Introduction
I've written before on this blog about how the Bible uses geography to convey meaning. I am particularly interested in cases where multiple events, sometimes separated by centuries or even millenia, occur in the same place; in these cases, I often find that the events in question gracefully dovetail to paint a wonderful picture that ultimately points to Christ. This phenomenon is one of many examples of how the Bible works as a coherent whole rather than merely a collection of disparate texts. What may appear to be an obscure, insignificant detail mentioned in passing somewhere in an Old Testament narrative can yield a profusion of intricate meaning when coupled with a New-Testament counterpart, and vice versa. Common settings can act as one of many signposts for discovering such connections.
The Brook of Kidron
In my last post on biblical topography, I talked mainly about rivers. This time I would like to talk about another river - or rather a brook, namely the Brook of Kidron, which spans most of the perimeter of Jerusalem. At multiple times in the Bible, this stream is treated as a definitive border, a kind of Rubicon between the holy city and the wilderness beyond (e.g. Jeremiah 31:40); in this respect, it is not at all dissimilar to the Jordan, or even the Dead Sea. A second theme often associated with this body of water is that of judgement. For example, throughout the books of Chronicles and Kings, whenever the land was purged of its idols - which was a sort of routine experience, it would appear - they would be cast into this brook and burned as concrete declaration that these false gods had been rejected. Kidron's topography was particulary suited to this function given that it remained dry for most of the year and was exceptionally narrow yet deep along the section that abutted the city - a physical abyss if ever there was one. The very name 'Kidron', which means "making black or sad", testifies to its thematic associations.
These associations are also reflected in the three interconnected valleys that, at the time, contained the Brook of Kidron and loosely demarcated the city of Jerusalem: the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Valley of [the Son of] Hinnom (also known as Gehenna), and the Tyropoeon Valley (also known as the Valley of Cheesemongers). The first of these, which separates Mount Moriah (that is, the Temple Mount) from the Mount of Olives, is mentioned in name in only one chapter of the Bible - namely Joel 3, where it is envisioned as a place where Jehovah would judge all of the heathen for their offenses against Israel. Gehenna, meanwhile, was proclaimed by King Josiah to be defiled (2 Kings 23:10) after it was used as the location for idolatrous child-sacrifices (see 2 Chronicles 28:3, 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31; 19:2-6), and it subsequently featured a perpetual inferno used to incinerate the city's waste - including pig intestines, the ultimate uncleanliness. It thus become associated with hellfire (e.g. Jeremiah 7:32; Matthew 5:22,29,30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15,33; Mark 9:43,15,47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6), and may have been the "valley of the dry bones" envisaged by Ezekial (Chapter 37).
Although the themes of wilderness and judgement permeate the Brook of Kidron, so too do their opposite numbers - namely, paradise and grace. I have not yet mentioned the Tyropoeon Valley, which divided Moriah, the Temple Mount, from Zion, the City of David. Although it is today filled to the brim with rubbish and is therefore in keeping with the connotations of the other two valleys, it is also the location of the Springs of Siloam, through which King Hezekiah built his famous aqueduct to provide water for the city (2 Kings 20:20), from which the King's Garden, a plot of land so fertile that it was able to sustain vegetation year-round (e.g. Nehemiah 3:15; 2 Kings 25:4; Jeremiah 39:4, 52:7; Zechariah 14:10), and at which one of Jesus' healings took effect (John 9:7). Speaking of Hezekiah, that great king was also responsible for building a tunnel that connected the Pool of Siloam to the Pool of Gihon, which lay within a valley of the same name that was essentially just the western extremity of Gehenna (2 Chronicles 32:3, 30; 33:14). Gihon, if you recall from my last post on Biblical topography, was also the name of one of the four rivers of Eden (Genesis 2:13).
