Kidron Valley

For other uses, see Kidron (disambiguation).
Kidron Valley viewed from the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Kidron Valley (classical transliteration, Cedron, from Hebrew: נחל קדרון‎, Naḥal Qidron; also Qidron Valley; Arabic: وادي الجوز‎, Wadi al-Joz for the upper segment near the Temple Mount, and Wadi an-Nar for the rest of it) is the valley on the eastern side of The Old City of Jerusalem, separating the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. It continues east through the Judean Desert in the West Bank, towards the Dead Sea, descending 4000 feet along its 20-mile course. The settlement Kedar, located on a ridge above the valley, is named after it. The neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz bears the valley's Arabic name.[1] The Hebrew Bible calls it Emek Yehoshafat, the "Valley of Jehoshaphat". It appears in Jewish eschatologic prophecies, which include the return of Elijah, followed by the arrival of the Messiah, and the War of Gog and Magog and Judgment Day.[1]

Historic photograph of Jews gathering at Absalom's Tomb in the Kidron Valley

The central point of reference for the Kidron Valley is its confluence of Jerusalem’s richest concentration of rock-hewn tombs. This area, located on the periphery of the village Silwan, was one of the main burial grounds of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period.[2] Several of these tombs were also used later in time, either as burial or as shelters for hermits and monks of the large monastic communities, which inhabited the Kidron Valley.[3] The ancient tombs in this area attracted the attention of ancient travelers, most notably Benjamin of Tudela.

A constant source of confusion is the fact that the modern name "Kidron Valley" (Nahal Kidron in Hebrew) applies to the entire length of a long wadi, which starts north of the Old City of Jerusalem and ends at the Dead Sea, while the biblical names Nahal Kidron, Emek Yehoshafat, King’s Valley etc. might refer to certain parts of this valley located in the immediate vicinity of ancient Jerusalem, but not to the entire wadi, and certainly not to the long segment crossing the Judean desert. Similarly, in Arabic every more substantial wadi has many names, each applied to a certain distinct segment of its course.

Account of Benjamin of Tudela

Benjamin of Tudela, a 12th century Jewish traveler, cited the distances between the towns he visited, listed the heads of the Jewish communities, and recorded the names of the most notable scholars.[4]His account of the Jewish presence in the Kidron Valley area is the main historical document used by modern archeologists and historians.

Kidron Valley in Eschatology

Bnei Hazir Tomb and Tomb of Zechariah

The Hebrew Bible calls the Valley "Valley of Jehoshaphat - Emek Yehoshafat" (Hebrew: עמק יהושפט‎), meaning "The valley where Yahweh shall judge." In the times of the Old Testament kings, the Kidron Valley was identified with, at least in part, the King’s Garden; the kings owned land in the area.[4] That the upper Kidron Valley was also known as the King’s Valley, in which Absalom set up his monument or "pillar" (see 2 Samuel 18:18; no connection to the much later "Absalom's Pillar"), is problematic. The Bible does not make this identification explicit, and the association can only be inferred as associated with En-rogel, which is farther down the Kidron Valley towards the desert.[5]

It should be noted that not all scholars agree with the traditional view that the Kidron Valley is the location of the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Biblical commentator Adam Clarke maintains this view, claiming that the Valley of Judgment is a symbolic place.[6] Kidron Valley was not associated with the Valley of Jehoshaphat until the 4th century AD.[7]

A passage in the Bible mentions that God will assemble all nations in the “Valley of Jehoshaphat” (Joel 3:2, Joel 3:12). Some hold that the Valley of Jehoshaphat (“Yahweh shall judge” ) refers to the valley situated between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives to the east. It was in this valley where king Jehoshaphat is thought to have overthrown the enemies of Israel (2Chr. 20:26). Its identification with the Kidron Valley, which began in the fourth century, is somewhat uncertain since no actual valley of this name is known to pre-Christian antiquity.

Monumental tombs

Yad Avshalom in Kidron Valley

The three monumental tombs on the eastern side of the Kidron Valley are among the most well-known landmarks of ancient Jerusalem. These are, from north to south, the so-called "Tomb of Absalom", which rises in front of the "Cave of Jehoshaphat", the (correctly named) Tomb of Benei Hezir (Benei Hezir is the Hebrew for "sons of Hezir", meaning the Hezir priestly family ), and the so-called "Tomb of Zechariah", which could quite likely be the nefesh of the Tomb of Benei Hezir.

