Kidron Valley

Biblical References

Scripture usually refers to this place as "the brook Kidron." The principal passages are as follows:

• 2 Samuel 15:23: David crosses the brook Kidron as he leaves Jerusalem to escape the rebellion of his son Absalom. He then goes up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping (2 Samuel 15:30).
• 1 Kings 2:37: Solomon warns Shimei that on the day he leaves Jerusalem and crosses the brook Kidron, he will surely die.
• 1 Kings 15:13 (2 Chronicles 15:16): King Asa cuts down the Asherah image made by his mother Maachah and burns it by the brook Kidron.
• 2 Chronicles 29:16; 30:14: In the time of Hezekiah, the uncleanness removed during the cleansing of the temple, along with the idolatrous altars, is cast into the brook Kidron.
• 2 Kings 23:4, 6, 12: Josiah burns the vessels and idols used for Baal and Asherah at the Kidron and scatters their dust on the graves of the common people.
• Jeremiah 31:40: The land extending to the brook Kidron is promised to be holy unto the LORD, never again to be plucked up or thrown down.
• John 18:1: After his final prayer, Jesus goes with his disciples to a garden across the brook Kidron (KJV: "Cedron"). There he is arrested by a band guided by Judas Iscariot.

Background

The Kidron Valley forms the eastern boundary of Jerusalem. To the west lie the hill on which the temple stood and the City of David; to the east lies the Mount of Olives. South of the city the valley joins the Valley of Hinnom and then continues through the Judean wilderness toward the Dead Sea. Water flows through it only during the rainy winter season, and the Greek expression in John 18:1 likewise means "a winter-flowing stream." The Gihon Spring, an important source of Jerusalem's water supply, lies on the valley's western slope. The Hebrew name is commonly explained as related to a word meaning "to be dark."

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

In the Old Testament the Kidron marks the boundary between the city and the world outside it. Reforming kings destroyed there the idols and unclean things they had removed from the temple and the city. The Kidron therefore appears repeatedly as a place where idolatry was purged. Jeremiah looked ahead to a day when even this defiled ground would be restored to holiness.

In the New Testament the valley appears only once, in the scene where Jesus crosses it on his way to Gethsemane. Many interpreters read this scene alongside the story of David: just as the king crossed the Kidron and went up the Mount of Olives amid betrayal by someone close to him, so Jesus set out on the path of his passion. This is one interpretation, not something the text states directly.

Interpretations and Issues

• Identification with the Valley of Jehoshaphat: Joel 3:2, 12 speaks of the "valley of Jehoshaphat," where the nations are judged, but does not identify it with the Kidron. Later Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions came to regard this valley as the site of the Last Judgment. The many tombs on the slopes of the Mount of Olives are said to be connected with this tradition.
• Absalom's Monument: The valley contains a rock-cut tomb known as "Absalom's Monument." 2 Samuel 18:18 records that Absalom set up a pillar for himself in "the king's dale." The prevailing view, however, is that the monument standing today dates from a much later period.
• Some interpreters also connect the Kidron with the water flowing out from the temple in Ezekiel 47 or with the splitting of the Mount of Olives in Zechariah 14:4, although the name Kidron does not appear in those texts.