Genesis Segment 4

The Bible Church
Study Page
GENESIS-Segment 4:
Chapter 2 Verse 8 - 25

All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Before beginning this study, I suggest you pray and ask God to guide you through this study. I also suggest that you do you own study of this material in order to ensure its accuracy.
Copyright Notice
_________________________________________

(Gen 2:8) And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

God put the man in a specially prepared garden toward the east. I believe (it is only my opinion) that when God says "eastward" He means east of the land where Moses was when he wrote Genesis. Genesis was written in the Sinai. East of there covers a lot of ground.

The man whom He had formed was The Man or This Very Man ('eth ha 'adam). That separates this man from the man of Genesis 1:26-27. That man was simply adam, or all of mankind. This man is THE man, Adam. God created all of mankind on the sixth day, including, I believe, all of the races. Then (either on the sixth day or the eighth day depending on your understanding of the Word) God formed THE man, Adam. Here God begins the story of His chosen people through whom would come the Messiah. Adam is the progenitor of the Hebrew race. Some call him the eighth day man. I don't feel it is important whether Adam was formed on the sixth or eighth day. What is important is the difference between this man, Adam, and the man of 1:26-27. See Segment 3, and Segment 5 for explanations of the word, Eve, the mother of all living.

(Gen 2:9) And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Let us discuss trees again. To reiterate, the word here for tree is 'ets. It comes from the root word, 'atsah, which is one transliteration out of several used for the single Hebrew word, (these are Hebrew characters, consonants only). The letter names are Heth ( soft h or uh), Tsadeq (ts or tz), 'Ayin (guttural soft hiss). Remember to read them right to left ('Ayin first). I use this example to let you know that the same word is transliterated 'atsah, 'ahtash, 'atseh, and 'etsah, and could also be pronounced 'ets. Each transliteration has a different meaning. Some of these meanings are: to close or fasten, the human spine and body, trees, timber, prudence, advice, and counsel. It is interesting to note these things. The one I want you to remember is the spine and body. Remember this because in various places in the Bible, the Father, the Son, men, and Satan are symbolically referred to as trees.

Some examples: The Father: Hosea 14:8, the Son: Romans 11:15-24, men: Ezekiel 31:14, Romans 11:17, 23, Satan: Ezekiel 31:3-13, etc. For many more examples, do a word study on trees.

In this verse, we are told about two specific trees among all of the trees in Eden, the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The Tree of Life is mentioned in Revelation 22. In both the Garden of Eden and in the New Jerusalem, the tree of life is the giver of eternal life. Who is the giver of life? Jesus Christ. In Proverbs 3:22, wisdom is referred to as a tree of life and Proverbs also tells us that wisdom was with God in the beginning. John tells us that Jesus, the Word, was with God in the beginning. The tree of life, the giver of eternal life, is symbolic of the Son of God, the Christ.

And conversely, the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is symbolic of Satan. Until the man and woman partook of the tree at the bidding of the Serpent, they had no knowledge of evil.

Genesis 2:10-14 "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. {11} The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; {12} And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. {13} And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. {14} And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates."

Eden has been assigned many places by many people. It appears to have been near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, but the other two rivers are not known. There are, however, four rivers that originate at a single river-head in Mongolia near the Tarim River Basin. Euphrates simply means river, but Hiddekel seems to indicate the Tigris which is not near the basin. It is possible that this was the location of Eden. If not located in the Tarim Basin, then perhaps the nearby Pamir Plateau. No one can actually locate Eden today, but it is interesting to think about. For more information, see Noah's Flood, which I excerpt here:

The Garden of Eden was in the East. To us in the West, the East usually means the Orient. Palestine is in the Orient, the East, so Moses intended a land further east than the Land of Promise, that is, Canaan. Further east would be the Far East or Eastern Orient.

On the map of the world, to the east of Canaan lie modern Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Sinkiang Province of the PRC, wherein lies the Tarim Basin. Afghanistan and Sinkiang form part of the area known as Turkistan (or Turkestan). Note also, that the Tigris and Euphrates run from the north of Israel, south to the Persian Gulf. While they cut across Iraq to the east of Israel, their headwaters are north of Israel in Turkey.

