Day 4 - Dan: The Altar at Dan

We traveled north to the ancient city of Dan today. To my amazement, we were taken to the "high place" of Dan that King Jeroboam built back at the split of the kingdom in the 9th century BC. He set up an altar in Dan (in the far north) and another in Bethel (in the far south) in order to keep the northern tribes from going into the southern kingdom to worship at Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 12:25-33). There was a golden calf here and an altar (as you can see the metal scaffolding in this picture depicts). This was terrible idolatry which the Lord condemned and eventually provoked Him to have the northern kingdom carried off to captivity in 722 BC. I have been preaching through Hosea at church and the prophet mentions this very altar (Hos. 8)! By the way, in the distance behind me is Lebanon.