Kidron Valley

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The Old City of Jerusalem, as seen from across the Kidron Valley.
Kidron Valley viewed from the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Kidron Valley (classical transliteration, Cedron, from Hebrew: נחל קדרון‎, Naḥal Qidron; also Qidron Valley; Arabic: وادي الجوز‎, Wadi al-Joz) is the valley on the eastern side of The Old City of Jerusalem, separating the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. It continues east through the Judean Desert, towards the Dead Sea, descending 4000 feet along its 20 mile course. The settlement Kedar, located on a ridge above the valley, is named after it. The neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz bears the valley's Arabic name.[1] The Bible calls the Valley "Valley of Jehoshaphat - Emek Yehoshafat.” It appears in Jewish eschatologic prophecies, which include the return of Elijah, followed by the arrival of the Messiah, and the War of Gog and Magog and Judgment Day.[1]

The central point of reference for the Kidron Valley is its confluence of Jerusalem’s richest concentration of rock-hewn tombs. This area, located on the periphery of the village Silwan, was one of the main burial grounds of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period.[2] Several of these tombs were also used later in time, either as burial or as shelters for hermits and monks of the large monastic communities, which inhabited the Kidron Valley.[3] The ancient tombs in this area attracted the attention of ancient travelers, most notably Benjamin of Tudela.

Influence of the Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela

There is no general account of the Mediterranean world or of the Middle East in this period which approaches that of Benjamin of Tudela in importance, whether for Jewish or for general history. Most of his record written in the 12th century is concise and clear, presumably only a précis of the ampler material he brought back with him. He indicates the distances between the various towns he visited, tells who stood at the head of the Jewish synagogal communities, and who were the most notable scholars.[4] He gives the number of Jews he found in each place, though it is not clear in many instances whether he is speaking of individuals or of householders, and in some cases such as Baghdad, the figures seem to be exaggerated. This may be due to the corrupt state of the text as we now have it. He notes economic conditions, describing the activity of merchants from various lands in Barcelona, Montpellier, and Alexandria, and speaking frequently of the occupations of the Jews – the dyers in Brindisi, the silkweavers in Thebes, the tanners in Constantinople, and the glassworkers in Aleppo and Tyre.[4] He was deeply interested in Jewish scholarship, and his account of intellectual life in Provence and Baghdad is of singular importance, as is his characterization of the organization of synagogal life in Egypt. Sects, too, engage his attention, not only the Samaritans in Palestine, but also the Karaites in Constantinople and a heretical sect in Cyprus, which he relates, observed the Sabbath from dawn to dawn.[4] His somewhat highly colored account of the Assassins of Lebanon and of the Ghuzz Turks are primary historical sources, and he is said to be the first European of modern times to mention China by the present name.[4] The importance of the work can be gauged from the fact that it has been translated into almost every language of Europe, and is used as a primary source book by all medieval historians.

The Itinerary maintains a parallel track throughout with respect to Jewish sovereignty and the Kidron Valley area. It is the main historical document used by modern archeologists and historians to identify the Kidron Valley and its historical significance. Historians also glean information regarding cultural settlement patterns and Jewish societal norms from this text. When Benjamin narrates his travels among the Jews in Damascus, the lists of communal elders diminish. This fact would coincide with the traditions of the Middle Eastern communities that held a more hierarchic code of government. In several communities we meet individuals with the honorific title, Nasi, or “Prince.” This title seems to indicate that its bearer ascribed his family lineage to the house of King David. The function of these men was governance of the community.


Kidron Valley in Eschatology

The Bible calls the Valley "Valley of Jehoshaphat - Emek Yehoshafat" (Hebrew: עמק יהושפט‎), meaning "The valley where God will judge." In the times of the Old Testament kings, the Kidron Valley was identified with, at least in part, the King’s Garden; the kings owned land in the area.[4] That the Kidron Valley was also known as the King’s Valley and in which Absalom set up his monumental pillar, is problematic. The Bible does not make this identification explicit, and the association can only be inferred as associated with En-rogel, which is at the lower end of the Kidron Valley.[5]

It should be noted that not all scholars agree with the traditional view that the Kidron Valley is the location of the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Biblical commentator Adam Clarke maintains this view, claiming that the Valley of Judgment is a symbolic place.[6] Kidron Valley was not associated with the Valley of Jehoshaphat until the 4th century AD.[7]

A passage in the Bible mentions that God will assemble all nations in the “Valley of Jehoshaphat” (Joel Joel 3:2, Joel 3:12). Some hold that the Valley of Jehoshaphat (“Yahweh shall judge” ) refers to the valley situated between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives to the east. It was in this valley where king Jehoshaphat is thought to have overthrown the enemies of Israel (2Chr. 2Chr. 20:26). Its identification with the Kidron Valley, which began in the fourth century, is somewhat uncertain since no actual valley of this name is known to pre-Christian antiquity.

Tomb Sites

The Akeldama complex includes three separate burial caves, hewn into the Jerusalemite rock surface. Each cave contained two to three changers with loculi (burial niches,) and an inner chamber hewn with arcosolia (arched shelves) and burial troughs.[2] Special chambers serve as ossuary repositories. Decorated stone doors fitted with pivots closed some of the chambers. The tombs on the eastern side of the Kidron Valley are among the most well- known landmarks of ancient Jerusalem. These are the tombs of Absalom and Jehoshaphat, the tomb of Benei Hezir and the tomb of Zechariah, dating from the Hasmonaean period to the Jewish War.[8] Only the few wealthy and respected families of the time were able to afford tombs in this area.

