Gen 2:8–14: a garden in Eden and four rivers

Says God plants גַּן־בְעֵדֶן מִקֶּדֶם, "a garden in Eden, in the east" (BDB glosses the noun "enclosure, garden"). A river goes out (וְנָהָרּ יֹצֵא מֵעֵדֶן) and parts: וְהָיָה לְאַרְבָּעָה רָאשִׁים, "and became four heads." The four are פִּישׁוֹן around Havilah, with gold, הַבְּדֹלַח and וְאֶבֶן הַשֹּׁהַם; גִּיחוֹן around Cush; חִדֶּקֶל (BSB "the Tigris") east of Assyria; and פְרָת (BSB "the Euphrates"). The LXX has παράδεισον ἐν Ἔδεμ κατὰ ἀνατολάς and Αἰθιοπίας for Cush.

Uncertain Where Eden lay. Options: near the head of the Persian Gulf, where the Tigris and Euphrates meet; the Armenian highlands, where they rise; a theological geography that joins known and unknown rivers; or a landscape the flood has since changed. Each fits the two known rivers; none places the other two with certainty. No lean is taken here.

Uncertain Whether Eden is pictured as a sanctuary garden. Grounds: Ezek 28:13, בְּעֵדֶן גַּן־אֱלֹהִים, with precious stones including שֹׁהַם; onyx on the priest's ephod (Exod 25:7); the verbs of 2:15, used of Levites (see note.language.Gen.2.15.work-and-keep); the eastern entrance of 3:24. Objection: Gen 2 names no temple or priest, and the shared words are common. No lean is taken here. Ancient Near Eastern background and early views of Eden's location are in note.historical.Gen.2.4-Gen.2.25.ane-garden-background.