2 Samuel 15:23

all the country Lit. all the land: the inhabitants who stood by to watch the procession, as distinguished from all the people, the army and retinue of followers accompanying David.

the brook Kidron The ravine of Kidron is the deep ravine on the east of Jerusalem, now commonly known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which separates the city from the Mount of Olives. No stream now flows in it except during the heavy rains of winter, nor is there any evidence that there was anciently more water in it than at present. The name, if it is a Hebrew word, means black, referring either to the blackness of the torrent flowing through it (Job 6:16), or more probably to the gloominess of the ravine. The Sept., following the common tendency to substitute a significant name of similar sound, calls it the ravine of the cedars(χειμάρρους τῶν κέδρων Cedrôn, cp. John 18:1). In the O. T. it is chiefly mentioned as an unhallowed spot used for a common cemetery, into which idolatrous abominations were thrown by reforming kings (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chronicles 29:16; 2Ch 30:14; 2 Kings 23:4; 2Ki 23:6; 2 Kings 23:12; Jeremiah 31:40). The single mention of it in the N. T. is perhaps designed to recall the present occasion and to suggest the parallel between David fleeing from Jerusalem, and Christ leaving the city which had rejected Him, as the treachery of Judas was the counterpart and "fulfilment" of that of Ahithophel (John 18:1; John 13:18).

toward the way of the wilderness The road to Jericho led through the northern part of the desert of Judah. Cp. 2 Samuel 15:28 and ch. 2 Samuel 16:2.