2:11-14. These verses
name the four branches and their locations. They provide a geographical setting
for the Garden of Eden that seems real, as if one could follow these clues and
rediscover it. However, the directions are impossible, and the locations is
eternally elusive (Propp 1990: 193). The ancients may have thought that the
Tigris and the Ephrates had a common source, but the Gihon (under any construal
of its location) does not, nor does the Pishon (which seems to be purely
legendary). In other words, assessing these geographical clues, the Garden of
Eden cannot be located. These geographical details describe the garden as a
sacred center, a source of the world’s fertility, but at the same time a place
that differs from ordinary geography. (Ronald Hendel, Genesis 1-11: A New
Translation with Introduction and Commentary [AYB 1A; New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2024], 168)
To Support this Blog:
Amazon
Wishlist (US)
Email for Amazon Gift card:
ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com