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.