Looking eastward from Canaan, there is only one spot that satisfies the Biblical description of Eden. That is the Pamirs (or Pamir), a system of mountains rising from a plateau, located just west of the Tarim Basin. The Pamir is one of the loftiest spots in the world with peaks averaging higher than 20,000 feet. The area is a glacial watershed providing the waters for four main rivers. These four rivers have their headwaters in the Pamir, and they flow in different directions from the region. The watershed disperses into these rivers, fitting the name Pishon, which means dispersion.

The four great rivers flowing from Pamir are the Indus, the Jaxartes (modern Syr Darya), the Oxus (modern Amu Darya), and the Tarim. We will try to use the ancient names in our discourse. The Indus flows into the Arabian Sea, the Jaxartes and Oxus into the Aral Sea, and the Tarim into the Tarim Basin and Takla Makan Desert.

Clues to the location of the Pison are that it encompasses the land of Havilah (a son of Cush), it has high quality gold deposits, and that is contains onyx and bdellium. Bdellium is probably resin, or even amber which is a resin. The word "Havilah" means "sandy."

There is one of the four rivers flowing from the Pamir that encompasses a land where there is gold, onyx, and resin. It also has a fairly sandy valley. That river is the Indus. It encompasses India and Pakistan, and it surrounds 60% of the Kashmir and Jammu provinces where there is high quality gold and where a major export is resin. India provides gold and onyx. A good portion of the Indus valley is sandy. Pakistan also has gold deposits. NOTE (revision date 11/13/2000): Looking to the west of the Indus you will find modern Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and the Arabian Peninsula. They too are fairly sandy. Arabia is mostly sandy desert. They, too, fit the description of Havilah, which is a "sandy" stretch.

While I feel that the Indus is the Pison, there is a sandy area where gold is mined between the Oxas and Jaxartes rivers. It is the Kyzylkum or Qyzylkum (red sand) desert in Kazakstan and Uzbekistan. However, this area is not known for onyx or resin.

The Indus fits all of the description of the Pison and Havilah. It runs through a sandy land where there is gold, onyx, and resin.

The Amu Darya was traditionally known in Greek and Roman times as the Oxus and was called Jayhun or Gihun by the Arabs. It is an easy step to see that the ancients called the river Oxus the Gihon. There is little doubt that the Gihon and Gihun or Jayhun are one and the same river.

Now the problem. The KJV says that the Gihon passes through Ethiopia. Ethiopia is in Africa, south of Egypt. Either one of two things is possible. The Gihon is NOT the Oxus, OR this Ethiopia is not actually Ethiopia. The latter is true for the Hebrew says the Gihon passes through or around Cush. The Actual Hebrew word is Kuwsh (Strong's 3568). This is the land of Ham's son, Cush. While Cush is considered to be Ethiopia in Africa, there is another Cush or Kush we should examine. It is the Hindu Kush.

Let me quote the Encyclopedia Britannica:

The Amu Darya's headwaters rise in the mountains of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, among the permanent snows and glaciers of the Pamirs (with the adjacent Alay Range to the northwest) and the Hindu Kush, where elevations range from 16,400 to 23,000 feet (5,000 to 7,000 m).

So, the Gihon flows out of the Pamir Plateau (our Eden) and the Hindu Kush. There is more than enough evidence presented here to prove that the Gihon is the Oxus or Amu Darya.

The Tigris and Euphrates in Persia are considered to be the cradle of civilization. They have been known as the Hiddekel and Euphrates (or just River) since ancient times. It seems that with these two rivers flowing from Eden, our theory that Eden is the Pamir is at an end. But wait.

The Hebrew word translated Euphrates is perath (Strong's 6578), simply means "a river of the east." Now where is the east in our context? It is eastward or as previously defined in our study, the East. It is possible, actually likely, that after the flood, when Noah migrated west (his descendant, Terah, lived in Haran), he or his descendants named the Great River of Mesopotamia (land between the rivers) the Perath or Euphrates. Of course, the same could be said of the Hiddekel (Tigris).

The best evidence that the original Perath (Euphrates) or, simply, River, was the Syr Darya or Jaxartes is the fact that the land west of the Jaxartes is called the Transoxiana, or in Arabic, Ma Wara` An-Nahr. In English it means "That Which Lies Beyond the River." In the Bible the phrase "beyond the river" (repeated thirteen times in the KJV) means the land that lies beyond the Euphrates.

Of course the pronunciation of the Jaxartes (ya-har'-tees [ya' or yu -fray'-tees]) lends credence that its original name was Euphrates (yu-fray-tees - ya-fray-tees - ya-hray-tees - ya-har-tes -ja-har-tees).

