THE VALLEY OF THE KIDRON, LOOKING FROM JERUSALEM INTO THE WILDERNESS OF JUDEA. ON THE LEFT IS THE VILLAGE OF SILOAM.
Used by special permission of the Detroit Photograph Company.
This is a very different view of the valley of the Kidron or the valley of Jehoshaphat from those previously shown. The village of Siloam, at the base of the Mount of Olives, is on the left and Jerusalem is out of view on the right. There is now no water in the ravine except in a very rainy season, but no doubt there was a stream in ancient times. There is a spring which rises in the valley, and which perhaps once flowed through it, but was diverted to flow through the remarkable tunnel, built probably by Hezekiah, through the ridge of the southern part of the temple hill. A very ancient inscription found at the mouth of the tunnel in 1880 confirms this view.
And the captains over hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they took every man his men, those that were to come in on the Sabbath, with those that were to go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. And the priest delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been King David's, which were in the house of the Lord.
And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, by the king round about.
Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, "God save the king!"
And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the house of the Lord: and she looked, and, behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the manner was, and the captains and the trumpets by the king; and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets.
Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, "Treason, treason!"