Prelude
While the Tyropoeon and the Hinnom Valleys contain 'redeeming features', however, it is the Valley of Jehoshaphat that points to the ultimate act of redemption. You will infer from this latter phrase that I referring to Christ; but rather than skip straight to the climax, it is worth prefacing the story with an excursion into the Old Testament. In 2 Samuel 15, David is forced to flee Jerusalem after his son Absalom conspires to usurp the throne. In verse 23, we are told that "all the land wept aloud as all the people passed by, and the king crossed the brook Kidron, and all the people passed on toward the wilderness". After ordering the priests to return the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem - which, you will recall, was supposed to accommodate the presence of God - David, weeping and mourning, ascends the Mount of Olives while Absalom enters Jerusalem to take charge (it is this particular event that indicates he crossed Kidron in the of the Valley of Jehoshaphat). In the next chapter, a relative of (the late) Saul called Shimei approaches, hurling stones, dust, and curses at David and his entourage. Abishai, the chief of David's three mighty men (see 2 Samuel 23), requests permission to decapitate this "dead dog", but David curiously chooses to let him continue his assault, reckoning that the curse has been sent by God.
Jump over to 1 Kings 1, and the throne is once again being contested by one of David's sons, this time Adonijah, who is holding an epic feast to celebrate his own illegitimate kingship. At the behest of his wife Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan, David declares that Solomon will instead be king, according to his apparent promise to Bathsheba (Solomon's mother) and the Lord's earlier decree (see 1 Chronicles 22). There is an indirect allusion here to the Tyropoeon Valley, which separated Zion (where David had reigned) from Moriah (where Solomon would build the Temple), and it is in Gihon where Solomon is annointed as king; the Valley of Jehoshaphat, however, remains conspicuously absent. The text mentions three times that Solomon rode David's mule to his coronation ceremony, which is complete with trumpets and cheering. In the next chapter, David is on his death bed, issuing his last commandments and recommendations to Solomon. In verses 8 and 9, we read that David's final instruction to his son before he dies is to kill Shimei, the curser of 2 Samuel 15. From verse 36 onwards, however, we see that Solomon does not immediately obey this order; rather, he tells Shimei that he must stay within the walls of Jerusalem, and will be executed if he ventures beyond - you guessed it - the Brook of Kidron. Shimei initially accedes to this arrangement, but eventually violates it by pursuing his servants (on a donkey, no less) after they run away, and is duly put to death. In later chapters, Solomon goes on to construct the Temple.
Climax
What is the significance of all of these details? You will no doubt have discerned a few Messianic parallels already - some of which are prophesied in Zechariah chapters 9 and 14 - but let's explore them in more detail. There is a particular period in Jesus' life that represents a mirror image of the Old Testament synposis outlined above, beginning in the Gospel of John, chapter 11, when Jesus comes to the town of Bethany on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The Old Testament story, too, began on this mountain; but whereas the Old Testament story ended with Solomon executing Shimei, and thus fulfilling the curse of death, the New Testament story begins with Jesus resurrecting Lazarus, and thus portending the blessing of eternal life. In the next chapter (see also Matthew 21; Mark 14; Luke 19), after a stint in the wilderness (during which quite a lot actually happens, according to the other gospels), Jesus is once again in Bethany, but descends the Mount of Olives to enter Jerusalem, presumably crossing the Brook of Kidron in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The procession known as the 'Triumphal Entry' closely resembles Solomon's royal coronation ceremony, complete with donkey and ebullient crowd, the members of which even refer to Jesus as "the Son of David".
Although synchronising the chronologies of the various gospel accounts is not straightforward, it appears that Jesus actually leaves Jerusalem sometime after the Triumphal Entry and returns to Bethany, making at least one more foray in and out of Jerusalem before his final entry (see Matthew 21; Mark 11). Again, a lot actually happens in this interval, perhaps most notably Jesus' prediction that he will destroy the Temple and raise it in three days (Matthew 24:1-2; Mark 13:1-2; Luke 21:5-6) - a kind of augmented antithesis of Solomon's appointment to build the physical building. The more stylised Gospel of John, however, skips directly from the Triumphal Entry (chapter 12) to the Last Supper (chapter 13), which is now believed to have taken place on Mount Zion, the City of David. Indeed, just as David delivered his final instructions to Solomon before his death, it is here that Jesus delivers His final instructions to His disciples - six chapters' worth, in fact! Unlike David, however, who issued multiple commandments - most of them relating to vengeful executions - Jesus leaves one overriding commandment, namely to love one another (John 13:34), speaking extensively of His own execution.
