Topic
Jehoshaphat, Valley of
8 passages cited, from 3 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Joel 3:2Easton · Smith · ISBE
I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
- Joel 3:12Easton · Smith · ISBE
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
- 2 Kings 23:6ISBE
And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
- 2 Chronicles 20:26ISBE
¶ And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.
- Psalms 83:6–8Easton
The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.
- Joel 3:4Easton
Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
- Joel 3:14ISBE
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
- Joel 3:19Easton
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 5 references
Mentioned in Scripture only in Joel 3:2, 12. This is the name given in modern times to the valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, and the Kidron flows through it. Here Jehoshaphat overthrew the confederated enemies of Israel (Ps. 83:6-8); and in this valley also God was to overthrow the Tyrians, Zidonians, etc. (Joel 3:4, 19), with an utter overthrow. This has been fulfilled; but Joel speaks of the final conflict, when God would destroy all Jerusalem’s enemies, of whom Tyre and Zidon, etc., were types. The “valley of Jehoshaphat” may therefore be simply regarded as a general term for the theatre of God’s final judgments on the enemies of Israel.
This valley has from ancient times been used by the Jews as a burial-ground. It is all over paved with flat stones as tombstones, bearing on them Hebrew inscriptions.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 2 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 6 references
(`emeq yehoshaphaT); the latter word means "Yahweh judgeth," and `emeq, "wide," "open valley"; Septuagint he koilas Iosaphat): The name is used in Joe 3:2,12 of the scene of Judgment: "Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about" (Joe 3:12). "The valley of decision" (or "sharp judgment") is another name the prophet gives to this spot (Joe 3:14). Some have identified it with the valley (`emeq) of BERACAH (which see) of 2Ch 20:26, where King Jehoshaphat obtained a great victory, but this is improbable.
Since the 4th century AD the KIDRON (which see) valley has been named the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The tradition is now strongest among the Moslems who point out the exact scene of the Judgment; the Bridge As Sirat, dividing heaven and hell, is to stretch across this valley from the Charam area to the Mount of Olives. It is, however, the ambition of every pious Jew to be buried on the slopes of this valley, to be at hand at the resurrection. This, too, was an ordinary place for Jewish graves in preexilic times (2Ki 23:6, etc.). The valley today, especially that part adjacent to the temple, is crowded with Moslem and Jewish graves. A worthless tradition indicates the tomb of Jehoshaphat himself close to the so-called "Pillar of Absalom." Se KING'S VALE. There is not the slightest reason for believing that this is the spot referred to by Joel--indeed he may have spoken of an ideal spot only. The valley of the Kidron is a nachal ("ravine"), not an `emeq ("broad valley"). It is impos sible not to suspect that there is some connection between the name Jehoshaphat and the name of a village near the head of this valley--Shaphat; perhaps at one time it was Wady Shaphat, which name would readily suggest the traditional one.
See GEHENNA.
E. W. G. Masterman
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.