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. 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 four 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. In Genesis 13 we read:

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. The situation drastically changes in the Jordan Valley a little later in the book of Genesis 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.

Note that when the people of Israel are led back to the Promised Land, there is no more circle of the Jordan. Moses emphasizes that in there new home there will be no more seeming provision through a river, but rather they will have to trust God daily and yearly for their food:

“You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, and that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year (Deuteronomy 11.8-12).

So they are not only leaving the “down-river” land of Goshen, but are returning to a land whose connection to the old Eden has been severed. Eventually, when they fail to trust God, they have to be put back in Mesopotamia for awhile.

In the New Testament world Eden finally gets left behind. The Kingdom spreads West from the world of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Israel.