The next transition in John occurs in chapters 18 (see also Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22), where the marvelous symmetry between the Old and New Testament stories really comes to a head. In verse 1, we read that Jesus leaves Jerusalem and crosses the Brook of Kidron - which here receives its only mention in the entire New Testament - to enter the Garden of Gesthemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives. From the other gospel accounts, it seems to be here, beyond the categorical border of Kidron, that Jesus actually comes face to face with His fate (which is, however, also his willing sacrifice), namely the utter separation from God (who is geographically symbolised by Jerusalem) that accompanies sin - the judgement, the Gehenna, the place at which false idols and all that was unclean was condemned to the depths and immolated. It is beyond the Brook of Kidron that Jesus, in sheer anguish, cries out to God and even sweats blood in a manner that harks back to David's own sorrowful ascent of Olivet after ordering that the Ark of God's presence be returned to Jerusalem. Indeed, like David, who accepted the curse foisted on him by Shimei and instructed his mighty men not to brandish their swords, Jesus submits to Judas and his posse of guards, directing Simon Peter to sheathe his sword and repairing the damage already inflicted by it.
David, however, was a man of blood, and could not drink the cup of judgement that came from Bethlehem (see 2 Samuel 23) - the cup that Jesus, a man of blood in a very different sense, chooses to bear in Gesthemane. Jesus is taken back to Jerusalem, where, just as the false king Adonijah was feasting when Solomon was coronated, Jesus is crucified as "King of the Jews" during the Passover Feast - outside of the city walls, no less. Jesus thus crossed the Brook of Kidron, where the Israelites had sacrificed their children to the false god Molech, to sacrifice Himself, the Son of God. In so doing, He absorbed Shimei's curse of death, which was due to all of us. However, while Solomon went on to build the physical Temple, Jesus was resurrected in the Temple of his own body. The redemptive repercussions of this twofold act were foretold by the prophet Jeremiah, who proclaimed: "The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever" (Jeremiah 31:40).
Epilogue
If you enjoyed this post or found it insightful, I would encourage you to adopt a similar approach to Bible study. One of the many beautiful things about the Bible is that it contains so many layers of meaning. You can glean the surface level relatively easily, at least in many cases; but to reap the layers underneath, you have to spend time sowing. I have found that God - and not the Devil, as the saying goes - is so often in details. Seek and you will find!
I've written before on this blog about how the Bible uses geography to convey meaning. I am particularly interested in cases where multiple events, sometimes separated by centuries or even millenia, occur in the same place; in these cases, I often find that the events in question gracefully dovetail to paint a wonderful picture that ultimately points to Christ. This phenomenon is one of many examples of how the Bible works as a coherent whole rather than merely a collection of disparate texts. What may appear to be an obscure, insignificant detail mentioned in passing somewhere in an Old Testament narrative can yield a profusion of intricate meaning when coupled with a New-Testament counterpart, and vice versa. Common settings can act as one of many signposts for discovering such connections.
The Brook of Kidron
In my last post on biblical topography, I talked mainly about rivers. This time I would like to talk about another river - or rather a brook, namely the Brook of Kidron, which spans most of the perimeter of Jerusalem. At multiple times in the Bible, this stream is treated as a definitive border, a kind of Rubicon between the holy city and the wilderness beyond (e.g. Jeremiah 31:40); in this respect, it is not at all dissimilar to the Jordan, or even the Dead Sea. A second theme often associated with this body of water is that of judgement. For example, throughout the books of Chronicles and Kings, whenever the land was purged of its idols - which was a sort of routine experience, it would appear - they would be cast into this brook and burned as concrete declaration that these false gods had been rejected. Kidron's topography was particulary suited to this function given that it remained dry for most of the year and was exceptionally narrow yet deep along the section that abutted the city - a physical abyss if ever there was one. The very name 'Kidron', which means "making black or sad", testifies to its thematic associations.
These associations are also reflected in the three interconnected valleys that, at the time, contained the Brook of Kidron and loosely demarcated the city of Jerusalem: the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Valley of [the Son of] Hinnom (also known as Gehenna), and the Tyropoeon Valley (also known as the Valley of Cheesemongers). The first of these, which separates Mount Moriah (that is, the Temple Mount) from the Mount of Olives, is mentioned in name in only one chapter of the Bible - namely Joel 3, where it is envisioned as a place where Jehovah would judge all of the heathen for their offenses against Israel. Gehenna, meanwhile, was proclaimed by King Josiah to be defiled (2 Kings 23:10) after it was used as the location for idolatrous child-sacrifices (see 2 Chronicles 28:3, 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31; 19:2-6), and it subsequently featured a perpetual inferno used to incinerate the city's waste - including pig intestines, the ultimate uncleanliness. It thus become associated with hellfire (e.g. Jeremiah 7:32; Matthew 5:22,29,30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15,33; Mark 9:43,15,47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6), and may have been the "valley of the dry bones" envisaged by Ezekial (Chapter 37).