(Note: these corruptions or variations are used for emphasis only—they are not necessarily accepted corruptions or variations)

The Hiddekel is the most difficult to place in the Pamir region. But let us try. First, the Bible gives us a clue. The Hiddekel of Eden ran to the east of Assyria. Where was Assyria? It was located in what are now northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. The Assyrian Empire under Shalmaneser had at its western border along the present Tigris or Hiddekel. Under Ashurbanipal it extended from the Euphrates to the Zagros Mountains in present day Iran. The Tigris was in the middle of Ashurbanipal's empire.

The current Tigris or Hiddekel was NOT east of Assyria (Ashshur, Asshur, Ashur, second son of Shem). It was west of Shalmaneser's borders and amid Ashurbanipal's borders. There are many rivers east of Assyria, but only four that answer to the Bible's description of four headwaters in Eden. Three are accounted for and that only leaves one, the Tarim.

In biblical Hebrew, the word hedeq (Strong's 2312) means "to sting." It is only used twice in the Bible. It is rendered thorn and brier. As a noun, could it not also denote a point? It could be rendered hedeq -- el (Strong's 433--God), or hedeqel, which would mean "sting of God" or "point of God." The Tarim Basin comes to a point at the Pamir and at its eastern end at Lop Nor. Is it possible that the river was called 'The Point of God" during the time of Eden? Sting also means pierce, so perhaps it is "pierced of God." The Tarim, the chief river of Sinkiang Province, pierces the Pamirs and the Tarim basin.

Another clue is the name of the province: Sinkiang, Hsin-Chiang, Xinjiang, or Tsinkiang. There are yet other spellings and pronunciations. The Tarim begins as the Yarkand or Yeh-Erh-Ch'iang, or Ye'erqiang river.

The Summerian name for the Hiddekel was Idigna (ih-di-nya). It is just a step or two from Idigna to Ye'erqiang (ih-di-nya -yih-di-nya -yidnya -yidnyang - yikyang -ye'erqiang -yar-kand).

(Note: these corruptions or variations are used for emphasis only—they are not necessarily accepted corruptions or variations)

From Idigna to Hiddekel is: Sumer: Idigna, Akkadian (Babylonian): Idiklat, Arabic: Diglah, Bible Hebrew: Chiddekel (Hiddekel).

There is proof here that Eden was the Pamir Plateau, with the rivers Pison (Indus), Oxus (Gihon), Jaxartes (Euphrates), and Tarim (Hiddekel) flowing from it.

Genesis 2:15-17 "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. {16} And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: {17} But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

The man's (Adam's) job was to dress the garden. To dress it means to care for it as a husbandman or farmer or tiller of the ground. He was also to keep it. That means he had stewardship over it, to guard, protect and attend to it.

Let us look at the word "eat" as it is used here. Of course it means to eat in the literal sense of chewing, swallowing, digesting. Adam could literally eat of every tree in the Garden except one. He could consume the fruit of the trees by picking, biting, chewing, etc. The Hebrew word for "eat" can also be used figuratively. How is that done? Let's look at some examples.

(John 6:53-56) Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. {54} Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. {55} For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. {56} He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

First, let me say that Jesus and his disciples spoke Hebrew and Aramaic, so what we read here was translated from the Hebrew or Aramaic and written down in Greek by the apostle John. Then it was translated into English by the King James translators. So Hebrew idiom was used here and we are getting the Hebrew sense of the word "eat."

Jesus said that if we don't eat His body and drink his blood we will not have eternal life. Did He actually mean we are to be cannibals and literally eat Him? No, of course not. We know that He was speaking about communion, the SYMBOLIC eating and drinking of His flesh and blood (I do not believe in transubstantiation, that is, that the elements of the Eucharist actually become the flesh and blood of Christ). In other words, we are to commune with Him. The symbolic partaking of the bread and wine means we are at one with Him. By partaking of (believing in and accepting) Jesus' shed blood and broken body, we become sons of God. So here the word "eat" is used symbolically to mean we are His children and followers.

(Psa 14:1-4) To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. {2} The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. {3} They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. {4} Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.

(Psa 53:4) Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.

In both Psalms, those workers of iniquity eat God's people. This means that they lead God's people astray.

