Critics of Joseph
consistently turn to Genesis 2:10-14 in an attempt to prove that since the
Euphrates River is mentioned in the description of the land of Eden, and since
there is a Euphrates River in the Middle East, Eden must have surely been
located in that *region. However, none of the rivers mentioned in Genesis
2:10-14, including the Euphrates, fits the geography of present-day rivers in
the Middle East. The river that watered the Garden “was parted, and became into
four heads,” one of which was the Euphrates. Today’s Euphrates empties into the
Persian Gulf, not into a larger river. Gihon was said to “compasseth the whole
land of Ethiopia”. Yet there is no river today that stretches over mountain
ranges and valleys from the Euphrates region to Ethiopia. Clearly, the Bible
describes a different area than today’s Middle East.
The great deluge with its
violent currents would not have allowed the Ark of Noah to simply rise with the
torrents and then merely descend in the same general region after so many days
afloat. When it landed, Noah and his family disembarked on the new contingent
in what is now the Middle East, naming the new lands and rivers after those of
their original homeland.
However, the description
given in Genesis does fit Joseph Smith’s prophecy [in D&C 107:53; 116]. The
scripture indicates that “the name of the first [river] is Pison: That is,
which compasseth the whole land of Havilah where there is gold.
And the gold of the land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone . . .”
(Genesis 2:11-14. Emphasis added). The Missouri River flows through South
Dakota, the most important gold-producing state in the country. The Homestake
lode in South Dakota is estimated to be the biggest gold deposit in North
America. This fits the geographical description of the Pison better than any
other geographical location in the world. (See articles on “Gold” and “South
Dakota” in World Book Encyclopedia [2000], vols. 8, 18). (Allen H.
Richardson and David E. Richardson, 1000 Evidences For The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2 vols. [2d ed.; South Jordan, Utah: Artisan
Enterprises, 2011], 1:70-71)
