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When Eden was created, it was meant to be a place of sustenance -a garden the man was supposed to work and take care of. But through the serpent’s conniving ways, man betrayed God’s command and created a different trajectory for humanity. As men and women increased in numbers on earth after the fall from the garden, so did the wickedness, corruption and violence brought by the serpent. But God’s word to the serpent prevailed “I will put an enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel,” (Genesis 3:15).
Brook Kidron or the Kidron Valley was situated slightly northeast of the Old City of Jerusalem, which then separates the Temple Mount from the Mount Olives. Throughout scripture, it was marked as a place where David fled, and where idols were burned. It was noted to be the place David fled from his rebellious son, Absalom to suffer for his sin. (2 Samuel 15:23). In Kings 15:13 and 2 Chronicles 15:16, scripture tells us of King Asa’s reform, and how he deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. It is written that King Asa cut down the idol, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Brook Kidron was also known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where all articles and altars made from Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts were carried by the Levites to be left, destroyed and burned (2 Kings 23:4,6,12; 2 Chronicles 15:16, 2 Chronicles 34:4-5).
The significance of Brook Kidron is echoed in Jeremiah 31. The Lord declared, “for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more, (Jeremiah 31:31-34). “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananeel to the Corner Gate. And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 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 forever,” (Jeremiah 31:38-39, ESV; Jeremiah 31:40, KJV).
At the known hour (John 17:1), after Jesus finished praying, He left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side was a garden, and He and His disciples went into it (John 18:1). Now Judas, the betrayer, slithered his way into the garden, like the serpent in Eden with soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees, armed with torches, weapons, and lanterns.
While reading these scriptures, I couldn’t help to think of how much God trusted Adam and Eve and how hurt He must’ve been when their action separated them from Him. Yet, He still wanted them to have a connection with Him as He clothed them on their way out of the garden of Eve. The serpent came to disrupt what God created but its purpose did not prevail. As Adam and Eve’s descendants increased in numbers, so did their betrayal of God’s words. Some followed His path; some sought Him only when they needed Him; while others never sought His words and instead, they worshiped idols. God’s pursuit of a connection with us did not end at the betrayal in Eden by Eve and Adam nor at the betrayal of Jesus by Judas at Brook Kidron.
In His relentless love for us, He sent His Son into the world to save us, and give us eternal life. To this day, He continues to work within us, and all around us for us to return back to the sanctified place.
The Found Sheep
04.24.22