According to the book of Kings, after Solomon’s death Jeroboam led the ten northern tribes of Israel to secede. To prevent his subjects from making pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem, he
then set up two sanctuaries, one in the territory of Dan and another in Bethel—complete with golden calves, their own priests, and their own festival. Jonathan S. Greer explores what the archaeological record says about these sanctuaries:

[S]cholars have found subtle details suggesting that Jeroboam’s cult was traditional in nature [and may still have focused on the worship of biblical God]. His calves, many would argue, may be best understood as familiar Canaanite vehicles for the invisible deity enthroned above them. . . . His choice of the sites of Dan and Bethel, too, apparently reflected a sensitivity to honor venerable memories of a pre-monarchic past, [e.g., Jacob’s sojourn in Bethel recorded in Genesis]. . . .

On the one hand, excavations at the site of Tel Dan suggest a high degree of convergence between the finds and the biblical accounts. Excavations there have revealed a large Iron II [i.e., from the period between 1200 and 586 BCE] sacred precinct marked by temple-like architecture, cultic paraphernalia, the remains of what was likely a massive four-horned altar (based on comparative proportions, probably the largest in Israel), and animal-bone concentrations that suggest intensive sacrifice and sacred feasting. Further, many of the reconstructed practices of the Danite worshipers appear to be consistent with prescriptions found in biblical priestly texts.

Excavations at the site of Betin (which many identify as ancient Bethel), on the other hand, have not yielded a major sanctuary comparable to that at Dan from this time and show only sparse evidence for activity at the site in the early Iron II [period] and even less in the [subsequent] Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods.

Yesterday, the Iranian foreign minister flew to Geneva to meet with European diplomats. President Trump, meanwhile, indicated that cease-fire negotiations might soon begin with Iran, which would presumably involve Tehran agreeing to make concessions regarding its nuclear program, while Washington pressures Israel to halt its military activities. According to Israeli media, Iran already began putting out feelers to the U.S. earlier this week. Aviram Bellaishe considers the purpose of these overtures:

The regime’s request to return to negotiations stems from the principle of deception and delay that has guided it for decades. Iran wants to extricate itself from a situation of total destruction of its nuclear facilities. It understands that to save the nuclear program, it must stop at a point that would allow it to return to it in the shortest possible time. So long as the negotiation process leads to halting strikes on its military capabilities and preventing the destruction of the nuclear program, and enables the transfer of enriched uranium to a safe location, it can simultaneously create the two tracks in which it specializes—a false facade of negotiations alongside a hidden nuclear race.