Jeff Abel

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