Although the themes of wilderness and judgement permeate the Brook of Kidron, so too do their opposite numbers - namely, paradise and grace. I have not yet mentioned the Tyropoeon Valley, which divided Moriah, the Temple Mount, from Zion, the City of David. Although it is today filled to the brim with rubbish and is therefore in keeping with the connotations of the other two valleys, it is also the location of the Springs of Siloam, through which King Hezekiah built his famous aqueduct to provide water for the city (2 Kings 20:20), from which the King's Garden, a plot of land so fertile that it was able to sustain vegetation year-round (e.g. Nehemiah 3:15; 2 Kings 25:4; Jeremiah 39:4, 52:7; Zechariah 14:10), and at which one of Jesus' healings took effect (John 9:7). Speaking of Hezekiah, that great king was also responsible for building a tunnel that connected the Pool of Siloam to the Pool of Gihon, which lay within a valley of the same name that was essentially just the western extremity of Gehenna (2 Chronicles 32:3, 30; 33:14). Gihon, if you recall from my last post on Biblical topography, was also the name of one of the four rivers of Eden (Genesis 2:13).
Prelude
While the Tyropoeon and the Hinnom Valleys contain 'redeeming features', however, it is the Valley of Jehoshaphat that points to the ultimate act of redemption. You will infer from this latter phrase that I referring to Christ; but rather than skip straight to the climax, it is worth prefacing the story with an excursion into the Old Testament. In 2 Samuel 15, David is forced to flee Jerusalem after his son Absalom conspires to usurp the throne. In verse 23, we are told that "all the land wept aloud as all the people passed by, and the king crossed the brook Kidron, and all the people passed on toward the wilderness". After ordering the priests to return the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem - which, you will recall, was supposed to accommodate the presence of God - David, weeping and mourning, ascends the Mount of Olives while Absalom enters Jerusalem to take charge (it is this particular event that indicates he crossed Kidron in the of the Valley of Jehoshaphat). In the next chapter, a relative of (the late) Saul called Shimei approaches, hurling stones, dust, and curses at David and his entourage. Abishai, the chief of David's three mighty men (see 2 Samuel 23), requests permission to decapitate this "dead dog", but David curiously chooses to let him continue his assault, reckoning that the curse has been sent by God.
Jump over to 1 Kings 1, and the throne is once again being contested by one of David's sons, this time Adonijah, who is holding an epic feast to celebrate his own illegitimate kingship. At the behest of his wife Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan, David declares that Solomon will instead be king, according to his apparent promise to Bathsheba (Solomon's mother) and the Lord's earlier decree (see 1 Chronicles 22). There is an indirect allusion here to the Tyropoeon Valley, which separated Zion (where David had reigned) from Moriah (where Solomon would build the Temple), and it is in Gihon where Solomon is annointed as king; the Valley of Jehoshaphat, however, remains conspicuously absent. The text mentions three times that Solomon rode David's mule to his coronation ceremony, which is complete with trumpets and cheering. In the next chapter, David is on his death bed, issuing his last commandments and recommendations to Solomon. In verses 8 and 9, we read that David's final instruction to his son before he dies is to kill Shimei, the curser of 2 Samuel 15. From verse 36 onwards, however, we see that Solomon does not immediately obey this order; rather, he tells Shimei that he must stay within the walls of Jerusalem, and will be executed if he ventures beyond - you guessed it - the Brook of Kidron. Shimei initially accedes to this arrangement, but eventually violates it by pursuing his servants (on a donkey, no less) after they run away, and is duly put to death. In later chapters, Solomon goes on to construct the Temple.
