"A view of Jerusalem from the south. Hinnom valley in foreground and Kidron valley to the right."
What is the significance of Kidron Valley?
What does the Bible say?
What was its past?
What is its present state?
What is its future?
Here's where SPIRIT led me.
First, what is the KIDRON valley?
"Kidron Valley (classical transliteration, Cedron, from Hebrew: נחל קדרון, Naḥal Qidron, literally Qidron River; also Qidron Valley)[1][2][3][4] is the modern name of the valley originating slightly northeast of the Old City of Jerusalem, which then separates the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives, and ending at the Dead Sea. Beyond Jerusalem it continues in a general south-easterly direction through the Judean desert in the West Bank, reaching the Dead Sea near the settlement of Ovnat, and descending 4,000 feet (1,200 m) along its 20-mile (32 km) course."
-- Wikipedia
Its PAST.
King David flees Jerusalem, during Absalom's rebellion, crossing the Kidron valley:
2 Samuel 15:22-25
King James Version
22 And David said to Ittai,
Go and pass over.
And Ittai the Gittite passed over,
and all his men,
and all the little ones that were with him.
23 And all the country wept with a loud voice,
and all the people passed over:
the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron,
and all the people passed over,
toward the way of the wilderness.
24 And lo Zadok also,
and all the Levites were with him,
bearing the ark of the covenant of God:
and they set down the ark of God;
and Abiathar went up,
until all the people had done passing out of the city.
25 And the king said unto Zadok,
Carry back the ark of God into the city:
if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord,
he will bring me again,
and shew me both it, and his habitation:
Under king Asa:
1 Kings 15:11-13
King James Version
11 And Asa did that which was right
in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father.
12 And he took away the sodomites out of the land,
and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
13 And also Maachah his mother,
even her he removed from being queen,
because she had made an idol in a grove;
and Asa destroyed her idol,
and burnt it by the brook Kidron.
Under king Josiah:
2 Kings 23:4-6
King James Version
4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest,
and the priests of the second order,
and the keepers of the door,
to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord
all the vessels that were made for Baal,
and for the grove,
and for all the host of heaven:
and he burned them without Jerusalem
in the fields of Kidron,
and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests,
whom the kings of Judah had ordained
to burn incense in the high places
in the cities of Judah,
and in the places round about Jerusalem;
them also that burned incense unto Baal,
to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets,
and to all the host of heaven.
6 And he brought out the grove
from the house of the Lord,
without Jerusalem,
unto the brook Kidron,
and burned it at the brook Kidron,
and stamped it small to powder,
and cast the powder thereof
upon the graves of the children of the people.
Under king Hezekiah:
2 Chronicles 29:15-16
King James Version
15 And they gathered their brethren,
and sanctified themselves,
and came,
according to the commandment of the king,
by the words of the Lord,
to cleanse the house of the Lord.
16 And the priests went
into the inner part of the house of the Lord,
to cleanse it,
and brought out all the uncleanness
that they found in the temple of the Lord
into the court of the house of the Lord.
And the Levites took it,
to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.
After praising His Father, JESUS, with His disciples, go "over the brook Cedron":
John 18:1
King James Version
18 When Jesus had spoken these words,
he went forth with his disciples
over the brook Cedron,
where was a garden,
into the which he entered,
and his disciples.
It is also where JESUS was betrayed:
John 18:2-6
King James Version
2 And Judas also, which betrayed him,
knew the place:
for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.
3 Judas then,
having received a band of men and officers
from the chief priests and Pharisees,
cometh thither with lanterns
and torches and weapons.
4 Jesus therefore,
knowing all things that should come upon him,
went forth, and said unto them,
Whom seek ye?
5 They answered him,
Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus saith unto them,
I am he.
And Judas also, which betrayed him,
stood with them.
6 As soon then as he had said unto them,
I am he, they went backward,
and fell to the ground.
Kidron valley has had a dark past.
A very dark, sad, and painful past.
In testimony of man's abominations against GOD.
It has witnessed these things:
1. The presence of FIVE kings, foremost of which was JESUS.
2. The betrayal of GOD, and His temple, through man's idols.
3. The burning, and dumping, of such objects of betrayals.
4. The fleeing of king David, from his son's rebellion.
5. The betrayal of JESUS.
Its PRESENT.
Despite a painful past, Kidron valley is seeing a physical "regeneration":
"Kidron stream restoration project"
"Currently, part of East Jerusalem's and the Palestinian Authority's sewage waters flow freely into the Kidron stream causing severe environmental damage in the Judean desert and the Dead sea area. In a rare collaboration with the Palestinian Authority, Hagihon is leading the Kidron stream restoration project with a budget of close to a billion shekels. According to the plan the sewage flow to the stream will be stopped and diverted to a new collection line, through an 8-km long pipe to the Og purification facility. To avoid damage to the natural valley as well as to the Marsaba Monastery and other archeological sites, the route of the sewage line was diverted from the stream itself, through a 60 meter deep 1.3 km long tunnel. The project also includes the construction of a hydroelectric station to generate green electricity. The purified water will be used for agriculture and irrigation of palm groves in the Jordan Valley and the Palestinian Authority."
-- Wikipedia
Its FUTURE.
Pain, and betrayal, shall be no more.
The valley will have a spiritual "regeneration".
As prophesied by prophet Jeremiah, Kidron valley shall truly be sanctified and be "holy unto the Lord":
Jeremiah 31:40
King James Version
40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies,
and of the ashes,
and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron,
unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east,
shall be holy unto the Lord;
it shall not be plucked up,
nor thrown down any more
for ever.
Related material:
Drawing of the Silwan necropolis and Kidron Valley (Avigad 1953, 138; courtesy Israel Exploration Journal)
What is the Kidron Valley in the Bible?
