The City of Dan

After Moses died on Mt. Nebo, Joshua led the sons of Israel into the Promised Land. The book of Joshua records the conquest and division of Canaan among the various tribes of Israel. The allotted land for the tribe of Dan was a section located between those portions allotted to Ephraim (to the north), Judah (to the south), and Benjamin (to the east) and included today’s Tel Aviv. However, Joshua 19:47 says, “But the Danites had difficulty taking possession of their territory, so they went up and attacked Leshem (or Laish), took it, put it to the sword and occupied it. They settled in Leshem and named it Dan after their forefather. These towns and their villages were the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, tribe by tribe.” A more detailed account of this venture is given in Judges 18. Here we see that the tribe of Dan “went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city.” (Judges 18:27) Then “the Danites rebuilt the city and settled there. They named it Dan after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel – though the city used to be called Laish.” (Judges 18:28) They immediately set up idols for themselves and although the city remained occupied by the Danites until the time of the Assyrian conquest and destruction around 720 bce, there is no reason to believe that they ever worshiped the God of their forefathers in the manner that was laid out in the Torah of Moses.

The archeological site of Tel Dan is very well-preserved. The stone walls of the city are still very visible along with the city gates. There is also a well-preserved “high place,” likely the site of many pagan rituals and sacrifices. When the Kingdom of Israel was divided after the reign of Solomon in about 930 bce, the first king of the northern kingdom (then called Israel) was Jeroboam I. He feared that if his subjects continued to travel south to Jerusalem three times a year, which was required by the Torah, that he would lose control of them. So he copied elements of the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and built temples in two cities in the north where his subjects could go worship. One of these cities was Beth El and the other was Dan. He made two golden calf idols and set up one in each city, clearly in rebellion to God and His Word.

Dan was (is) the northern most city in Israel, about 50 miles due north of the Sea of Galilee (or Kenneret). The ruins of Dan are located in the Golan Heights, about 25 miles from both Lebanon and Syria today. The area is stunningly beautiful, with lush green trees and grasses and the Dan River, a tributary of the Jordan River, running through it. It sits on a hillside overlooking the green Hula Valley, a stop over location for millions of migratory birds. Today, Tel Dan is probably more well-known as a nature reserve than it is as an archeological site. A visit to Tel Dan, along with other sites in the Golan Heights and the Hula Valley, is well worth the time and can be a very pleasant experience.