High Place at Dan

A study of the biblical “Divided Kingdom” period is challenging, (1 Kgs. 11ff. and 2 Chron. 11ff.) to say the least. The 1st of Israel’s kings, Jeroboam, made several (unauthorized) changes in the pattern for worship that Yahweh had revealed (see our previous post here). Jeroboam’s motive was to solidify his power, and to prevent his subjects from going south to Jerusalem to worship, which he thought would likely cause their loyalty to shift.

At Dan it is possible today to see the site referenced so many times in scripture, that of the high place where Jeroboam placed his golden calf. cf. 1 Kings 12:30: “Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one [golden calf] at Dan.” “This event became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to blot it out and destroy it from off the face of the earth” (13:34). Reference is made to the sins of Jeroboam “which he committed and with which he made Israel to sin” (14:16).

Info Sign at High Place at Dan. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

View of the altar where sacrifices were offered. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

Steps leading up to the platform where the golden calf was enshrined. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

Click images for larger view.