A Walk in the Land Deepens Your Walk with the Lord

April 27, 2024

Series–Teaching Notes from John 18:

—I. Verse 1, “[Jesus] went … over the Brook Kidron.”

—Also known as the Kidron Valley

—The eastern boundary of Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 2:36-37)

—Kidron—from a root word that means “black” or “dark,” perhaps because of its dark soil or from the blood of the temple sacrifices dumped into the water

—Brook—a “winter stream” or “wadi,” according to the Dictionary of Biblical Languages; winter rains can be severe in Jerusalem whereas it doesn’t rain during the summer. Today the water is diverted year-round and there is no longer any brook or stream.

—Mentioned by name only here in the New Testament

—11X in the Old Testament, including David’s route of escape during Absalom’s attempted coup (2 Samuel 15:23); and temple debris and idols were dumped or burned here by good kings Asa, Josiah and Hezekiah (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 23:4, 6, 12; 2 Chron. 29:16; 30:14).

—II. The Temple Mount Sifting Project—in 1999 the Muslims began an illegal dig atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in order to construct a new underground mosque for their worshippers. Construction workers dumped the dig debris on the east side of the Kidron Valley in a large field. Jewish archaeologists began sifting through the debris and have since made some amazing discoveries.

—See the graphic below.

—Daniel McCabe