Valley Of Jehoshaphat
From BibleEncyclopedia.Net
Mentioned in Scripture only in Joe_3:2, Joe_3:12. 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 (Psa_83:6-8); and in this valley also God was to overthrow the Tyrians, Zidonians, etc. (Joe_3:4, Joe_3:19), 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.
(עמק יהושׁפט, ‛ēmeḳ yehōshāphāṭ); the latter word means “YHWH judgeth,” and ‛ēmeḳ, “wide,” “open valley”; Septuagint hē koilás Iōsaphát):
The name is used in Joe_3:2, Joe_3:12 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 (‛ēmeḳ) 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 Sirât, dividing heaven and hell, is to stretch across this valley from the Ḥaram 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 preëxilic times (2Ki_23:6, etc.). The valley today, especially that part adjacent to the temple, is crowded with Muslim and Jewish graves. A worthless tradition indicates the tomb of Jehoshaphat himself close to the so-called “Pillar of Absalom.” See 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 naḥal (“ravine”), not an ‛ēmeḳ (“broad valley”). It is impossible not to suspect that there is some connection between the name Jehoshaphat and the name of a village near the head of this valley - Sháphat; perhaps at one time it was Wâdy Sháphat, which name would readily suggest the traditional one.
See Gehenna.
