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Bible Dictionaries
Brook
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or BROOK (John 18:1; (Revised Version margin) ‘ravine, Gr. winter torrent,’ χείμαρρος) is the usual LXX Septuagint equivalent of נַחַל, and seems to correspond in meaning with the Arab. [Note: Arabic.] wâdy = ‘valley,’ but, more particularly, the watercourse in the bottom of the valley. The winter rains, rushing down from the mountain range, have hollowed out great channels westward, towards the Mediterranean. Much deeper are the gullies eastward, where the descent is steeper, towards the Jordan. Most of these are quite dry during the greater part of the year. Although some are called ‘rivers,’ e.g. Nahr el-ʽAujeh, in the Plain of Sharon, and the Kishon, while others, such as el-ʽAmûd, which crosses the Plain of Gennesaret, and el-Yarmuk, which comes down from the eastern uplands, draw abundant supplies from perennial springs, yet ‘brook’ more accurately describes them.
The Kidron contains water only after heavy rains. It is the one ‘brook’ mentioned in the Gospels. Over it Jesus passed from the upper room to Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal.
The name קִרְרוֹן, from קדר, is usually referred to the dark colour of the stream or ravine. The various forms of the name in Gr. are τοῦ κέδρου, τοῦ κεδρών, and τῶν κεδρων. WH [Note: H Westcott and Hort’s text.] in ‘Notes on Select Readings,’ after reviewing the evidence, conclude in favour of τῶν κέδρων. ‘It probably preserves the true etymology of קדרון, which seems to be an archaic (? Canaanite) plural of קדד “the Dark [trees]”; for, though no name from this root is applied to any tree in Bib. Heb., some tree resembling a cedar was called by a similar name in at least the later language (see exx. in Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. 1976); and the Gr. ΚΕΔΡΟ is probably of Phœnician origin.’ They suggest that isolated patches of cedar forests may have survived from prehistoric times. Lightfoot quotes (Chorag. Cent. 40) a Talmudic reference to two gigantic cedars standing on the Mt. of Olives even in the latest days of the Temple (Jerus. [Note: Jerusalem.] Taanith, fol. 69. i), which may be taken as supporting this view.
The valley begins in the wide hollow between the city and Mt. Scopus on the north. Turning southward, and passing under the eastern battlements, by a deep ravine it cuts off Jerusalem from Olivet. It is joined by the Valley of Hinnom, and thence, as Wady en-Nâr, ‘Valley of Fire,’ it winds down an ever deepening gorge, through the Wilderness of Judaea, to the edge of the Dead Sea. The name Wady er-Râhib, ‘Valley of the Monks,’ attaching to part of it, comes from the convent of Mar Saba, built on the right-hand face of the gorge, a sort of reformatory for refractory monks, in the midst of the wilderness.
The modern name of the brook Kidron is Wady Sitti Maryam, ‘Valley of the Lady Mary.’ As early as Eusebius and Jerome it was known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat, Joel 3:2 [Hebrews 4:2]. According to a tradition, common to Jews, Moslems, and Christians, this is to be the scene of the final Judgment. As against the Temple, which overlooked it, the valley ranked as an unclean district, and it seems to have afforded burying-ground for people of the humbler orders (2 Kings 23:6). To this day the Jews greatly covet a grave in the Kidron valley.
W. Ewing.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Brook'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/b/brook.html. 1906-1918.
