And a river went out of Eden, to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four main streams.
One stream rises in Eden. It waters the garden, then splits into four great rivers that run out into the wider world. The details sound like geography, yet Scripture never names the main river. So what is this short account for?
Commentators read this as history, not poetry. They still admit the map is hard to draw. One writer places the garden where these rivers rise:
The point matters little in itself. What matters is that we hold the whole account of Paradise to be history in the strictest and fullest sense. More than that, the position of these rivers seems to me to explain the account given here, which has often been a difficulty to many. If the garden of Eden lay in that region (that is, in Armenia), in the part where the springs or watershed of these rivers rise, they would all lie within one limited area, surrounding this garden.
Two of the four are still household names today, but the land they cross is not what it was:
The last two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, are well-known rivers today, though the flood will have changed the shape of the land so much that their courses cannot be the same.
Scripture names the four branches. It never names the river they come from. One writer sees that silence as deliberate:
Notice that in these verses we first hear of a "river." Which river it was that went out from Eden to water the garden seems to be withheld on purpose. If it vanished when the garden was no longer seen, the wisdom of Scripture's silence is not hard to see. Some argue, like the poet Milton, that the Tigris watered paradise. Others say it was the Euphrates and the Tigris joined together. Both certainly do violence to the inspired text.
A reference work comes at it from the other side. Every search for the garden has failed, because "it belonged to the time of innocence, and as that has gone, the earthly paradise has long ceased to exist" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
Notice the order in the verse. The water reaches the garden first. Only then does it divide.
The source of these rivers was the territory from which God had ordered that blessing should flow. River-streams took their source in Eden. This is how the garden was watered, and all their freshness was there. From there the waters flowed here and there. They surrounded other countries and gave them their character… The garden was the first object, but from there they flowed around the world, which needed them.
The number of the branches carries its own meaning:
"Four" is a number with a definite meaning attached to it. The river with four heads went out of Eden to water the garden, and through it the whole earth received its refreshment from the original fountain. Four Gospel writers record the life of Him who was sent to be the Saviour of the world, and their testimony is for the whole earth.
The river is not only a water supply. The same picture returns at the end of the Bible:
Scripture also mentions a river flowing out of the garden. It clearly rose from a spring in the earth, but it watered the garden as it flowed. This speaks of the blessing of God by His word and Spirit. So does the "river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb," described in Revelation 22:1. But this river from the garden of Eden parted into four different rivers, showing blessing increasing as the waters flowed.
The link to Revelation is also a contrast. The difference is in the dividing:
The reference to Genesis 2 is unmistakable: "A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden." The heavenly city's river does not part "into four heads," as the river of Eden did. Nor does it part into east and west, like the living waters of Zechariah. One river flows throughout the city, and one joy is shared by all. In the same way there is only one tree of life, not two trees named on their own, as in the garden on earth. Moses mentions the tree of life first. John refers to the river of life first.
- Source. One unnamed river rises in Eden — the place from which God ordered blessing to flow.
- Garden. Its first work is the garden itself. The freshness is there before it goes anywhere else.
- Four. From there it parts into four heads — the number tied to the whole earth.
- Silence. Scripture never names the main river or fixes the site. That paradise belonged to innocence, and innocence has gone.
- City. Eden's river divided; the last river does not — one river, one tree, one joy, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
The name of the one is Pison that is it which surrounds the whole land of Havilah, where the gold is.
The Pishon — spelled Pison in some translations — is the first of the four streams that flowed out of Eden's river. Two questions follow: is this real geography, and why does the story of paradise stop to point out gold?
One writer sets the geography question aside for the thing that does matter:
This is only a side point. Where the rivers ran is of no great importance in itself. What matters is that we should hold the entire account of Paradise to be historical in the strictest and fullest sense.
Genesis names the Tigris and the Euphrates and moves on. Pishon and Gihon each get a description of the land they encircle. That difference is itself a clue:
It is remarkable that the two less well-known rivers get a fuller description than the rivers everyone knows. This shows that the Spirit of God takes an interest and gives us a thread to help us. We are therefore justified in supposing that Scripture describes them just because they might have been harder to recognise.
Some are content to leave the question open:
Land encircled by the river Pison, where there was fine gold and precious stones. No one has identified it.
Others point to a region long known for gold:
Reland has given strong reasons for concluding that the Pison is the Phasis, though Colonel Chesney argues for the Halys. Reland even held that Colchis, the region the Phasis runs through, is simply the Greek form of Havilah. Ancient sources link gold and precious stones with that land more clearly than with the land the Halys skirts.
