Bible Meaning: Dark, dusky place
Strong's Concordance #H6939
Kidron, in reference to the brook and valley near Jerusalem, is called Cedron in the KJV New Testament (John 18:1).
The Kidron Valley is located on the eastern side of the original city of Jebus (Jerusalem) that was conquered by King David. On its western slope, near Mount Ophel, is the Gihon Spring that was the primary source of Jerusalem's water during the Old Testament period.
The Kidron brook ran through the valley of the same name. King David and those with him, with great sadness, crossed the stream as they fled Jerusalem to escape David's son Absalom (2Samuel 15).
King Solomon warned Shimei, who had cursed his father David (2Samuel 16:5 - 13) not to cross the Kidron or he would die (1Kings 2:37). Some of the kings of Judah destroyed idols and other objects of idolatry, some of which came from the temple, in the area's brook and nearby fields (2Kings 23:4, 12, 2Chronicles 15:16, 29:16).
Jesus and his disciples went across the brook, after the Lord's last Passover, on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane to await his arrest (John 18:1).
Another Name?
According to Biblical commentaries, since the 4th century A.D. the Kidron Valley has also been known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat. No evidence exists showing this name, used only in the book of Joel (Joel 3:2), was applied to the valley when the minor prophet wrote from 596 to 586 B.C. The prophetic reference in Joel 3:2 may be only symbolic.
Important Verses
2Samuel 15:14, 23
And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not else escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword . . . And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron . . .
2Kings 23:4, 12
And the king (Josiah) commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel . . .
And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
2Chronicles 29:4 - 5, 16
And he (King Hezekiah) brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,
and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place . . .
And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.
Jeremiah 31:40
And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord: it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.
John 18:1
When Jesus had spoken these words (after his last Passover), he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron (Kidron), where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.