The Kidron is a mountain ravine, in most places narrow, with precipitous banks of naked limestone; but here and there its banks have an easy slope, and along its bottom are strips of land capable of cultivation. It contains the bed of a streamlet, but during the whole summer, and most of the winter, it is perfectly dry; in fact, no water runs in it except when heavy rains are falling in the mountains round Jerusalem. The resident missionaries assured Dr. Robinson that they had not during several years seen a stream running through the valley (see Bibl. Researches, i, 396- 402). On the broad summit of the mountain ridge of Judaea, a mile and a quarter north-west of Jerusalem, is a slight depression; this is the head of the Kidron. The sides of the depression, and the elevated ground around it, are whitened by the broad, jagged tops of limestone rocks, and almost every rock is excavated, partly as a quarry, and partly to form the facade of a tomb. The valley or depression runs for about half a mile towards the city; it is shallow and broad, dotted with corn-fields, and sprinkled with a few old olives. It then bends eastward, and in another half mile is crossed by the great northern road coming down from the hill Scopus. On the east side of the road, and south bank of the Kidron, are the celebrated Tombs of the Kings. The bed of the valley is here about half a mile due north of the city gate. It continues in the same course about a quarter of a mile farther, and then, turning south, opens into a wide basin containing cultivated fields and olives. Here it is crossed diagonally by the road from Jerusalem to Anathoth. As it advances southward, the right bank, forming the side of the hill Bezetha, becomes higher and steeper, with occasional precipices of rock. on which may be seen a few fragments of the ancient city wall; while on the left the base of Olivet projects, greatly narrowing the valley. Opposite St. Stephen's gate the depth is fully 100 feet, and the breadth not more than 400 feet. The olive-trees in the bottom are so thickly clustered as to form a shady grove; and their massive trunks and gnarled boughs give evidence of great age. This spot is shut out from the city, from the view of public roads, and from the notice and interruption of wayfarers. SEE GETHSEMANE. A zigzag path descends the steep bank from St. Stephen's gate, crosses the bed of the valley by an old bridge, and then branches. One branch leads direct over the top of Olivet. This path has a deep historical interest; it was by it that David went when he fled from Absalom: "The king passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, towards the way of the wilderness" (2Sa 15:23). SEE OLIVET. Another branch runs round the southern shoulder of the hill to Bethany, and it has a deep sacred interest, for it is the road of Christ's triumphal entry (Mt 21:1 sq.; Lu 19:37). Below the bridge the Kidron becomes still narrower, and here traces of a torrent bed first begin to appear. Three hundred yards farther down, the hills on each side-Moriah on the right and Olivet on the left-rise precipitously from the torrent bed, which is spanned by a single arch. On the left bank is a singular group of tombs, comprising those of Absalom, Jehoshaphat, and St. James (now so called); while on the right, 150 feet overhead, towers the south-eastern angle of the Temple wall, most probably the "pinnacle" on which our Lord was placed (Mt 4:5). The ravine runs on, narrow and rocky, for 500 yards more; there, on its right bank, in a cave, is the fountain of the Virgin; and higher up on the left, perched on the side of naked cliffs, the ancient village of Siloam. A short distance farther down, the valley of the Tyropeeon falls in from the right, descending in terraced slopes, fresh and green, from the waters of the Pool of Siloam. The Kidron here expands, affording a level tract for cultivation, and now covered with beds of cucumbers, melons, and other vegetables. Here of old was the " King's Garden" (Ne 3:15). The level tract extends down to the mouth of Hinnom, and is about 200 yards wide. A short distance below the junction of Hinnom and the Kidron is the fountain of En-Rogel, now called Bir Aylb, "the Well of Job," or " Joab." The length of the valley from its head to En-Rogel is 2- miles, and here the historic Kidron may be said to terminate. Every reference to the Kidron in the Bible is made to this section. David crossed it at a point opposite the city (1Sa 15:23); it was the boundary beyond which Solomon forbade Shimei to go on pain of death (1Ki 2:37); it was here, probably, near the mouth of Hinnom, that Asa destroyed the idol which Maachah his mother set up (15:13); and it seems to have been at the same spot, "in the fields of Kidron," that king Josiah ordered the vessels of Baal to be burned (2Ki 23:4). It would seem, from 2Ki 23:6, that a portion of the Kidron, apparently near the mouth of Hinnom, was used as a burying- ground. The sides of the surrounding cliffs are filled with ancient rock tombs, and the