The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 124

in I\ spot whero some great flowing water is particular the southern district of the former subdivided into four separate streams ; if lying between tho Persian Gulf and the Rerl tho former be rcg1trcled as the proper exegesis, Sea. Hence Tayler Lewis finds the Gihon in then nny grcnt river which is first formed by the ocean water sweeping round the south the junction of two streams, and afterwords coast of .Arabia. Murphy detects the name disperses its waters in two different directions, Kush in the words Caucasus and Caspian will meet the requirements of the case. and, looking for the site of Eden about the Vora. 11, 12.-The name of the ftrst(river sources of the Euphrates and the Tigris in is) Pishon, or "the full-flowing." This is the Armenia, thinks the Gihon may have been first of those mnrks by which the river, when the leading stream flowing into the Caspian. discovered, must be identified. It was pal)lably Delitzsch advocates the claim of the Araxis a broad-bosomed stream. A second 1s de- to be this river. rived from the region through which it flows. Ver. 14.-And the name of the third river That is it which compasseth (not neces- is the Hiddekel, or "the darting," from 1[1 sarily surroundin15, but skirting in a circular or circuitous fash1on-Num. xxi. 4; Judges nnd S~;i. a sharp and swift arrow, referring xi. 8) the whole land of Havilah. Havilah to its rapidity. It is unanimously agreed itself is dcscriued by three of its productions. that this must be identified with the Tigris ; Where there is gold. J. e. it is a gold-pro- in the present lan~age of the Persians de- clucing country. And the gold of that land is signated tir, which signifies an arrow. H good. Of the purest quality and largest quan- is styled in Aramaic diglath or diqlah. tity. There also is bdellium. Literally bedo- That is it which goeth towards the east of lach, which the manna was declared to re- Assyria. Its identity is thus placed beyond semble (Exod. xvii. 14 ; Num. xi. 7). The a question. And the fourth river is Euphra- LXX., supposing it to be a precious stone, tes, or ft the sweet," from an unused root, translate it by av0pa! in the present passage, parath, signifying to be sweet, referring tc and by ,rpvaraXXo, in Num. xi. 7-a view the sweet and pleasant taste of its waters supported by the Jewish Rabbis and Gese- (Jer. ii. 18). Further description of this nius. The m1tjority of modern interpreters great water was unnecessary, being univers- espouse the opinion of Josephus, that it was ally known to the Hebrews as "the great an odorous and costly gum indigenous to river" (Dent. i. 7; Dan. x. 4), and "the India, Arabia, Babylonia, and Baetriana. river" par e:ccellence (Exod. xxiii 31 ; Isa. The third production is the onyx (shoham, vii 20). The river still bears its early name. from II root signifying to be pale or delicate In the cuneiform inscriptions deciphered by in colour, like the finger-nails), variously con- Rawlinson it is called "Ufrata." Recurrinn- jectured to be the beryl, onyx, sardonyx, now to the site of Eden, it must be admitted sardius, or emerald. From this description that, notwithstanding this description, the it appears that Havilah must be sought for whole question is involved in uncertainty. among the gold-producing countries of Asia. The two solutions of the problem that have Now among the sons of Joktan or primitive the greatest claim on our attention are, (I) Arabs (Gen. x. 29)-" whose dwelling was that which places Eden near the head of the from l\Iesha, as thou goest, unto Sephar, a Persian Gulf, and (2) that which looks for it mount of the east" -are Ophir and Havilah, in Armenia. The latter is favoured by the whence Gesenius concludes that India, in- close proximity to that region of the sources cluding Arabia, is meant. Other countries of both the Euphrates and the Tigris; but, have their advocates, such as Arabia Felix, on the other hand, it is hampered by the Suaiana, Colchis, &c.; and other rivers, such difficulty of discovering other two rivers that as the Ganges (Josephus, Eusebius), the will correspond with the Gihon and the Phasis (Relnnd, Jahn, Rosenmiiller, Winer), Pison, 1md the almost certainty that Cush the Indus (Schulthess, Kalisch). nnd Havilah are to be sought for in the Ver. 13.-And the name of the second is vicinity of the Persian Gulf. The former the Gihon, or ft the bursting," from tl'A, (Calvin, Kalisch, T. Lewis) is supported by to break forth. "Deep-flowing," T. Lewis this last consideration, that Cush and Havi- renders it, connecting it with w,riavnt, and lnh are not remote from the locality, thouo-h identifying it with Homer's (3a0vpf,ooi; ·o~,- it too hns its incumbrances. It seems "'to avoi;. The same is it that compaHeth the reverse the idea of ~ 1, which according to whole le.nd of Ethiopia (Cush). Under the Le Clerc indicates the direction of the stream. impression that th 1 African Cush was weant, Then its advocates, no more than the sup- tho Alexandrine Jews discovered the Gihon porters of the alternate theory, nre agrec,i in tho Nile - e.n opinion in which they upon the Gihon nnd the Pison: Calvin find- havo been followed by Schulthess, Gesenius, ing them in the two principal mouths of tho Fiirst, Berthenu, Kalisch, and others. But Euphrates and the Tigris, which Sir Charles Cush, it is now known, describes the entire Lyell declares to be of comparatively recent region between Arabia and the Nile, nnd in formation ; Kalisch iudentifying them with  4ti TIIE BOOK OF GENESIS. [cu. 11. 8-17,