Location and Nature
Genesis 2-3 locates the garden with reference to four rivers and the regions they flow through:
Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
"Kush" is often incorrectly translated as Ethiopia, which was also known as Cush, but in this case thought to be referring to Cossaea, a Greek name for Elam, immediately to the east of ancient Babylon, which, unlike Ethiopia, does lie within the region being described.
Read more about this topic: Garden Of Eden
Famous quotes containing the word nature:
“Ye whose clay-cold heads and luke-warm hearts can argue down or mask your passions—tell me, what trespass is it that man should have them?... If nature has so wove her web of kindness, that some threads of love and desire are entangled with the piece—must the whole web be rent in drawing them out?”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)