Absalom’s tomb consists of two parts. First, a lower cube hewn out of the bedrock, decorated with engaged Ionic columns bearing a Doric frieze and crowned by an Egyptian cornice.[2] This part of the monument contains a small chamber with an entrance and two arcosolia (arched funeral niches) and constitutes the actual tomb.[2] The second part, built of ashlars, is placed on top of the rock-hewn cube. It consists of a square pedestal carrying a round drum, itself topped by a conical roof. The cone is slightly concave and is crowned by an Egyptian-style lotus flower. The upper part has the general shape of a tholos[1] and is interpreted as a nefesh or monument for the tomb below, and possibly also for the adjacent "Cave of Jehoshaphat". The "Pillar of Absalom" is dated to the 1st century CE.[2][8]

Literally, the word nefesh means ‘soul’, but in a funerary context it is the term applied to a form of funerary monument. In descriptions of the tombs of the Jewish nobility, the pyramid shape is also emphasized as the mark of a tomb. This would imply that nefesh and pyramid were synonymous. The Jewish tombs in the Kidron Valley are the best examples of this form of nefesh.[9] They appear as a rectangular, pyramid-capped monument. Similar forms of the nefesh decorate ossuaries, with the addition of a dome-capped column. In Jerusalem the nefesh as a tomb monument stood either above or beside the tomb; set on steps or on a base.[8]

Scriptural Significance

The name ‘King’s Valley’ may be derived from its location just east of the palace of David in the City of David on the western slopes of the Kidron Valley and south of where the platform was built.[10]Chapters 29, 30 and 31 of 2 Chronicles cover King Hezekiah's call for the sanctification of the ministers of the Lord, the purification of unclean things, an invitation to all Israel and Judah to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem, and liturgical reforms. Wadi Kidron was utilized for the ritual cleaning of unclean things found in the temple during the reforms of King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles Ch 29 v. 16) around 700 B. C. The priests removed the unclean things from the inner part of the temple to the courts and the Levites carried the unclean things for ritual cleaning to Wadi Kidron (2 Chronicles Ch. 29 v. 16).

According to the Tanakh, King David fled through the valley during the rebellion of Absalom. According to the New Testament Jesus crossed the valley many times traveling between Jerusalem and Bethany.[11] The valley contains the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus atoned for the sins of all mankind.

Archaeology

In 1989, the Jerusalem Municipality conducted routine development work in the area. Upon widening a narrow street near one of the approached to the Silwan Village, bulldozers uncovered a number of square openings hewn into rock. The Israel Antiquities Authority immediately stopped the road construction. After uncovering the underground spaces, archeologists found themselves standing inside large burial complexes which appeared intact. Moving carefully from one chamber to another, flashlights revealed an abundance of artifacts scatters on the floors, pottery and glass vessels, oil lamps and many ornamental ossuaries. The three large caves proved to be part of an extensive Jewish burial ground in use at the end of the Second Temple Period, which terminated in the year 70 AD, when Jerusalem was conquered and the Temple destroyed by the Roman legions.[12]

Development plans

There is a controversial proposal to reconstruct part of the valley in a Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem and turn it into a park to be called the Garden of the King.[13]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Goffart, Walter. After Rome’s Fall. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hachlili, Rachel. Jewish Funerary Customs, Practices and Rites in the Second Temple Period. Boston: Brill, Leiden, 2005.
  3. ↑ Goodman, Martin. Jews in a Graeco-Roman World. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
  4. 1 2 Adler, Marcus Nathan. The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela. London: Oxford University Press, 1907.
  5. ↑ Kloner, Amos, and Boaz Zissu. The Necropolis of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period. Leuven: Peeters, 2007.
  6. ↑ http://www.godrules.net/library/clarke/clarkejoe3.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.studylight.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T5301
  8. 1 2 Finegan, J. The Archeology of the New Testament. Princeton, 1969.
  9. ↑ Cohen, Shaye J. D. From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987.
  10. ↑ Asher, Adolf, trans. and ed. The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela. Vol. 1, Text, Bibliography, and Translation; vol 2, Note and Essays. New York: “Hakesheth” Publishing Co., 1840.
  11. ↑ Catholic Encyclopedia
  12. ↑ Hirschfeld, Yizhar. Qumran in Context: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004.
  13. ↑ Gan Hamelech residents wary of Barkat’s redevelopment plan, Abe Selig, Feb. 16, 2010, Jerusalem Post.
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