One writer notes which metal Genesis names first, and where in the story it appears:
Scripture speaks of copper very early (Genesis 4:22), where it calls Tubal-cain a teacher of those who worked in brass. Tellingly, Genesis names gold first, and before the fall: "the gold of that land is good." God's glory comes first. It may also mean something that copper appears in connection with the family of Cain.
Later Scripture shows what gold stands for:
Gold is a figure of the glory of God, of His attributes of righteousness, holiness, wisdom, power, goodness and truth — everything suggested by the purity, brightness and value of the metal. This is not guesswork. Under God's direction, gold was used wherever these great facts were to be shown. Solomon's temple, as God's earthly dwelling, was overlaid with gold, even its floor (1 Kings 6:21-22, 30). And in the book of Revelation the heavenly city is described as "having the glory of God"; "and the city was pure gold, like clear glass."
Some writers read the names themselves as a picture. The stream does not just pass Havilah; it wraps right around it.
Pison, "increase," is first; it encircles the land of Havilah, "anguish" or "travail," where the gold is that is good. Gold is the symbol of God's glory. Christ has won increase for eternity by encircling the land of anguish — the birth-pains of the new creation, of which He is the Beginning. There, all the same, the glory of God has been found in all its wealth. And if faith can say now, "the gold of that land is good," how much more in the eternal day!
Another writer reads the same river as a picture of God's providence:
Leaving Eden, the river parted into four heads, marking the beginning of God's ways worldwide. The first head became the river Pison, which encircled the land of Havilah, a land that spoke of the richness, fragrance and glory of God's providence in its gold, bdellium and onyx stones.
The last book of the Bible shows another river, in another paradise:
In the earthly paradise there was a river, and with it the riches of the earth, the gold and precious stones (Genesis 2:10-12). In the Paradise of God the seer is shown "the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Revelation 22:1). God and the Lamb are the source of divine life and heavenly freshness. Everything flows from the throne that orders all for His glory and the blessing of His own.
- Source. One unnamed river left Eden and split into four named heads — the start of God's ways reaching out over the whole earth.
- Stream. Pishon gets a fuller description than the famous Tigris and Euphrates — a thread left for readers who would need help finding it.
- Land. Where Havilah stood is disputed; some say it has never been identified, others place it at Colchis, long famous for gold.
- Gold. Gold is named before copper, and before the fall — God's glory comes first in the record.
- Glory. The earthly paradise had a river with gold and precious stones; the Paradise of God has the river of the water of life, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
Genesis 2 stops in the middle of the garden story to name a land, its gold, and two other treasures. Why does Scripture record where the good gold lies, and what do writers make of a verse that looks like plain geography?
The names in this verse were already obscure to later readers. One writer admits the difficulty, using the Hebrew forms of the words for bdellium and onyx:
The account has the difficulties that come from countries obscure to later generations, both in their own names and in the names of their products. People have debated Havilah and Cush nearly as much as Pison and Gihon, and they have debated just as much what B'dolach and Shoham exactly mean.
Commentators differ over where Havilah was. Some argue confidently for particular rivers and regions; others hold back. One writer states the caution plainly:
No opinion has been clearly proved, because the text itself presents serious difficulties as to its meaning.
This is the Bible's first mention of gold, and one writer notes where it falls in the story:
Suggestively, gold is mentioned first and before the fall: "The gold of that land is good" (Gen. 2:11-12). God's glory is first.
The same writer explains what gold stands for, and answers the objection that gold is the stuff of idols:
Any of God's creatures becomes a source of evil only when man puts it to evil uses. Gold is the most precious thing man has, so it makes a fitting emblem of the rights that belong to God alone — the rights man wrongly hands to his idol. Gold, then, is a figure of the glory of God, of His righteousness, holiness, wisdom, power, goodness and truth. It stands for everything the purity, brightness and value of the metal suggest... Solomon's temple was God's home on earth, and gold covered it, even its floor (1 Kings 6:21-22, 30). And in the book of Revelation the heavenly city has "the glory of God", and "the city was pure gold, like clear glass."
Bdellium is a rare word, and writers weigh two meanings for it:
People have taken the word bedolach to mean both a clear white oily gum and a white pearl. The description of the manna refers to its colour in Numbers 11:7, and in Genesis 2:12 it stands with gold and onyx stones as a mark of the land of Havilah. The white pearl seems the more likely picture, since Exodus 16:14 also compares the manna to frost.
