Four rivers, and the false or temporary Eden-gardens

A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

So Genesis 2 sums up the geopolitical/spiritual history of the entire Hebrew Scriptures. Two of these rivers are gone, but if they had a common source up near the present sources of the Tigris and Euphrates then we know that the Gihon traveled south through Egypt to Ethiopia (Cush) and the Pishon must have gone down through Canaan to get to Arabia (Havilah). This, incidentally, puts the garden on a plateau near Mt. Ararat.

These riverbeds apparantly maintained some garden-of-eden-like properties, even if the rivers after the flood flowed in different directions: “And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar.” So the circle of the Jordan was comprable to the Garden of Eden and to Egypt. Of course, te situation drastically changes in the Jordan Valley and Lot must be rescued by angels from it (after eating unleavened bread with them and having his door protected from destroyers). Later, while the Israelites are sent to prosper in Goshen temporarily, they too have to leave to go to an entirely new place. Abram had initially be led from Mespolamia and later his desendants are housed there. But, again, eventually they must leave.

The old creation has to be left behind, even when it seems like it is blessed. At best these are temporary garden-shelters, at worst (and eventually) false Eden-sanctuaries.

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