Banias does not appear in Scripture under its present name. Robinson suggests that it is the “Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon,”[274] up to which the conquests of Joshua extended in this direction. For us its chief interest is found in the fact that it was the CÆSAREA PHILIPPI which formed the northern limit of our Lord’s ministry, and the neighbourhood of which was the scene of His transfiguration.[275] The monkish legend which placed it at Tabor is now universally abandoned. The secluded valleys and gorges which run from the very suburbs of the town amongst the spurs of Hermon afford a fitting theatre for this wonderful manifestation. It was in sight of the mighty mass of the venerable mountain that He proclaimed Himself to be the rock upon which His church should be built. Surrounded by the temples of Syrian, Greek, and Roman deities, with which the region was profaned, He declared that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. It was amongst these solemn solitudes that the voice was heard from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son: hear Him.” There was deep significance in the time and place at which this manifestation of Divine glory was made. It was, as we have seen, the northern limit of His earthly ministry. It was, too, at the close of His last missionary journey. Henceforward His face was “steadfastly set to go up to Jerusalem,” for “the time was come that He should be received up.”[276] He now commenced that pilgrimage southward of which the cross was the foreseen goal. Step by step along the road by which we have travelled He pressed onward, each step bringing Him nearer to “the decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem;” of which “Moses and Elias spake with him” as they “appeared in glory.”[277]