The statement of Genesis, that the river which went out of Eden was parted into four heads, is explained by the fact that the Persian Gulf was held to be a river by the Babylonians, and was accordingly called by them nar marratum, ' the bitter river.' In the second millennium B.C., not only the Tigris and Euphrates, but other rivers besides flowed into it ; but the tide, which carried the salt water a long wav up their channels, made it possible to speak of their mouths as 'heads.' The Ti-jris was called Idi'da and Idigna, ' the encircling, in Sumerian, and irf signified 'a river.' The Pison and Gihon were identified by Sir Henry Rawlinsoii with the Uknu and Surappu, which Tiglatli- pileser III. couples with the Tigris in southern Babylonia (Report of Fortieth Meeting of British Assoc, p. 173). Subsequently he held the Pison to be the Arakhtu or canal on which Babylon was built; and the (Jihon the modem Jfikh.l, which flows westward from the Euplirates towards Abu- Shahrein. Friedrich Delitzsch also identifies the (iihon with the Arakhtu, which he believes to be the Shattrn-Nll of to-day ; but the Pison with the Pallukat, the Pallacopaa of classical geography.
The names of the two rivers are, nowever, still unidentified in the inscriptions. But the land of Havilah encompassed by tiio Pison was the ' sandy' region of northern Arabia, which extended west- ward towards the frontier of Egypt (Gn 2;')",
644
EDER
EDOM, EDOMITES
1 S IS'). The ' bdellium ' that came from it may be the budilkhati of tlie cuneiform inscriptions, which is preceded by the determinative of vegetable; the ' onj'x-stone ' or shoham is the Assyr. sArntu, which we are told was brought from the desert wliich lay to the east of Egypt.
The Gilion is perhaps the Kerkha, which rises east of the Tigris among the mountains of Liiristan, formerly inhabited by the Kosaieans, called Kassi in the cuneiform texts. The whole of Susiana was termed Kissia or Kyssia by the classical ^vriters, and its two chief rivers were the Euljeus or Choaspes, the modern Kerklia, and the Pasi-tisris, the niodem Kardn. In a cuneiform text the Ulai or EuIjeus is described as entering 'the sea.' The land of Nod or the ' Nomads,' to tlie east of Edom, would correspond ^vith the country of the nomad Sute and Manda in the Babylonian inscriptions.
Pinches has found the name of Pardfisu or ' Para- dise ' as that of a country, apparently mythological, in some Babylonian cuneiform tablets {PSBA, Dec. 1S96). It is coupled with the ' land of Bit- Napsanu,' and in one passage, by a punning ety- mology, is derived from the name of ' the god Esu.'
LiTERATCBE.— Friedr. Delitlsch, Wo lag das Parodies H18S1) ; Sayoe, HCM 96 It.; Hommel, Ana. Heb. Traditum, p. 314.
A. H. Sayce. EDER (iiy).— 1. Gn 35" 'And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder' ( AV Edar). 'Eder means ' a flock ' ; and the phrase Migdal-eder ('flock-tower,' cf. Mic 4') would liave been the appellation given to a tower occupied by shepherds for the protection of their flocks against robbers (cf. 2 K IS*, 2 Ch 26">). The tower here mentioned lay between Bethlehem and Hebron cf. w."- "). Jerome mentions a Jewish tradition that this Eder was the site of the temple, ' hunc locum Hebrsei esse volunt, nbi postea templum tedificatum est : et turrim Ader, turrim gregis significare, hoc est, congregationis et coettis : quod et Michseas Propheta testatur, dicens ; Et tu turris gregis nebulosa, filia Sion.' Jerome himself, how- ever, prefers to think that it was the spot on which the shepherds received the angels' message, ' pasto- rum juxta Bethleem locus est, ubi vel Angelonim rex in ortu Domini cecinit' {Qucest. in Gen.). The tradition that the locality was near Jerusalem probablj accounts for the verse ("i) appearing in the LXX before v.". This transposition would favour any identification which placed ' Migdal- Eder' between Bethel and Bethlehem. The LXX transliterates -n-i as TiSfp. 2. Jos 15". The name of one of the towns of Judah ' in the south,' close to the Edomite frontier. For Eder, the LXX (B) gives 'kpa. ; and (A) 'ESpal. Conder (PEF Mem. liL 236) identifies with Kh. el-'Addr, 5 miles S. of Gaza. 3. 1 Ch 23=» 24«'. The name of one of the Levites in the days of David, of the house of Merari, and the son of Muhi. For Eder we find in the LXX (B) of 1 Ch 232» AKoS, and of 1 Ch 24*> "HXd, where (A) has'ESfp in both instances, i. A Benjamite, 1 Ch 8"> (AV Ader), where LXX (B) gives"fi5j)5and (A)'n5ep. H. E. Rylb.
EDIFICATION, EDIFY, EDIFYING. — These
words are always used in AV in the sense of build- in" up spiritually, either (a) the Church, or (6) the individual Christian.
The Or. vb. •■'so)«u4ai and subst. Jaciti^ are used in NT, as in class. Greek and in the LXX, in the Ul. sense of buildini,'— a house (Ac 7«), tomhs (Sft 2329). etc. But our Lord havin" employed the llpire of buildinfr His Church, which Ls expressed In 8t. Mttthew's report (Mt lelf) by the verb «;».a.ui«, the metaphor was uken up, and gradually both verb and subst. were used with more and more freedom in this spiritual sense, •sp. by St. Paul, to whom the metaphor mav almost be said to belong. The Vulg. renders tnuitfun by" adificare, and •.»)<wi by irdificatio; and Wyclif, and all VSS foUowing, render ttdxficare by 'edify,' axlificalw bv ' ediBcation.' or sdUyirg.' Se6 £c« Homo, ch. xviii.