The first mention is in 2 S 15=", where in the story of David's flight from Absalom it is recorded that he passed over the brook (nalial) Kidron. "The neyt mention is in 1 K 2", in the prohibition to Shimei against his ever crossing Kidron. This passage has been relied on by some scholars {e.g. Bir G. Grove) as showing that the name of Kidron
was sometimes given to the ravines on the west of Jerusalem ; since otherwise Solomon's prohibition would not have been trangressed by bhimei's journey to Gath to recover his fugitive slaves ; for whether Gath be identified with Tell es-SaJied or with Beit Jibrin, it would in either case be by the western or Bethlehem gate that Shimei would leave the city, and the valley on the east side would be altogether out of his way. The narra- tive, however, does not assert that he actually I>assed over Kidron ; and indeed, when it is care- fully examined, it rather suggests the contrary. In the prohibition Shimei is commanded, ' Go not forth thence any whither,' and then the king adds, ' For on the day thou goest out and passest over the brook Kidron, know thou for certain that thou shalt surely die.' But in the recapitulation of the prohibition made after Shimei's journey to Gath, it is the general command ' not to walk abroad any whither ' which alone is dwelt on, and there is now no mention of Kidron at all. The reason for its having been expressly mentioned in the original prohibition probably was because it was on the direct road to Shimei's home at Bahurim, and was the boundary of the city on that side.
The later references to the Kidron in the his- torical books of the OT all without exception occur in the accounts given of the destruction of heathen images and altars which were either burned at Kidron, or, when broken or ground to powder, were cast into its valley or on the graves which studded it. In 1 K 15'' and in 2 Ch 15'" it is recorded that Asa burned at Kidron the idol which his mother had set up ; and in 2 Ch 29'" and 30'-' that Hezekiah cast into the Kidron the pollutions which had been found in the temple, and the altars tliat were in Jerusalem ; and in 2 K 23*- "■ '= that Josiah burned at Kidron the Asherah that had been in the house of the LORD, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. As graves were regarded as pol- luting all who walked over them or came in con- tact with them, the intention of these reforming kings was clearly to dishonour thus the images to which worship had been paid, and the altars which had been used in that worship ; but from the words of 2 Ch 34° ' it would appear that in Josiah's case at least there was some intention of also dis- honouring the graves,' for it is there expressly said that he strewed tlie dust of the images upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
The neighbourhood of Kidron would seem to be referred to in Jer 26^; but the only place in the prophetical writings in which it is mentioned by name is in Jer 31*. The passage is a remark- able one. ' And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook Kidron, unto the comer of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LOED, it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.'
The popular name for the Blidron valley, the Valley of Jehoshaphat (wh. see), is not found in the Bible or in Josephus, and cannot be traced earlier than the 4th cent, after Christ. It appears first in the Onomcisticon of Eusebius (272, 89), and then in Jerome's Onomasticon (145, 13), and in his Commentary on Joel. It is derived from a sup- posed identification of the valley of the Kidron -svith the valley spoken of in Joel's prophecy (Jl 3- "). The identification of the two is clearly an error (but see Driver, ad loc). The narrow ravine of Kidron would be a most unsuitable place for the gathering of the nations ; and it is fo be noted that the word twice used by Joel for the Valley ot Jehoshaphat is pj2, which denotes a wide spacioni valli:y fit for cornfields and suitable fcr a battle
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field, whereas the word habitually employed for the Kidroii valley in the OT is ^tj, denoting a narrow valley or ravine (the modern wacly) ; and these words are never interchanged. There ia, however, one passage — 2 K 23* — in which the ex- l)ression shadnu'dk IfidrOn (Heb. ['iTip nto'is', LXX caSriixiiB [A ; aaXriyLwd B] KtSpwv) occurs, which is translated IxHli in AV and UV ' fields of Kidron ' (prob. a point at the junction with the Valley of Hinnom), but the usual term, na/ial, is again used in 2 K 23".
It has been stigtrested that the name, • the Valley of Jehoeha- phat' in Jl may bt a purely imaginary noine, and may repre* 0ent a loculily which had no exij^U'iice except in Ihc vision of the prophet. Kobinson {BRJ^ i. 2C9) conjectures that it may be a metaphorir.al allusion to the sif^ilicance of the name .hluislalphiit. 'J" judtr'Hi.' 'Ihis vii-w apt'em"'* to be favoured by tlic tr" uf Tbe<«lotioii. \iupa xpitrcwf, uikI by tliatul' 'I nr^,'. Ji.ii. 'The place of the decision of judfrment.' Micliaelis takes Ibis view, and supposes it to be a prediction of Maccabajan victories. It has also been supk'ested that the frequent mention by Joel of Mount Zion, Jeru^em, and the Temple, may have led to the belief that the valley spoken of id the sauoe prophecy was In the immediate nei(;hi>ourhood.