📖 Biblical Definition
A brook is a small stream or seasonal watercourse — and in Scripture it serves as both the channel of private provision and a setting of high drama. Elijah hid by the brook Cherith, where the ravens fed him morning and evening, and where he drank as long as the brook ran (1 Kings 17:3-7). David hid from Saul at En Gedi and Adullam, by such brooks. Most famously, Christ crossed the brook Kidron on the night of His arrest, going into the garden of Gethsemane: "When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron" (John 18:1). The brook is the scale at which God often sustains His saints — quiet, narrow, enough.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
BROOK, n.
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A small stream or current of water, less than a river, but larger than a rill or rivulet. It often dries in summer.
📖 Key Scripture
1 Kings 17:6 — "The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning... and he drank of the brook."
Psalm 42:1 — "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."
John 18:1 — "Jesus... went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron."
1 Samuel 17:40 — "He... chose him five smooth stones out of the brook."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern discipleship skips the brook and starts at the platform.
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Every giant-slayer has a brook behind him. David did not grab stones from the palace armory — he stooped at a brook. Elijah did not feast at Ahab's table — he drank from Cherith, and one day the brook dried up and taught him the next lesson: Arise, get thee to Zarephath.
The brook is small by design. God trains men at small streams before He sends them to rivers. The celebrity-pastor pipeline skips the brook — which is why so many platform-built men crash in scandal. Find the brook. Drink there. When God is ready, He will dry it up and move you. Until then, the brook is holy ground.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew nachal (H5158); Greek cheimarros (G5493).
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H5158 — nachal — wadi, torrent-valley, brook
G5493 — cheimarros — winter-stream, brook; used of Kidron
Usage
"No brook, no Goliath — God trains in narrow places first."
"When the brook dries up, it is not God's abandonment; it is His reassignment."
"Five smooth stones from a small brook; one giant down. That is the economy of God."