This page was last updated on 19 August, 2021.
Became 4 heads***
Gen 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became into four heads/rosh.
A valid location for the Garden of Eden greatly depends on the following:
- Is ‘from there’, from the Garden-
of- Eden or from the Land- of- Eden? - What does the Hebrew word ‘rosh’ mean?
- Does the fork in the river, count as 1 or 2 heads?
Before going into detail let’s examine some drawings exploring the various combinations.
Option #1: Possible
About the above model:
- Water flows from The Temple, which is located in the Land of Eden.
- There is 1 source of water; The Temple
- Water flows from The Temple, toward the Garden of Eden. (Temple isn’t in the Garden)
- From Garden of Eden the single river splits 3 times and becomes the 4 famous rivers.
- This model is only possible if a fork in a river counts as 2 heads.
- A main river splitting into four far before its delta is uncommon.
Option #2: Impossible
About the above model:
- The most obvious reason this view is impossible is because it's 4 rivers becoming 1 instead of the other way around.
- Water flows toward The Temple, which is located in the Land of Eden.
- There are 4 sources of water; the four famous rivers.
- Water flows toward The Temple, from the Garden of Eden.
- From the 4 sources, the rivers merge 3 times and become 1 river.
- Multiple rivers merging into one river is common.
- This model means the Temple isn’t the source, but the destination. Where is the water going at a that point?
Option #3: Impossible
About the above model:
- A fork in the river counts as 1 head.
- At least 8 rivers are required to form 4 heads.
- Scripture only mentions 4 river names (not 8).
Conclusions from the rules
- 1 river splits into several rivers:
- Fork = 2 heads. (Option #1)
- 4 rivers merge into 1 river:
- No rules. (Option #2)
Heads -
Gen 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
The source or headwaters of a river or stream is the furthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river.
In the past, the small Kalaus River in south-
Mouth of the river: the place where the river enters the ocean -
Secular definition summarized
A head of a river/stream is:
- The very start of the river.
- The point where a river splits into two or more rivers.
- The point where rivers intersect.
Heads -
Gen 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
View #1 -
In no instance is rosh (literally, "head") applied as the source of a river
M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopaedia, vol. III, p.53
Ezek 21:21 For stood hath the king of Babylon at the mother of the way, At the head of the two ways, to use divination, He hath moved lightly with the arrows, He hath asked at the teraphim, He hath looked on the liver.
Ezek 21:21 “For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the household idols, he looks at the liver.
The king was traveling on the ‘mother’ road and he arrived at a fork in the road, the head of the road. He took the road to Jerusalem.
According to the above quoted view the two roads end at the fork. They merge into the mother.
Personally I’m not so sure about that view because a mother is the origin of something. In this case the origin of two roads.
View #2 -
Very similar to the secular view. Specifically about the 4 rivers, Jewish writings suggest head=spring.
Probably the most suitable answer concerning the actual location of the Garden of Eden is to think of the river that watered the garden and thereafter became four 'branches' as actually comprising the beginning or juncture going upstream from a point in southern Mesopotamia
ISBE, new edition, vol. II, p.17
BDB Definition:
1) head, top, summit, upper part, chief, total, sum, height, front, beginning
1a) head (of man, animals)
1b) top, tip (of mountain)
1c) height (of stars)
1d) chief, head (of man, city, nation, place, family, priest)
1e) head, front, beginning
1f) chief, choicest, best
1g) head, division, company, band
1h) sum
Conclusion
The conclusion is that the 4 rivers flowed away from, not into, (the Garden of) Eden.
That’s the most straightforward reading of Scripture, but because there are different views, I’d to briefly address it.