One writer traces both stones to Christ, holding together His greatness and His lowliness:
His glory as the Firstborn in Creation may be shown in the first precious stone named in the Bible, the onyx (Gen. 2:12). It is also the first in the group in Job 28:16-19, and there it is called the "precious onyx" — the only single stone given that title, except where Christ is spoken of as the Stone, chosen and precious. The onyx stones were on the shoulders of the High Priest... Genesis 2:12 names the bdellium with it alone, and bdellium is named only once more in Scripture, in Numbers 11:7, where it describes the manna. This confirms what we have said. If we have the glory of Christ as the Firstborn of all Creation in the onyx, we are reminded that when He came into His Creation He came in lowly grace as the Manna, whose appearance was like bdellium.
One writer reads the Hebrew names themselves as a small parable — riches found in a place of pain:
Pison, which means "increase," comes first. It winds round the land of Havilah, which means "anguish" or "travail," and the gold there is good... The Hebrew word for bdellium means "in trouble," and the word for onyx-stone means "their recompense." Here we may get a hint of how faith is joined to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that follow. Those who find their increase through the anguish of Christ are given not only to believe but to suffer for Him. Suffering leads to being glorified with Him, so there is both the trouble and the recompense.
The Bible's last picture of heaven brings back gold and jewels:
Scripture describes heaven as a city of gold and jewels, just as here we have the gold of the land of Havilah, which is "good", and bdellium and the onyx stone, precious jewels. They foreshadow that final display, when God at last will be free to let all the brightness of His glory shine out to His ransomed creatures.
- Good place. The verse names a real land with real treasure. Where Havilah lay is debated, and writers admit the text is hard to pin down.
- Good gold. Gold enters the Bible here, before the fall, and God calls it good — it is only misuse that ever made it a snare.
- Gold as glory. Because of its purity, brightness and worth, gold stands for the glory of God: the temple floor, and the city of pure gold.
- Gold at cost. The names read as suffering and reward — increase found by way of anguish, trouble paired with recompense.
- Gold at the end. What lay scattered in Havilah's soil fills the city of gold and jewels at the end, when God's glory shines out to His ransomed creatures.
And the name of the second river is Gihon that is it which surrounds the whole land of Cush.
Genesis 2:13 names the second of the four streams that flowed out from the one river of Eden, and ties it to a land called Cush. Two questions follow: where did this water run, and why does Scripture record such geography at all?
The river that watered the garden is not named. Only when it splits into four does the account start naming rivers and lands. One writer sees here blessing flowing out from the place God appointed:
Scripture had not yet mentioned rivers, though it had mentioned seas and dry land. Their source was the land from which God had ordered blessing to flow… Their freshness all was there. From there the waters flowed here and there. By their course they surrounded and gave their character to other countries. So the sense would be — "And a river-source was in Eden to water the garden; and from there it was distributed, and became four principal streams." Of these we know two, and two are uncertain — which is not very surprising… The primary object was the garden; but from there they flowed around the world which needed it.
Older translations read "Ethiopia" here, which points readers to Africa. But the name is Cush, and it belongs to a man in the family lists as well as to land:
The Ethiopia of verse 13 is really Cush, of whom we read in Genesis 10:6. There appears to have been a district bearing his name between Mesopotamia and India, as well as the better known land we now call Abyssinia.
The identification is not settled. One writer puts the difficulty plainly: "Ethiopia (margin Cush) is then a difficulty as to what country" (J. N. Darby).
Commentators differ over which modern river this is. One writer argues for a northern river, on the ground that Cush was not only African:
Reland has clearly proved… that the Gihon is the Araxes, or Aras… There is no doubt that the Gihon or Aras encircled the Cossaei, the descendants of Cush. There was an Asiatic Cush no less than an African, and widely dispersed too. This certainty explains "the rivers of Cush" in Isaiah 18:1.
Another writer places both of the lesser-known rivers north of Eden: "one running into the Black Sea, the other into the Caspian… the Phasis and the Aras or Araxes" (William Kelly).
Scripture gives some details and holds others back. One writer calls that silence mercy, not a gap:
What is given clearly was worth knowing. God holds back the details that would only satisfy man's curiosity, or might expose people to dangerous superstition. The burial place of Moses is not the only spot which divine wisdom has veiled from human sight. And the site of the lost paradise might have become the goal of an even wider — indeed worldwide — pilgrimage of folly and evil. The sad truth is that sin led to man's expulsion. He is an outcast.
The lands named by the rivers may each point to something God has in view:
Ethiopia may show that God has before His eye even the distant lands. Assyria may show that God is watching the land that will be closely tied to Israel. The Euphrates may show that God is already marking out the borders of Israel.
The meanings of the two names together form a picture of rescue:
The second river of Eden is Gihon, "the bringer-forth." It surrounds the whole land of Cush, which means "terror," or "black." Christ is our Deliverer from the land of our terror and blackness. In this way God in His mercy brings us out of darkness into marvellous light… To this end Christ first entered the land of terror and blackness, and came out as the firstborn from among the dead. Those who believe share in His triumph.
