The Golan Heights

Leaving our resort, our first stop was at the ruins of a Byzantine church in Kursi, one of the three spots suggested to be Gergasa, the place in the Gerasenes where Jesus drove the demons out into the pigs. Two other sites have been identified as having possibly been Gergasa, but the caves above this spot and the fact that it is closest to the lake and the steepest slope into the lake, make this spot the most plausible. Gergasa was part of the Decapolis - a coalition of non-Jewish cities, mostly located in the Golan Heights and Gilead. Reading through the story and comparing it to other miracle stories, it's interesting that when Jesus is surrounded by Jews, he instructs the healed person not to tell anyone how they were healed, but this man, surrounded by Gentiles, is told to tell everyone!

Heading up away from the coast and into the Golan, we came to Gamla. We didn't walk to the ruins, only to the overlook (where we sat listening to the Israeli tanks practice firing artillery). The city was settled on the southern slope of the hill between the third and second centuries BC. During the Great Revolt, the Romans attacked the city and the people tried to flee by jumping from roof to roof. The roofs started to collapse, killing more soldiers than died in the battle. The battle ended with the people jumping of the steeper side and committing suicide (though this was recorded by Josephus, who ends every battle with the losers committing suicide). We walked back to the bus along the canyon rim, watching the vultures which have been re-introduced to the area. I found the whole area of Golan to be really pretty - wildflowers everywhere! Given the abundance of grasses, it's no wonder at where the strong bulls, fattened animals, and cows of Bashan statements came from.

We saw the tanks we had been hearing on the side of the road as we headed to our next stop, Mt. Bental in the Volcanic Park Garden. This overlook contains an old Israeli bunker which we could explore and a good view over the Syrian border and also of Mt. Hermon in Lebanon. We were only 60 km from Damascus, so talked a bit about Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus while overlooking the area where it probably took place. At the time, the Christians were worshipping in the synagogues - Christianity still being viewed as a sub-branch of Judaism, not it's own religion. Therefore, before going into the synagogues to "correct" the people, Paul had to go to the High Priest for permission to go into the synagogues in order to give him the authority he required to discipline believers.

Heading west, we came to Banias, which Herod Philip had called Ceasarea Philippi. Originally, it was called Panias, after the god Pan (god of forests and shepherds), but the people who settled here later couldn't pronounce the "p" so it became a "b". A cave with a spring supplying water for the Jordan was the site of Pan worship, and later, Herod built a palace and temple to Augustus in the area. This is the place where Simon's name is changed to Peter. The story begins with Jesus asking his disciples who people said the "son of man" was. There are three ways this term can be interpreted - as a human being, as a polite way to refer to oneself (the meaning Jesus was most likely using), or as an angelic or messianic figure. After Simon gives his response (the Christ), Jesus renames him Peter (meaning rock), and tells him that "on this rock [he] will build [his] church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." The "gates of Hades" (or hell) is often thought, and taught, to be another name which was used by the Jews to refer to the cave at Ceasarea Philippi, but there is no objective historical evidence to support this assumption. We then moved on to the statement "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." We often don't understand the meaning of that statement, but given that bound means it's forbidden and loosed means it's allowed, Jesus was giving the disciples permission to create oral commandments.

We then drove to Dan, along the practical border with Lebanon - a fence separating the road from the minefield (the first time I've seen "Danger! Mines!" signs tied to a fence). After Solomon's death, the people asked his son, Rehoboam, to reduce their taxes - at the time, the Israelites were required to give one month of service per year to the King, while the Canaanites had to give 3 months of service per year. When Rehoboam replies, saying that he will tax more than his father, he sends the guy who was in charge of the Canaanite tax. The people revolted, and Israel was divided into the northern kingdom (which continued to be called Israel) lead by Jeroboam and Judah, ruled by Rehoboam. Jeroboam doesn't want his citizens going to Jerusalem to worship, so he builds two high places - one at Bethel and one at Dan - and erects golden calfs for the people to worship. It seems like a quick switch in allegiances to go from worshipping God to worshiping an idol in the form of a golden calf (which we tend to assume is Baal), but that isn't exactly what it was. It's the same as when Aaron made the golden calf for the Israelites in the wilderness. In Baal worship, the golden calf is what Baal stands on - Baal is the figure ON the calf. So when Aaron, and later Jeroboam, made the calf without a figure standing on it, he isn't calling the calf a god, but pointing out the place where he decided God should dwell. That is why after Aaron made the golden calf in the wilderness, he declared a festival to God! The Ark of the Covenant uses similar imagery - between the wings of the angels, God met the Israelites. Jeroboam simply returned to Israel's past roots and used a calf to symbolize where God resided. Jeroboam and Israel didn't turn away from God, but from the traditional worship of God (which was still a sin). The prophets never preached against Bethel and Dan (Hosea mentions it, but it isn't the main message) and the criticism we read usually comes from the books of Kings, which were written by the southern kingdom. In later years, the names of the people in the northern kingdom continue to have Yahwistic roots, so they probably continued to follow God, even if their methods of following him were wrong.

After walking past the ancient, mud-brick gates, we headed back to the resort and spent the evening swimming in the lake and watching the sunset - a nice relaxing way to end a busy day.