Brook of Cedron

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[HebrewNáhál Qidhrôn, "Wâdi Qidron"; only once "fields of Qidron";John 18:1,ho cheimarros ho Kedron; in R.V., Kidron]. The name designates inHoly Writ the ravine on the east ofJerusalem, between the Holy City and the Mount of Olives. The wordCedron is usually connected with the rootQadár, "to be dark", and taken to refer to the colour of the stream or ravine; but its exact origin and precise meaning are really unknown. The Valley of Cedron begins with a slight depression near the Tombs of the Judges, a mile and a quarter northwest ofJerusalem. It runs first south towards the Holy city, and then turns nearly east, passing to the north of thetombs of the Kings. Next, it bends to the right towards the south, deepening as it follows this general direction betweenJerusalem and the Mount of Olives. Opposite St. Stephen's gate, it is fully 100 feet deep and about 400 feet broad; its bed is shaded by venerable olive-trees and crossed by an old bridge. Below the bridge, the valley presents the first traces of a torrent bed. It narrows gradually and sinks more rapidly leaving to the east the church of thetomb of the Blessed Virgin, and next, Gethsemani. A thousand feet from the old bridge, the valley is merely a deep gulley across which another bridge is thrown, and on the banks of which are, to the right,Mohammedantombs, and to the left, the sepulchres of Josaphat,Absalom, St. James, and the Jewish cemetery. About a thousand feet farther, there is in a cave, on the right bank, the Fountain of the Virgin, and higher up, on the left, the village of Siloe. Somewhat farther down, the Tyropoeon valley falls from the right into the Cedron, which now expands down to the Valley of Hinnom. Here, the Cedron is about 200 yards wide, and has on its left the Mount of Offence. Shortly after the junction of the Valley of Hinom with the Cedron, there is Job's well, to the south of which Sir C. Warren found, in 1868-69, the shaft of a great rock-cut aqueduct.

On leaving the Holy City, the Valley of the Cedron runs its winding and gradually precipitous course through the Wilderness ofJudea to the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. The Cedron is perfectly dry during the summer and most of the winter. North ofJerusalem, it bears the name ofWâdi al-Jos (Valley of Nuts); between the city and the Mount of Olives, it is known asWâdi Sitti Mariam (Valley of St. Mary), or again as the Valley of Josaphat (cf. Joel, iii, 2, 12); after leavingJerusalem, it is calledWâdi en-Nâr (Valley of Fire), and alsoWâdi 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 ofJerusalem is now about 40 feet higher than in ancient times. The Cedron is first mentioned inHoly Scripture in connection with David's flight fromAbsalom, 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. inJeremiah 31:40, apparently as part of the common cemetery ofJerusalem. In theNew Testament it is spoken of only once, in connection withChrist's going forth over it to Gethsemani (John 18:1). In the present day it is the desired resting-place of bothJews andMussulmans, and the supposed scene of Last Judgment.

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