🔼The name Kidron: Summary
- Meaning
- Dark, Turbid
- Etymology
- From the verb קדר (qadar), to be or become dark.
🔼The name Kidron in the Bible
Kidron (in some translations known as Cedron) is the name of a brook near Jerusalem and there seems to be something ominous about this brook. David crossed it on his flight from Absalom, and after crossing it he went up the Mount of the Olives weeping (2 Samuel 15:23).
A thousand years later, Jesus crosses the Kidron (spelled Κεδρων; this is the only time that this brook is mentioned in the New Testament) and immediately after this, he is betrayed by Judas and enters the cycle that results in his crucifixion at Golgotha (John 18:1).
The Kidron is mentioned as the border of the allotted range of Shimei, the one who cursed David. When he crosses the Kidron, Solomon has him executed (1 Kings 2:36-46).
Jeremiah also uses the Kidron as a border, namely the outermost reach of what will be holy to the Lord (Jeremiah 31:40). The Kidron is also the scene of one of the most thorough cleansings of religious Israel, when all the unjust altars and images were rounded up and destroyed (1 Kings 15:13 first, and then 2 Kings 23:4).
🔼Etymology of the name Kidron
The name Kidron comes from the verb קדר (qadar), meaning to be dark, dirty or gloomy:
קדר
The verb קדר (qadar) means to be or become dark, gloomy or dirty. Noun קדרות (qadrut) means darkness. Adverb קדר (qedorannit) describes mourners.
The waw-nun extension serves to personify or localize the root; Kidron means Dark One.
🔼Kidron meaning
For a meaning of the name Kidron, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Dark, Turbid. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads Very Black, Full Of Darkness.