The Garden of Eden

Genesis 2

Whether one believes the biblical story of God planting a garden in Eden for Adam and Eve should be understood as allegory or historical event, an unassuming reading of the story suggests that the places mentioned were recognizable to the original audience and would have been sufficient to clarify for them where the garden was located. The story locates the garden of Eden at the confluence of four headwaters into a single river that watered the garden. These four rivers are called the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. The identification of the last two rivers is widely accepted as the two great rivers that flow along either side of the lands of Asshur (Assyria) and Babylonia. The identification of the first two rivers, however, has become obscured over time and has been the subject of diverse speculation since at least as far back as the time of the first century Jewish historian Josephus. Some of this confusion stems from the incorrect assumption that Cush, noted as the basin of the Gihon, refers to the kingdom of Cush located immediately south of Egypt in Africa, which leads to the conclusion that the Gihon must be the Nile River (as Josephus also surmised). But the story makes it clear that the four rivers of Eden all joined together to form a single river, and this is difficult to reconcile with a Nile River identification. The Table of Nations (see “Table of Nations: Ham’s Descendants” map), however, includes among the descendants of Cush several tribes along the Arabian coast as well as those of the kingdom of Cush in Africa (Genesis 10:6-7; see also Numbers 12:1; 2 Chronicles 14:8-14), and this may be the region intended in the story of Eden. Or it may be that the term Cush in Genesis 2 refers to the ancient Kassites, whose original homeland was likely just south of the land of Media. If this is the case, the river known to the Greeks as the Choaspes would be the most obvious candidate for the Gihon River, since it did indeed flow “through the entire land of Cush.” It appears that in ancient times this river, along with the Coprates River, joined the Pasitigris River before emptying into the Persian Gulf. Finally, if Havilah, which is associated with high quality gold, resin, and onyx, is to be located at modern Mahd adh Dhahab (“cradle of gold”), as shown here, that would make the modern Wadi al-Batin a good candidate for the Pishon River. This intermittent river running across the middle of Arabia once flowed with greater consistency in ancient times due to a wetter climate.

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Paul’s Travels in Southern Galatia

The Roman province of Galatia was home to some of the first churches established by the apostle Paul (Acts 13-14), and it appears he continued to regard these churches with deep affection throughout his ministry (Galatians 4:19-20). Sometime after Paul returned from his first missionary journey he wrote the letter of Galatians to these churches to warn them against turning away from the gospel of grace and seeking righteousness through obedience to the law of Moses. Later Paul revisited and encouraged these churches during his second and third journeys (Acts 15:41; 18:23). The map shown here depicts the inbound route Paul took during his first journey, though the exact route Paul followed to reach Pisidian Antioch from Perga is uncertain. Some scholars suggest he took the Sebastian Way, which was a well maintained but somewhat indirect route for traveling to Antioch. Other suggest Paul followed the more direct but also more difficult route along the valley of the Cestrus River. During his second and third journeys it appears that Paul approached these churches from the east by taking the road leading from Tarsus to Derbe, and he revisited the churches in the reverse order from his first journey.

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Cyprus

While the island of Cyprus is often remembered as the home region of the apostle Barnabas during the time of the New Testament (Acts 11:19-20), its history intermingles with Israel’s at least as far back as the time of the Exodus, though mostly indirectly. Cyprus was located about 165 miles northwest of Israel, and in ancient times it was covered with forests. It was also abundant in copper, silver, iron, various minerals, wine, oil, and grain and became famous throughout the Near East for these prized resources. A contingent of Mycenaean Greeks inhabited Cyprus by 1400 B.C., and later the island received a larger wave of Greek settlers after Mycenaean culture collapsed in Greece. Cyprus maintained close contacts with cities on the mainland that lay to the north and to the east of the island, but its direct contact with Israel was limited during the Old Testament, perhaps because of Israel’s limited interest in sea travel and trade. The island, or perhaps certain cities such as Kition, are referred in the Old Testament by the names Elishah and Kittim (Genesis 10:4; Numbers 24:24; 1 Chronicles 1:7; Isaiah 23:1-12; Jeremiah 2:10; Ezekiel 27:6; Daniel 11:30). Eventually the island came under the rule of Assyria and was later controlled by Egypt during the Babylonian era. As with rest of the Near East it was then subsumed into the mighty Persian Empire until Alexander the Great, after which it came under the rule of the Ptolemaic Empire. In A.D. 58 Rome acquired Cyprus and established it as a Roman province. They divided the island into four districts, which were named after the primary town in each district: Salamis, Paphos, Amathus, and Lapethos. As mentioned earlier, the apostle Barnabas (and perhaps his relative John Mark) was from the island of Cyprus (Acts 11:19-20), and when Paul set out with him on the first missionary journey, they went first to Cyprus (Acts 13). Later Barnabas parted ways with Paul and returned to Cyprus with John Mark, presumeably on another missionary journey (Acts 15).

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Paul’s Travels in Western Anatolia

During his second and third missionary journeys (Acts 15-21), the apostle Paul traveled extensively throughout western Anatolia, most of which formed the Roman province of Asia. During Paul’s third journey, he spent two years ministering in Ephesus, one of the most prestigious cities of the Roman Empire, but eventually the local silversmiths incited a riot, forcing Paul to leave for Macedonia (Acts 19). Eventually the apostle John relocated his ministry to western Anatolia as well, and the seven churches he addressed in the book of Revelation (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) were located there (Revelation 1:11).

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Ehud Rescues Israel

Judges 3:12-30

The story of Ehud is set in the time of the Judges, and it follows the familiar pattern of Israel falling into sin, suffering foreign domination, and experiencing deliverance by a deliverer, or judge, whom the Lord raises up to rescue them. On this occasion a coalition of Moabites, Ammonites, and Amalekites, led by Eglon king of Moab, attacked Israel and took control of the “City of Palms,” which was almost certainly Jericho (see Deuteronomy 34:3; 2 Chronicles 28:15), and the Israelites remained subject to him for eighteen years. Then the Lord raised up a left-handed Benjaminite named Ehud (also see article here), and he became the leader of the entourage of Israelites who traveled to Eglon’s headquarters in Jericho to present him with tribute. After delivering the tribute, the entourage set out to return, presumably to the hill country. Given the flow of events and the mention of the stone images near a place called Gilgal (meaning “circle of stones”) on their return journey, it seems most likely that they were following the Ascent of Adummim, and the Gilgal in this story is the same one mentioned in Joshua 15:6-7 and 18:17 (where it is called Geliloth, “circles”), rather than the Gilgal located immediately northeast of Jericho. So Ehud turned back when they reached Gilgal and (perhaps the next day), headed back down to Jericho, and assassinated Eglon in his palace. The story then indicates that Ehud fled along the same route to Seirah (likely referring to the wooded hill country), for it notes that he passed the stone images once again (v. 26). There in the hill country Ehud rallied the other Israelites, who then went down and captured the fords of the Jordan River and killed 10,000 Moabites that tried to cross back into Moabite territory. As a result of the Israelite victory, the Moabites became subject to Israel that day.

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