Thaddeus' illustration mentioned above is based on Gen 2:10: “A river flowed out of
The Bible says a river ran from Eden and separated into four rivers: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. The latter two still exist, and speculation places the first two in the same region — ancient Mesopotamia (“between the rivers”), or what is currently known as Iraq, just north of the Persian Gulf.
The rabbinic tradition does not interpret rivers literally, instead, they are believed to represent honey, milk, balsam, and wine. Genesis Rabbah identifies the rivers as four corners of the world: Pishon as Babylonia, Gihon as Media, Hiddekel as Greece, Euphrates as Rome.
Sauer, former curator of the Harvard Semitic Museum, made an argument from geology and history that Pishon referred to what is now the Wadi Bisha, a dry channel which begins in the Hijaz Mountains, near Medina, to run northeast to Kuwait.
The Sefer haYashar, a medieval Hebrew midrash, asserts that in the time of Enos, grandson of Adam, the river Gihon was subject to a catastrophic flood due to the wickedness of man.
To many Ethiopians “Gihon” as they call the Nile is one of the four rivers that flowed out of Eden at the beginning of the World. It was the river mentioned inthe Bible's Genesis. In ancient times powerful Ethiopian kingdoms knew not where the river went exactly, just as the Egyptians knew not where it came from.
He locates the reference to a "Havilah" in Genesis 25:18 as referring to a northern Arabian location. Saadia Gaon's tenth-century Arabic translation of the Hebrew Bible substitutes Havilah with Zeila in present day Somalia.
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary - Pison
Pison [N] [E] [S] changing; extension of the mouth.
Suggestions for the location of the Garden of Eden include the head of the Persian Gulf, as argued by Juris Zarins, in southern Mesopotamia where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers run into the sea; and in the Armenian Highlands or Armenian National Plateau.
Another name for the Tigris used in Middle Persian was Arvand Rud, literally "swift river". Today, however, Arvand Rud (Persian: اروندرود) refers to the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, known in Arabic as the Shatt al-Arab. In Kurdish languages, it is known as Ava Mezin, "the Great Water".
And God called the firmament SCHAMAIM” (which numerous scholars say is the same as “ibi aquae” (“There are waters”), but which they translate as “the Heavens.” “And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 3:3 simply calls it “ the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden.” The biblical 'forbidden fruit' was of course the apple.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven.
The Adamic language, according to Jewish tradition (as recorded in the midrashim) and some Christians, is the language spoken by Adam (and possibly Eve) in the Garden of Eden.
The Prophet Muhammad said: "The Euphrates reveals the treasures within itself Whoever sees it should not take anything from him.". "It [the Euphrates] will uncover a mountain of gold [in it]." - (Sunan Abi Da'ud).
Thaddeus' illustration mentioned above is based on Gen 2:10: “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.” They were the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The picture abounds with features.
Cush, Cushitic and Cushi
Although debates still exist among scholars as to whether Cush, as a geographical location, refers to Africa or Mesopotamia, I am of the opinion that where Cush is used in the entire Old Testament, it refers to nowhere but Africa and persons of African ancestry (Adamo 1986; 2005:14).
In the small southern Iraqi city of Qurna, an unusual shrine stands on the shore of the Tigris: a small, dead tree, protected by low brick walls and surrounded by a concrete plaza. This tree is, according to local legend, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the one that Eve ate from in the Garden of Eden.
For centuries, scholars and historians have been searching for the location of this legendary garden. However, the search has always been inconclusive until recently. The Garden of Eden has finally been found, and it is a groundbreaking discovery that has the potential to rewrite history.
Marah - bitterness - a fountain at the sixth station of the Israelites (Ex. 15:23, 24; Num. 33:8) whose waters were so bitter that they could not drink them.
In the Hebrew Bible, the ordeal of the bitter water was a trial by ordeal administered to a wife whose husband suspected her of adultery but who had no witnesses to make a formal case. It is described in the Book of Numbers (Numbers 5:11–31).
The name Havilah was applied to the territory watered by the Pishon River (Gen. 2:11), which was noted for choice gold, bdellium, and lapis lazuli (Gen. 2:12). Josephus and most Church Fathers identified the land of Havilah with the Ganges Valley.
Cush is traditionally considered the ancestor of the "land of Cush", an ancient territory believed to have been located near the Red Sea. Cush is identified in the Bible with the Kingdom of Kush or ancient Sudan.
A study provides a window into the first 100,000 years of the history of modern humans. The real Garden Of Eden has been traced to the African nation of Botswana, according to a major study of DNA. Scientists believe our ancestral homeland is south of the Zambezi River in the country's north.
(D-1) Assyria: Masters of War
It was bordered on the west by the Syrian desert, on the south by Babylonia, and on the north and east by the Persian and Urarthian hills (see J. D. Douglas, ed., The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, s.v. “Assyria,” 1:137). This area today is primarily the nation of Iraq.