Kidron

• brook near Gethsemane

142:8.4Al­though Je­sus and the apos­tles spent the en­tire month of June in or near Je­ru­sa­lem, they did no pub­lic teach­ing dur­ing this pe­riod. They lived for the most part in tents, which they pitched in a shaded park, or gar­den, known in that day as Geth­sem­ane. This park was sit­u­ated on the west­ern slope of the Mount of Olives not far from the brook Kidron. The Sab­bath week­ends they usu­ally spent with Laz­a­rus and his sis­ters at Beth­any. Je­sus en­tered within the walls of Je­ru­sa­lem only a few times, but a large num­ber of in­ter­ested in­quir­ers came out to Geth­sem­ane to visit with him. One Fri­day evening Nicode­mus and one Joseph of Ari­mathea ven­tured out to see Je­sus but turned back through fear even af­ter they were stand­ing be­fore the en­trance to the Mas­ter’s tent. And, of course, they did not per­ceive that Je­sus knew all about their do­ings.

• Kidron

176:0.2In or­der to avoid the crowds pass­ing along the Kidron val­ley to­ward Geth­sem­ane, Je­sus and his as­so­ciates were minded to climb up the west­ern slope of Oli­vet for a short dis­tance and then fol­low a trail over to their pri­vate camp near Geth­sem­ane lo­cated a short dis­tance above the pub­lic camp­ing ground. As they turned to leave the road lead­ing on to Beth­any, they ob­served the tem­ple, glo­ri­fied by the rays of the set­ting sun; and while they tar­ried on the mount, they saw the lights of the city ap­pear and be­held the beauty of the il­lu­mi­nated tem­ple; and there, un­der the mel­low light of the full moon, Je­sus and the twelve sat down. The Mas­ter talked with them, and pres­ently Na­than­iel asked this ques­tion: “Tell us, Mas­ter, how shall we know when these events are about to come to pass?”

• Kidron

178:3.1Seek­ing again to avoid the crowds pass­ing through the Kidron val­ley back and forth be­tween Geth­sem­ane Park and Je­ru­sa­lem, Je­sus and the twelve walked over the west­ern brow of Mount Oli­vet to meet the road lead­ing from Beth­any down to the city. As they drew near the place where Je­sus had tar­ried the pre­vi­ous evening to dis­course on the de­struc­tion of Je­ru­sa­lem, they un­con­sciously paused while they stood and looked down in si­lence upon the city. As they were a lit­tle early, and since Je­sus did not wish to pass through the city un­til af­ter sun­set, he said to his as­so­ciates:

• Kidron

182:0.1It was about ten o’clock this Thurs­day night when Je­sus led the eleven apos­tles from the home of Eli­jah and Mary Mark on their way back to the Geth­sem­ane camp. Ever since that day in the hills, John Mark had made it his busi­ness to keep a watch­ful eye on Je­sus. John, be­ing in need of sleep, had ob­tained sev­eral hours of rest while the Mas­ter had been with his apos­tles in the up­per room, but on hear­ing them com­ing down­stairs, he arose and, quickly throw­ing a linen coat about him­self, fol­lowed them through the city, over the brook Kidron, and on to their pri­vate en­camp­ment ad­ja­cent to Geth­sem­ane Park. And John Mark re­mained so near the Mas­ter through­out this night and the next day that he wit­nessed ev­ery­thing and over­heard much of what the Mas­ter said from this time on to the hour of the cru­ci­fix­ion.

• Kidron

182:2.10David had ar­ranged to stand guard that night on the up­per trail which led to the Beth­any-Je­ru­sa­lem road, while John Mark was to watch along the road com­ing up by the Kidron to Geth­sem­ane. Be­fore David went to his self-im­posed task of out­post duty, he bade farewell to Je­sus, say­ing: “Mas­ter, I have had great joy in my ser­vice with you. My broth­ers are your apos­tles, but I have de­lighted to do the lesser things as they should be done, and I shall miss you with all my heart when you are gone.” And then said Je­sus to David: “David, my son, oth­ers have done that which they were di­rected to do, but this ser­vice have you done of your own heart, and I have not been un­mind­ful of your de­vo­tion. You, too, shall some day serve with me in the eter­nal king­dom.”