Valley Ofjehoshaphat
Valley Ofjehoshaphat [1]
The name now given to the valley which bounds Jerusalem on the East, and separates it from the Mount of Olives [JERUSALEM].
In; , we read, 'the Lord will gather all nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and plead with them there.' Many interpreters, Jewish and Christian, conclude from this that the last judgment is to take place in the above-mentioned valley. But there is no reason to suppose that the valley then bore any such name; and more discreet interpreters understand the text to denote a valley in which some great victory was to be won, most probably by Nebuchadnezzar, which should utterly discomfit the ancient enemies of Israel, and resemble the victory which Jehoshaphat obtained over the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites . Others translate the name Jehoshaphat into God's judgment, and thus read, 'the valley of God's judgment,' which is doubtless symbolical, like 'the valley of decision,' i.e. of punishment, in the same chapter.