(Psa 127:1-2) A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. {2} It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Solomon tells us that if we labor outside of God's will, we labor in vain and eat the bread of sorrows. In other words we will experience the sorrow of being outside of God's will. These are enough examples to let you know how the word "eat" is used symbolically in the Word.

Back to the Garden. In verse 16, God had told the man: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. So the man could literally eat of every tree and could symbolically eat of the Tree of Life and the other trees (men, souls, etc.) in the Garden.

Oh yes, there were other trees (men, souls, etc.) in the garden, although we are not told when they were there. Perhaps it was in eternity past. Ezekiel talks about Lucifer, a most beautiful tree in Eden. God says: I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him. Ezekiel 31:9. Read all of Ezekiel 31 to understand this point better. This is an anomaly in the Bible. While we are told that there were those who bowed down to worship Lucifer, we are not given any more details of this in the Bible. We know that it is not mentioned anywhere in the Genesis account of Eden.

The man could commune with all of the trees in Eden except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, that is Satan. He could even commune with the Tree of Life. But he could not, in fact he was forbidden to, commune with Satan.

Genesis 2:18-20 "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. {19} And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. {20} And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him."

God has already planned to form the woman who would be the man's mate. The translators saw fit to begin calling the man Adam here. Different translations begin to use the name Adam at different verses. Adam had to name all of the animals. There are over 17000 species so it was a difficult task. Some teach that Adam only named the domestic animals. I feel like the Bible teaches that Adam named all of the animals and birds. This indicates that Adam had a lot going for him mentally. It is my opinion, in fact, that Adam was taught or given all the wisdom of the world at that time including: astronomy, architecture, weaving, husbandry, meteorology, etc.

Genesis 2:21-22 "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; {22} And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man."

Many different stories about this act of God are told at many times and in many places. Let's find out what God says about it. God caused Adam to go into a sleep like the sleep induced in a surgical patient by an anesthesiologist. The word translated rib is tsela' which, like the word 'atseh (tree - above), is one transliteration of several for a single word. In Hebrew, it is the word tsela' or tselah. To make a long study shorter, it basically means curve. It also means rib and other words. I don't know if God took a literal rib from Adam or not. It is possible to believe God took the curve of the double helix, or DNA from him. Whatever He used, God made the woman of the same race as Adam, which is known in some circles as the Adamic race.

(Gen 2:23) And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Adam's statement about bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh indicates that he knew that the woman was of his flesh and blood and race. Let me say here that God made all of the races and they were very good. There is nothing wrong with any race, and to talk about races is not a bad thing. Adam was the beginning of the Hebrew race, a race of people different from other races just as the other races were different from the Hebrew race.

The word used for woman here is isha' and the word for man is ish. Putting the syllable ah on the end of a masculine word makes it feminine. Just like sar means prince or king, and sarah means queen or princess (Which is why I call Sarah, who is my granddaughter, "Princess.")

A digression here. I would like to pique your interest about another subject that we will study at a future date. Since the Hebrew word ish means man, and the Hebrew word b'rith means covenant, then does the word b'rith - ish or "British" mean "covenant-man"? I believe it does. Back to our subject.

(Gen 2:24) Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

It is very true. One of our major problems in marriage today seems to be the inability to become one flesh. I don't mean the act of physical union, I mean the two becoming spiritually one flesh. Notice one more thing. It is the man who will leave his parents and be joined to his wife. It is not the other way around. There is a reason. God saw that man should not be alone so he created a mate for man. (As a man, I'm getting into dangerous territory here). In my experience (this only is my opinion) a man is incomplete without a woman, and a woman is more able to cope with being without a man than the other way around. That is why the man cleaves to his wife and not vice versa.

(Gen 2:25) And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

In Hebrew thought, nakedness is shame. Since there was no shame in Eden, nakedness was not even considered. They did not even realize they were naked (Genesis 3:11).

Next segment: The Serpent. Was the Serpent really a snake?

________________________________________________

Copyright © 2000, The Bible Church. All Rights Reserved. Contents may be distributed but not sold.
The content of this site is optimized for fast loading. Few graphics are included.
The Bible Church has the right to present its ideas and opinions in this format. We have not made any covenant with the Federal Government, such as a nonprofit agreement or tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3), and according to the First Amendment of the Constitution we have the right to free speech, including political speech, and freedom of religion.
The content of this study (with the exception of any scripture or quote) is the sole production of Pastor Mark Oaks and is subject to change as the pastor grows and learns.