greatest boon the dying Jew now asks is that his bones be laid in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The whole of the left bank of the Kidron, opposite the Temple area, far up the side of Olivet, is paved with the white tombstones of Jews. This singular longing is doubtless to be ascribed to the opinion which the Jews entertain that the Kidron is the Valley of Jehoshaphat mentioned by Joel (Joe 3:2). SEE JEHOSHAPHAT, VALLEY OF. Below En-Rogel the Kidron has little of historical or sacred interest. It runs in a winding course east by south, through the Wilderness of Judaea, to the Dead Sea. For about a mile below En-Rogel the bottom of the valley is cultivated and thickly covered with olive-trees. Farther down a few fields of corn are met with at intervals, but these soon disappear, and the ravine assumes the bleak and desolate aspect of the surrounding hills. About seven miles from Jerusalem the features of the valley assume a much wilder and grander form. Hitherto the banks have been steep, with here and there a high precipice, and a jutting cliff, giving variety to the scene. Now they suddenly contract to precipices of naked rock nearly 300 feet in height, which look as if the mountain had been torn asunder by an earthquake. About a mile farther, on the side of this frightful chasm, stands the convent of St. Saba, one of the most remarkable buildings in Palestine, founded by the saint whose name it bears, in the year A.D. 439. The sides of the chasm both above and below the convent are filled with caves and grottoes, once the abode of monks and hermits, and from these doubtless this section of the valley has got its modern name, Wady er-Raheb, " Monk's Valley" (Wolcott, Researches in Pal., il Biblical Cabinet, xliii, 38). Below Mar Saba the valley is called Wady en-Nar, " Valley of Fire"-a name descriptive of its aspect, for so bare and scorched is it that it seems as if it had participated in the doom of Sodom. It runs on, a deep, narrow, wild chasm, until it breaks through the lofty line of cliffs at Ras el-Feshkhah, on the shore of the Dead Sea. It will thus be seen that the head of the Kidron is just on the verge of the water-shed of the mountain- chain of Judah, about 2600 feet above the sea. Its length, as the crow flies, is only twenty miles, and yet in this short space it has a descent of no less than 3912 feet-the Dead Sea having a depression of 1312 feet (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 179, 182).-Kitto; Smith. In 1848 the levelling party of the Dead Sea Expedition, under command of Lieut. Lynch, worked up the wady en-Nar, the bed of the Kidroll, from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem. They encountered several precipices from ten to twelve feet high, down which cataracts plunge in winter. They found the ravine shut in on each side by high, barren cliffs of chalky limestone, and the dry torrent-bed interrupted by boulders, and covered with fragments of stone (Narrative, p. 384, 387). The place where it empties into the Jordan is a gorge 1200 feet deep, narrow at the bottom, with a bed tilled with confused fragments of rock, much worn, but perfectly dry (ib.). For further notices, see Ritter's Erdkunde, xv,(6OO; Robinson, Biblical Researsches, ut sup.
On leaving the Holy City, the Valley of the Cedron runs its winding and gradually precipitous course through the Wilderness of Judea to the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. The Cedron is perfectly dry during the summer and most of the winter. North of Jerusalem, it bears the name of Wâdi al-Jos (Valley of Nuts); between the city and the Mount of Olives, it is known as Wâdi Sitti Mariam (Valley of St. Mary), or again as the Valley of Josaphat (cf. Joel, iii, 2, 12); after leaving Jerusalem, it is called Wâdi en-Nâr (Valley of Fire), and also Wâdi er-Rahib (Valley of the Monks). Its whole length is some 20 miles in a straight line, and its descent nearly 4000 feet. Its bed east of Jerusalem is now about 40 feet higher than in ancient times. The Cedron is first mentioned in Holy Scripture in connection with David's flight from Absalom, during which he crossed it [2 Samuel 15:23]; and next, in connection with the prohibition to Semei against his ever crossing it [1 Kings 2:37]. It was at the torrent Cedron that King Asa burnt the filthy idol of his mother [1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chronicles 15:16]. It was into it that Ezechias and Josias cast all the impurities which had polluted the House of the Lord (cf. 2 Chronicles 29:16; 30:14; 2 Kings 23:4, 6, 12). The torrent Cedron is last mentioned in the O.T. in Jeremiah 31:40, apparently as part of the common cemetery of Jerusalem. In the New Testament it is spoken of only once, in connection with Christ's going forth over it to Gethsemani (John 18:1). In the present day it is the desired resting-place of both Jews and Mussulmans, and the supposed scene of Last Judgment.
Where The Bears Are - Season 1 Torrent 37
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