- Source. One unnamed river rose in Eden. It watered the garden first, and only then divided into four.
- Spread. The four streams "flowed around the world which needed it." Eden's freshness reached out to named lands beyond the garden.
- Reach. Cush may be a district between Mesopotamia and India, and also the land now called Abyssinia. Even far-off lands are under God's eye.
- Silence. Two of the four rivers are known, two are still debated. Scripture hides the exact site of paradise, so curiosity cannot turn the lost garden into superstition.
- Rescue. Gihon means "the bringer-forth." It circles a land whose name means terror and blackness. That points to Christ, who entered the darkness and came out first from among the dead.
And the name of the third river is Hiddekel that is it which flows forward toward Asshur. And the fourth river, that is Euphrates.
Genesis 2:14 closes the list of four streams that flowed from the one river of Eden. It is the only one of those verses that names rivers still on modern maps. Two questions press: can we still trace this geography, and why does Scripture record it at all?
Two of the four names never dropped out of use:
Scripture describes the garden, and mentions two rivers that certainly exist today. There can be no doubt that the Euphrates and the Tigris, or Hiddekel, named here, are the same two rivers that still go by those names.
Hiddekel appears only once more in the whole Bible, and there it is the setting for a vision:
This river is only mentioned by name in one other place (Gen. 2:14). Most identify it with the Tigris, from both geography and the origin of its name. If this is correct, Daniel would have had to cross it on his journeys to Shushan (Dan. 8:2) from Babylon.
The four streams all get names; the river they came from does not. Verse 14 then spends almost no words on the Euphrates, while verses 11 and 12 spend several lines on Pison and Havilah. One writer explains why:
The river that watered paradise has no name, and that silence is the more striking because the four rivers it was parted into are carefully named. The last was well known enough to need no description. Its companion called for the very few words, "that which flows toward," or in front of, "Assyria." The first and second get a fuller description, since Israel hardly knew them, and in fact the scriptures never mention them anywhere else.
Some argue the named rivers settle the location near their sources in the highlands:
The text then settles the Armenian table-land as the true place, and disproves every version of the scheme that puts the garden and the rivers described here in Babylonia. As to the moral lesson, it was only a test for the creature, and neither the river nor paradise was permanent.
Others say the passage is too brief to settle anything:
That there were four rivers is fairly clear. Of the four heads, two are named and well known as rivers — Tigris and Euphrates. Nobody has identified the other two for certain… No opinion has been proved, because the text itself is seriously hard to understand.
A third view treats the search as closed for good. The garden "belonged to the time of innocence, and as that has gone, the earthly paradise has long ceased to exist" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
Assyria first appears in the Bible here, as a place a river runs past:
The early mention of Assyria in Genesis 2:14 shows how important it is in the ways of God. So does Genesis 10:11, which might read, "he (Nimrod) went to Assyria, and built Nineveh."
The same writer reads the whole list as a map of God's later dealings. Assyria shows "that God is watching the land that is to be closely linked with Israel," and the Euphrates "that God is already marking out the bounds of Israel" (An Outline of Sound Words).
The fourth river opens a thread that runs to the end of the Bible:
Among the many rivers mentioned in Scripture are the Euphrates and the Jordan. The Euphrates stands out in the ways of God with the nations of the world. Its first mention is in Genesis 2:14 and its last in Revelation 16:12. There, as the great barrier between east and west, its waters are dried up "to prepare the way for the kings from the east," so they may enter the conflicts of the last days.
Between those two points it becomes a promised border: "It was the N.E. boundary of the land promised to Abraham, as the river of Egypt was the S.W. Gen. 15:18" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
Some writers press the names themselves for spiritual instruction:
The third river is Hiddekel, which means "sharp words." "The word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword." Mark presents the Lord Jesus as a servant. Connect the name with that, and we find His word full of power and authority. Those who opposed Him felt its sharp keen edge all the way through. Demon, disease and death all fled at His word.
- One source. The river that watered the garden is left without a name, while the four rivers it divided into are all carefully named.
- Four heads. Two of the four needed no description, since everyone knew them; the two Israel did not know are described at length.
- Two known. Hiddekel (the Tigris) and Euphrates are still on the map. Pison and Gihon are not, and commentators differ over where Eden lay.
- Two nations marked. The verse names Assyria, a land God is watching, and the Euphrates, the border of the land God promised Abraham.
- One ending. The Euphrates is first mentioned in Eden and last mentioned in Revelation 16:12, dried up to open the way for the kings from the east.