The tomb of Zechariah is about 24 ft southwest of the façade of the tomb of Benei Hezir (Hezir Family).[8] It is a square monolith with a three-stepped base. The upper section comprises a pyramid on a base. The form, free stands in a rectangular form hewn from surrounding rock. The Monument of Absalom is named following the Jewish tradition in II Sam. 18, 18: “now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar which is in the King’s Valley, for he said; I have no son to keep my name in remembrance, he called the pillar his own name; and it is called Absalom’s monument to this day.”

Loculi in Absalom's pillar.


Archeological Detail

Absalom’s tomb consists of two parts. First, a lower rock-hewn square cube decorated with engaged Ionic columns bearing a Doric frieze and crowned by an Egyptian cornice.[2] This substructure contains a small chamber with two acrosolia and an entrance; this part of the monument is the actual tomb.[2] The second part consists of an upper section built of ashlars. These consist of a round drum in the form of a pedestal topped by a concave conical roof, of Roman style. This nefesh was built as a type of tholus.[1] This upper part was the nefesh for the lower tomb monument, and possible for the adjacent Tomb of Jehoshaphat. The monument of Abshalom is dated to the 1st century CE.[2]

Literally, the word Nefesh, means ‘soul’ but in a funerary context it is the term applied to a form of funerary monument. In descriptions of the tombs of the Jewish nobility, the pyramid shape is also emphasized as the mark of a tomb. This would imply that nefesh and pyramid were synonymous. An additional passage appears in Josephus’s description of the tomb of Helene. The Jewish tombs in the Kidron Valley, Jerusalem, are the best examples of this form of nefesh.[9] They appear as a rectangular, pyramid-capped monument. Similar forms of the nefesh decorate ossuaries, with the addition of a dome-capped column. The nefesh as a tomb monument in Jerusalem stood above, or beside the tomb; set on steps or on a base.[10] The tomb of Absalom consists of a lower rock-hewn cube, an upper ‘drum,’ and a cone built of ashlar stones.[10]

Scriptural Significance

It might be argued that the name ‘King’s Valley’ derived from its proximity just east of the palace of David in the City of David on the western slopes of the Kidron Valley and south of where the platform was built.[11] The biblical account about David comes from the book of Samuel and the book of Chronicles (each of which are divided into two books in Jewish and Christian traditions).[10] While almost half of the Psalms are headed "A Psalm of David", the headings are later additions, and no psalm can be attributed to David with certainty. Chronicles merely retells Samuel from a different theological vantage point, and contains little if any information not available there, and the biblical evidence for David is therefore dependent almost exclusively on the material contained in the chapters from 1 Samuel 16 to 1 Kings 2.[10]

According to the Tanakh, King David fled through the valley during the rebellion of Absalom. According to the New Testament Jesus crossed the valley many times traveling between Jerusalem and Bethany.

Contemporary

In 1989, the Jerusalem Municipality conducted routine development work in the area. Upon widening a narrow street near one of the approached to the Silwan Village, bulldozers uncovered a number of square openings hewn into rock. The Israel Antiquities Authority immediately stopped the road construction. After uncovering the underground spaces, archeologists found themselves standing inside large burial complexes which appeared intact. Moving carefully from one chamber to another, flashlights revealed an abundance of artifacts scatters on the floors, pottery and glass vessels, oil lamps and many ornamental ossuaries. The three large caves proved to be part of an extensive Jewish burial ground in use at the end of the Second Temple Period, which terminated in the year 70 AD, when Jerusalem was conquered and the Temple destroyed by the Roman legions.[12]

There is a controversial proposal to reconstruct part of the valley in a Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem and turn it into a park to be called the Garden of the King.[13]

Photos

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References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Goffart, Walter. After Rome’s Fall. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Hachlili, Rachel. Jewish Funerary Customs, Practices and Rites in the Second Temple Period. Boston: Brill, Leiden, 2005.
  3. ↑ Goodman, Martin. Jews in a Graeco-Roman World. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Adler, Marcus Nathan. The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela. London: Oxford University Press, 1907.
  5. ↑ Kloner, Amos, and Boaz Zissu. The Necropolis of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period. Leuven: Peeters, 2007.
  6. ↑ http://www.godrules.net/library/clarke/clarkejoe3.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.studylight.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T5301
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Avni, Gideon, Zvi Greenhut, and Tamar Shadmi. The Akeldama Tombs: Three Burial Caves in the Kidron Valley, Jerusalem. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 1996.
  9. ↑ Cohen, Shaye J. D. From the Maccabees to the Mishnah. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Finegan, J. The Archeology of the New Testament. Princeton, 1969.
  11. ↑ Asher, Adolf, trans. and ed. The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela. Vol. 1, Text, Bibliography, and Translation; vol 2, Note and Essays. New York: “Hakesheth” Publishing Co., 1840.
  12. ↑ Hirschfeld, Yizhar. Qumran in Context: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004.
  13. ↑ Gan Hamelech residents wary of Barkat’s redevelopment plan, Abe Selig, Feb. 16, 2010, Jerusalem Post.

Coordinates: 31°47′14″N 35°19′11″E / 31.78722°N 35.31972°E / 31.78722; 35.31972

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