Day 6

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Day 6 started at 7:oo am sharp that morning as we made our way to Hakovshim Bistro for breakfast before we parted to the ancient city of Dan. We ordered schnitzel and mashed potatoes, shawarma and rice. And to make things better, their coffee was excellent. The ancient city of Dan was a two hour and ten minute drive. The city of Dan, located in upper Galilee near the Golan Heights and the border with Lebanon, was originally a Canaanite city called Laish before the Israelite tribe of Dan conquered it and changed the name. I was going over a few facts before we made it to Dan. On our way I noticed signs going to Nazareth, Tiberius and other names I remembered from the Bible. At 11:oo am we finally made it to Dan and we met our tour guide who planned on giving us a brief history of Dan before we began. Mentioned in the Mari archive in a trade document, Laish, later named Dan, was visited by Abraham (Genesis 14:14) in the Middle Bronze Age. Dan is also mentioned in the Egyptian Execration texts from this same period. The city was a major trading center in ancient times, as is indicated by its position at one of the main sources of the Jordan river, on the trade route between Tyre and Damascus, its mention in text from both Mari and Egypt, and the imported objects from Greece and Cyprus in the Late Bronze Age. After being a Canaanite stronghold for centuries, Dan was conquered, destroyed, and burned by the Israelite tribe of Dan during the latter half of the period of the Judges. According to 1 Kings 12:26-31, King Jeroboam constructed golden calves and high places at the cities of Bethel and Dan in about 920 B.C. Archaeologists discovered a high place at Dan in the northwestern part of the city, dated to the 10th century B.C. on the basis of pottery. This was a corrupt form of worship, demonstrating the religious syncretism of the Northern Kingdom. This city was destroyed in the middle of the 9th century B.C., which probably corresponds to the conquest of Dan and other cities by the commanders of Ben-Hadad in 1 Kings 15:20. The excavated gateway was incredible at Dan. Excavations have found ancient precincts where shrines were made to fertility gods during the reign of King Jeroboam. The walls of Dan were heavily made and well constructed. As we neared the end of our tour, we thanked our guide and headed back to the car. This was one of the longest tours we had as we got to see different areas of Dan and we learned the details of the ancient city. We made our way back to Tel Aviv to prepare for dinner on our last night here in Israel as our flight would leave tomorrow evening. We arrived at a place called Pappas, a couple miles from our hotel. The restaurant consisted of Italian and Mediterranean food. I ordered the carbonera which was delicious. After we discussed some of the highlights of our trip, we headed back to the hotel around 8:45 pm that evening. We turned in and prepared for our last day in Israel.

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