Kidderminster. See Kydehminstek.
Kiddushim. See Talmud.
Kidney (only in plur. riT^bs, helayoth', prob. from the idea of its being the seat of longing'), the leaf-fat around which was specially to be a burnt-offering, sig- nificant of its being the richest and most central jiart of the victim (Exod. xxix, 13, 22; Lev. iii, 4, 10, 15; iv, 9; vii, 4; viii, 10, 25; ix, 10, 19; Isa. xxxiv, 3). Spo- ken also of the " 7-eins" of a human being, i. e. the in- most sold, which the ancients supposed to be seated in
the \-iscera (compare the Homeric (ppr'jT, midriff, hence mind), both in a physical sense (Job xvi, 13; xix, 27; Psa. cxxxix, 13 ; Lam. iii, 13), and figuratively (Psa. vii, 9 ; xvi, 7 ; xxvi, 2 ; Ixxiii, 21 ; Prov. xxiii, 10 ; Jcx. xi, 20; xii, 2; xvii, 10; xx, 12). Sometimes applieil to lernels of grain, from their kidney-like shape and rich- ness (Deut. xxxii, 14).
Kid'ron (Heb. Kidron', 'ill'lp! hirUd, compare Job vi, 10 ; Sept. Kstipwv, N. T. Kttptui^, John xviii, 1, where some copies erroneously have 'Kicpwv, and the Auth. Version " Cedron ;" Josephus Kicpwv, Gen. -Cjvoq), the brook or winter torrent whicli flows through the valley of Jehoshaphat (as it is now called), on the east side of Jerusalem (see 1 Mace, xii, 37). " The brook Kidron" is the only name by which " the valley" itself is known in Scripture, for it is by no means certain that the name "Valley of Jehoshaphat" in Joel (iii, 12) was intended to apply to this valley. The word rendered " brook" (2 Sam. XV, 23 ; 1 Kings ii, 37 ; xv, 13 ; 2 Kings xxiii, 6, 12; 2 Chron. XV, 10; xxix, 10; xxx, 14; Jer. xxxi,40; compare Neh. ii, 15 ; Amos vi, 14) is ^HJ, ndchal, which may be taken as equivalent to the Arabic wady, mean- ing a stream and its bed or valley, or properly the val- ley of a stream, even when the stream is dry. The Septuagint and evangelist (in the above passages\ as wen as Josephus {Ant. viii, 1, 5; but (pdnay'i in ix, 7,3; War, V, 0, 1), designate it x^'Mcppoc, a storm brook, or winter torrent. But it would seem as if the name were formerly applied also to the ravines surrounding other portions of Jerusalem, the south or west, since Solo- mon's prohibition to Shimei to " pass over the torrent Kidron" (1 Kings ii, 37 ; Josephus, ^ ?^^ viii, 1, 5) is said to have been broken by the latter when he went in the direction of Gath to seek his fugitive slaves (ver. 41,42). Now a person going to Gath would certainly not go by the way of the Moimt of Olives, or approach the eastena side of the city at all. The route — whether Gath were at Beit-Jibrin or at Tell es-Safieh — would be by the Bethlehem gate, and then nearly due west. Perliaps the prohibition may have been a more general one than is implied in ver. 37 (comp. the king's reiteration of it in ver. 42 ), the Kidron being in that ease specially men- tioned because it was on tlie road to Bahurim, Shimei's home, and the scene of his crime. At any rate, beyond the passage in question, there is no evidence of the name Kidron having been applied to the southern or western ravines of the city.
The Kidron is mentioned several times in the Scrip- ture history, being the memorable brook which David crossed barefoot and weeping when fleeing from Absa- lom (2 Sam. XV, 23, 30) ; and Jesus must often have crossed it on his way to the Mt. of Olives and Bethany (see John xviii, 1). According to the Talmud, the blood of the animals slaughtered in the Temple, and other ref- use (probably the impurities from the citj', A'azir, Ivii, 4), were carried through a sewer into the lower Kidron, and thence sold as manure to gardeners (Joma, Iviii, 2). For earlv notices of the Kidron, see AVUliam of Tyre, viii, 2 ; Brocardus, p. 8 ; IJeland, p. 294 sq. The dif tin- guishing peculiarity of the Kidron — that in respect to which it is nx>st frequently mentioned in the O. T. — is the impurity which appears to have been ascribed to it. Excepting the two casual notices already- quoted, we first meet with it as the place in which king Asa demol- ished and burnt the obscene phallic idol (see Asiierah) of his mother (1 Kings xv, 13 ; 2 Chron. xv, 10). Next we find the wicked Athaliali hurried thither to execu- tion (Joseph. .1 nt. ix, 7, 3 ; 2 Kings xi, 10). It then be- comes the regular receptacle for the impurities and abominations of the idol-«orship, when removed from the Temple and destroyed by the adherents of Jcliovah (2 Chron. xxix, 10; xxx, 14; 2 Kings xxiii, 4, G, 12). In the course of tliesc narratives the statement of Jose- phus just quoted as to the death of Athaliah is support- ed by the fact that in the time of Josiah it was the com- mon cemetery of the city (2 Kings xxiii, 0 ; comp. Jer.
KIDRON
ro
KIDRON"
xxvi, 23, " graves of the common people"), perhaps the " valley of dead bodies" mentioned by Jeremiah (xxxi, 40 ) in close connection with the '■ fields" of Kidroii, and the restoration of which to sanctity was to be one of the miracles of future times (ibid.)- It Avas doubtless the Kidron valley which was in the mind of the prophet Ezekifl when he described the vision of the holy and healing waters flowing from the Temple through the desert into the sea (xlvii, 8) ; and this very contrast ■with its customary uses serves to add emphasis to his pro])hecy (comp. Wilson, Lo«cZs of the Bible, '\\,o2.\ Stan- ley, Sip: and Pal. p. 288). How long the valley contin- ued to be used for a burying-place it is very hard to as- certain. After the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 the bodies of the slain were buried outside the Golden Gate- way (Mislin, ii, 487; Toblcr, VnKjehwvjm, p. 218) ; but what had been the practice in the interval the writer has not succeeded in tracing. To the date of the mon- uments at the foot of Olivet we have at present no clew ; but, even if they are of pre-Christian times, there is no proof that they are tombs. From the date just men- tioned, however, the burials ajipear to have been con- stant, and at present it is the favorite resting-place of Moslems and Jews, the former on the west, the latter on the east of the valley. The Moslems are mostly con- fined to the narrow level spot between the foot of the wall and the commencement of the precipitous slope, while the Jews have possession of the lower part of tlie slopes of Olivet, where their scanty tombstones are crowded so thick together as literally to cover the sur- face like a pavement.