♪ (music) ♪
(Sergio) This week is a special week.
It is the birth week of Rhoda.
That's right. A birth week, not a birth day.
Because let's face it.
One day for a birthday is barely enough.
And this birth week was full of fun stuff.
We celebrated.
We built stuff.
Celebrated some more.
We traveled places.
Celebrated some more.
We ate lots of tasty food.
Celebrated more.
Drove to the northest point of Israel.
and celebrated a little more.
Spied over Lebanese Army vehicles.
And then celebrated some more.
But the funnest part of all
was visiting the ancient site of Tel Dan.
And that's where we're gonna take you today.
♪ (music) ♪
So this time, instead of telling you about this place,
we're gonna take you with us on a tour
with this guide book, as if you are here with us.
So, put on your hat, take a bottle of water,
and get ready for a walking tour.
Let's go.
(Rhoda) And we're gonna go up here.
We're gonna go to Ein Dan, the Dan Spring,
And then, we're gonna go to the high places, the high place,
and then to the other springs,
to the Ancient Dan, to the Israelite Gate,
We're gonna see a Canaanite Gate,
just all through, and then come back here.
So it's pretty cool. I look forward to that.
Don't you just wanna raft in there?
(Sergio) White water rafting!
So, we are at a crossroads.
(Sergio) And there is an ancient path...
- No ancient path. - (Rhoda) And a short path.
(Sergio) Which one do we choose, the ancient or the short?
The ancient. The righteous.
(Sergio) We're choosing to go left,
which also will lead us to that other side.
It's a loop,
so we're gonna come back to this place anyway.
We're again at a crossroads:
the short trail or the long trail,
so, we've decided we're gonna go up here,
go to Ein Dan, the Dan Spring,
go to the high places of worship,
then walk over through the ancient Dan
toward the Canaanite Gate, then see the Israelite Gate,
and then walk back through the wading pool
into the ancient Dan.
It's cold.
(Sergio) I bet that's what you would do guys, right?
Whoa, that's cold! Whoo.
So, just thinking about it,
this is such an important place to inhabit
because of the source of water.
(Sergio) This must be like negative 10 degrees Celsius,
below freezing point.
This spring produces
240 million cubic meters per year.
How is it not ice?
How is this not ice?
Is it ripe?
(Rhoda) So, this is a fig.
Figs are grown everywhere here.
They're one of the main fruits of Israel.
Look how beautiful that is from the inside.
It's God's intelligence in fruits.
It appears that its clean,
no ants or worms or spiders.
They're a beautiful, yummy fruit.
Mmm!
Okay, you gotta try!
Mmm!
- (Rhoda) Isn't that good?
That's so sweet. Is there more?
(Rhoda) No, you can't do that. It's actually against the law.
What?
(Rhoda) Well, we had to explain about it, but...
Yeah, run away. Run!
♪ (music) ♪
So, after the division of the kingdom,
Jeroboam built two high places of worship:
one in Bethel, and one in Tel Dan,
or in Dan back at the time.
So, when we read that passage, that Jeroboam built a high place
and built a golden calf there, and all kinds of worship,
we wonder: well, what did it look like?
Was it anywhere like the synagogue?
What did it looked like?
So, this is incredible, because right behind me
you can see the high place.
The metal frame is a reconstruction
of the size of the high place that they would have right here.
So they would get up here,
the high priest, whoever was going to make the sacrifice.
By the way, they found here bones of animals,
a huge, almost a burial site of bones.
You get up here,
and this would be the high place of sacrifice.
If you're wondering why there is a metal frame
instead of the original stones, where are they?
Well, because, in the later years,
they took the original stones of the high place
and they reused them in the construction of this village
and other places.
So they were used, they were moved around,
so we don't have them here today, they're missing.
They were able to reconstruct the approximate size
and the structure,
of what the high place would've looked like.
Can you believe, like...
these stones were touched by pagan worshippers
in the time of Jeroboam?
No. Mm-mm.
(Sergio) I almost have tears in my eyes
thinking that we are right here.
I've never been here before.
We are in a place where Jeroboam built the worship,
the worship of the high place, and it's still here today.
It was a sad event for Israel,
but having it here still standing today
is an incredible witness of the Biblical narrative
that it's all true...
and it's all here, in the land of Israel.
Yes.
(Sergio) And from the high place of Jeroboam,
we're gonna head up this little hill to see something really cool.
A jump, a huge jump in history.
This path leads to a lookout place,
a lookout place that was used by the Israelis
since the 1920s until the Six-Day War,
where they would use this spot right here
to spy over their enemies.
I'm going into the bunker.
(Rhoda) So, the pee-pee place.
♪ (music) ♪
(Sergio) A bed?
Here are the ruins of the ancient Dan.
This is where the Israelites used to live, the tribe of Dan.
(Rhoda) So, in II Samuel 19:8
it says about the king sitting at the gate
and the people go through the gate,
so we have the gate here.
And we're gonna go see the throne of the king
at the gate or the seat of the gate.
Welcome. What have you brought for me?
(Rhoda) Oh, hello King, I have an offering.
Is this like the shekel of the sanctuary?
(
Hmph. Out!
(Rhoda) You out...
Jeroboam.
This is the Canaanite gate, 18th century BC.
The Canaanites that were in the land...
this was their entrance to the city.
This is one of the oldest,
complete arches preserved in the world.
It's completely intact. It's incredible.
(Rhoda) (softly) It's beautiful.
I have chills all over my body seeing it.
So, Abraham used this gate to come into the land?
I'm gonna ask him one day.
Almost 4,000 years old.
Unbelievable.
Do you think the same brick that they had in there
would be the same type that Babel was used,
the Tower of Babel, to build it?
Wow, that's a neat thought.
It would be interesting to find out.
Yeah. It's man-made and the bricks are man-made.
Wow.
Hi, everyone!
I'm honored to share this birthday with Jim Dwyer and Paul Stoll
from The Superior Word Church in Sarasota.
Happy Birthday to both of you.
We love you and we miss you all
at the Superior Word over there.
And, anyone online who has a birthday this month,
Happy Birthday to you, and God bless you real good.
Until next time, I hope you enjoyed this video.
♪ (music) ♪
(fireworks exploding)