Climax
What is the significance of all of these details? You will no doubt have discerned a few Messianic parallels already - some of which are prophesied in Zechariah chapters 9 and 14 - but let's explore them in more detail. There is a particular period in Jesus' life that represents a mirror image of the Old Testament synposis outlined above, beginning in the Gospel of John, chapter 11, when Jesus comes to the town of Bethany on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The Old Testament story, too, began on this mountain; but whereas the Old Testament story ended with Solomon executing Shimei, and thus fulfilling the curse of death, the New Testament story begins with Jesus resurrecting Lazarus, and thus portending the blessing of eternal life. In the next chapter (see also Matthew 21; Mark 14; Luke 19), after a stint in the wilderness (during which quite a lot actually happens, according to the other gospels), Jesus is once again in Bethany, but descends the Mount of Olives to enter Jerusalem, presumably crossing the Brook of Kidron in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The procession known as the 'Triumphal Entry' closely resembles Solomon's royal coronation ceremony, complete with donkey and ebullient crowd, the members of which even refer to Jesus as "the Son of David".
Although synchronising the chronologies of the various gospel accounts is not straightforward, it appears that Jesus actually leaves Jerusalem sometime after the Triumphal Entry and returns to Bethany, making at least one more foray in and out of Jerusalem before his final entry (see Matthew 21; Mark 11). Again, a lot actually happens in this interval, perhaps most notably Jesus' prediction that he will destroy the Temple and raise it in three days (Matthew 24:1-2; Mark 13:1-2; Luke 21:5-6) - a kind of augmented antithesis of Solomon's appointment to build the physical building. The more stylised Gospel of John, however, skips directly from the Triumphal Entry (chapter 12) to the Last Supper (chapter 13), which is now believed to have taken place on Mount Zion, the City of David. Indeed, just as David delivered his final instructions to Solomon before his death, it is here that Jesus delivers His final instructions to His disciples - six chapters' worth, in fact! Unlike David, however, who issued multiple commandments - most of them relating to vengeful executions - Jesus leaves one overriding commandment, namely to love one another (John 13:34), speaking extensively of His own execution.
The next transition in John occurs in chapters 18 (see also Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22), where the marvelous symmetry between the Old and New Testament stories really comes to a head. In verse 1, we read that Jesus leaves Jerusalem and crosses the Brook of Kidron - which here receives its only mention in the entire New Testament - to enter the Garden of Gesthemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives. From the other gospel accounts, it seems to be here, beyond the categorical border of Kidron, that Jesus actually comes face to face with His fate (which is, however, also his willing sacrifice), namely the utter separation from God (who is geographically symbolised by Jerusalem) that accompanies sin - the judgement, the Gehenna, the place at which false idols and all that was unclean was condemned to the depths and immolated. It is beyond the Brook of Kidron that Jesus, in sheer anguish, cries out to God and even sweats blood in a manner that harks back to David's own sorrowful ascent of Olivet after ordering that the Ark of God's presence be returned to Jerusalem. Indeed, like David, who accepted the curse foisted on him by Shimei and instructed his mighty men not to brandish their swords, Jesus submits to Judas and his posse of guards, directing Simon Peter to sheathe his sword and repairing the damage already inflicted by it.
David, however, was a man of blood, and could not drink the cup of judgement that came from Bethlehem (see 2 Samuel 23) - the cup that Jesus, a man of blood in a very different sense, chooses to bear in Gesthemane. Jesus is taken back to Jerusalem, where, just as the false king Adonijah was feasting when Solomon was coronated, Jesus is crucified as "King of the Jews" during the Passover Feast - outside of the city walls, no less. Jesus thus crossed the Brook of Kidron, where the Israelites had sacrificed their children to the false god Molech, to sacrifice Himself, the Son of God. In so doing, He absorbed Shimei's curse of death, which was due to all of us. However, while Solomon went on to build the physical Temple, Jesus was resurrected in the Temple of his own body. The redemptive repercussions of this twofold act were foretold by the prophet Jeremiah, who proclaimed: "The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever" (Jeremiah 31:40).
If you enjoyed this post or found it insightful, I would encourage you to adopt a similar approach to Bible study. One of the many beautiful things about the Bible is that it contains so many layers of meaning. You can glean the surface level relatively easily, at least in many cases; but to reap the layers underneath, you have to spend time sowing. I have found that God - and not the Devil, as the saying goes - is so often in details. Seek and you will find!
