The Four Rivers of the Garden of Eden

Paradise.  The Garden of Eden.  The four rivers which run through Paradise or the Garden of Eden have long been a subject of debate to Jewish sages and rabbis, and Christian Saints, Popes, Doctors and Theologians.

After study and mediation, my personal opinion can be outlined thus.

First of all, here are the relevant verses from Sacred Scripture (From the RSV-Catholic Edition)

Genesis 2:10-14 "A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Hav′ilah, where there is gold; ¹² and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphra′tes."

The names and locations of the third and fourth river, according to both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, have long been known.  The original Hebrew name and the KJV translation of the third river is Hiddekel - the Hiddekel has long been identified as the Tigris.  The original Hebrew name for the fourth river is Perath, or Prath, and has long been identified as the Euphrates.

So we know both the name and location of the third and fourth Rivers of Paradise - the Tigris and Euphrates.

Here's where my conjecture and opinion will come in, and I will start by posting a picture so you can see what I believe - I believe the Achaemenid Empire of Persia which God raised up and gave to Cyrus the Great stretched from the 1st to the 2nd river of Paradise, and had the 3rd and 4th rivers of Paradise at its heart.

Behold:

As you can see, the Persian Empire was MASSIVE.  And what I believe is that it stretched from the Indus in the East in India - or, if you will, from the Pishon in Havilah.  And that it continued and stretched all the way to the Nile in Egypt in the West - or, the Gihon that flows through the land of Cush.

According to Josephus, he believed the Pishon was either the Ganges or the Indus, and that the land of Havilah corresponds to India.  In support of the Indus being the Pishon is the fact that there is a modern (and ancient) city named Havelian which is located on the upper Indus River, in modern Abbottabad, Pakistan.  Also in support of this idea is the ancient Aramaic Targum Neofiti (Targum TN), which identifies Chawilah (Havilah) as India.  Targum PJ - pseudo-Jonathan, translate Havilah as "Hindike", agreeing with Josephus that Havilah is India.  There is also compelling evidence that St. Jerome and St. Ambrose and others believed Havilah was India, and that the Pishon was either the Indus or the Ganges. 

So my contention that Havilah is India and the Pishon is the Indus is not a new idea.

And last but not least, we have the first river mentioned in the second chapter of Genesis, the Gihon.

I again find myself in agreement with Josephus, that the Gihon is the Nile.  Whether the blue Nile, or the White Nile is irrelevant as both flow into the Upper Nile, and all the Nile is one long river... the fact is and my belief is the Gihon is the Nile and the land of Cush of the land of Africa, the land of Ethiopia and Egypt which the Nile flows through.  Ethiopian tradition has long identified the blue Nile with the Gihon.

So while some ancient Jewish and Christian commentators argued the opposite, that Gihon was in the East possibly in modern day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iraq or Iran somewhere, or that Pishon was in the West and was the Nile....

My current belief is in line with Josephus and others through the ages who believed the Gihon is the Nile which flows through various countries in Africa (Cush) and the Pishon flows through India, a land renowned for its gold (India has the largest amount of gold reserves in the world today - over 550 tons.  Also, bdellium whether it refers to an aromatic gum or pearls, is abundant in India.  And finally, the onyx stone, or "eben" in the Hebrew, which literally just means stone, well... India is well known for having large amounts of all sorts of gemstones. 

Does anyone doubt India could possibly be the land of Havilah?  And if India is possibly Havilah, the best candidates for the River Pishon are either the Indus or the Ganges, and I prefer the Indus for reasons I will get into in a minute.Paradise comes from the ancient Persian or Avestan pairidaeza, and came into the Bible by way of the Greek Paradeisos, and into English by way of Latin paradisum, Old French paradis, and middle English into modern English as Paradise.

In the Hebrew Old Testament, the word Paradise is used three times, in Nehemiah 2:8 "Asaph the keeper of the kings forest", the word forest in Hebrew being pardace, the Hebrew transliteration or loan word of the Persian paradise.  Ecclesiastes 2:5 "I made me gardens and orchards" - the word orchards can be translated also parks, as it is again the Persian loanword Paradise.  And the final time in the Hebrew Bible we find it in Canticles 4:13 "Thy plants are an orchard" - a paradise. 

In fact, the ancient Greek Septuagint translation of Genesis and also our Latin Vulgate actually translate Genesis 2:8 to read that God planted a "Paradise of Pleasure", a pleasure park, taking Eden to mean a Paradise or park or luscious orchard, and Gan / Garden to mean pleasure, lusciousness.  It is my belief this pleasure park, this luscious garden, this paradise of pleasure was a spiritual place which was openly dwelled in on the physical earth by our first parents Adam and Eve. 

Sacred Tradition tells us that Adam and Eve, before their fall, possessed impassibility - freedom from pain.  Immortality - freedom from death.  Integrity - freedom from concupiscence or disordered desires.  Infused Knowledge - freedom from ignorance in matters regarding to happiness.  St. Thomas teaches that our glorified bodies will also have something called Agility - this is where our bodies, acting under the dominion of our souls, will have the ability to go effortlessly wherever we desire them to go.

The Eastern Fathers taught that Adam and Eve were "clothed in light" - could the fact that Adam and Eve were clothed in light mean that Adam and Eve, atop of possessing immortality, integrity, impassibility, also possessed agility?  This would mean they could travel from the Nile to the Indus at the speed of thought....

The Gihon being the Nile also makes sense, because the only description of it from Scripture is that it compasses the land of "Cush", which is traditionally taken to mean Ethiopia.  It also means the land of Ham, and all of Ham, Cush, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Africa is very well familiar with the mighty Nile. 

Some people believe the Gihon and Pishon are no longer identifiable, but I have a hard time believing that if the Tigris and Euphrates are still around and nobody denies they are the third and fourth rivers of Paradise, than I tend to believe that the other two rivers of Paradise must still be in existence.  And I believe they are - I believe they are the Nile and the Indus.

I think I have spoken on this subject enough for now, but please continue to pray for me to be given the Light of Knowledge.

Yours in Christ

Jason Michael Spyridon Prewara