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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
The only thing the Bible tells us concerning the Garden of Eden's location is found in Genesis 2:10-14, "A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwate...
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JEAN KABUYA
Dear beloved; Blessings in Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour’s Name; Here is the answer to your question to my own research: So specific is the biblical description of Eden that scores of people have sought to locate it. The Bible tells of a land in the East, out of which a single river divided into four; The Pishon, the Gishon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. Locating the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers is not difficult of course. Because they still exist. But in the absence of date concerning the Pishon and Gishon, the search for the location of Eden has been unsuccessful. Places that have been suggested include Ethiopia, Turkey, even India. But in recent years, Dr. Juris Zarins of Southwest Missouri State University has concluded that the Garden of Eden lies beneath the waters of the Persian Gulf. For Thousands of years, starting at the time of The Great Ice Age, what is now the Persian Gulf was a dry land. Over the centuries, the climate varied but by 6000 BC, the rains were heavy and the rivers ran full. Watered by four rivers, such a place would be a natural paradise. Thousands of animal remains found in the Gulf area suggest that game was abundant. Furthermore, the presence of stone tools provides evidence of human habitation. Geological investigations indicate that two gulleys, known today as the Wadi Rimah and the Wadi Batin trace the course of ancient rivers. Zarins believes that these are the remains of the Pishon River, and that the Gishon is the modern Karun, emptying into the Gulf. Humbly Yours. Blessings.
Jeffrey Smith
Firstly, Eden was a geographical region. A garden ('the garden of Eden') was planted by the Lord in the eastern part of this region (Gen. 2:8). The tree of life and tree of the knowledge of good and evil were present in this garden along with many other trees and plant life (Gen. 2:9). Adam was told by the Lord not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16,17).
We have no information that Adam and Eve ate from the tree of life (they could/should have done so). But both chose to disobey God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A good point to start at in determining WHERE the garden of Eden was located is to determine where the tree of knowledge of good and evil was located. Here is my reasoning.
I believe that the location of this tree is exactly where Jesus was crucified on the cross at Golgotha (Calvary) at Jerusalem. The cross represented the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Word of God (Jesus is the Word made flesh) was stretched out (crucified) over that tree. The very Word of God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden originally.
The Bible says ‘cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree’ (see Gal. 3:13 and Deut. 21:22-23).
Jesus did not die by falling down a hole, being eaten by a lion, being stoned to death, being poisoned etc. He HAD to die on a cross. It was impossible for Jesus to die otherwise.
When Abraham, Moses and the Israelites were told by the Lord to go to the Promised Land, this was probably where Eden was located. East of the promised land (Eden) would therefore lie the area that includes Jerusalem. The Promised Land was then full of giants and wicked people (the devil's kids). The Israelites were ordered to redeem (conquer) it, under the directions of the Lord.
I note that the land of Israel was a desert (a wasteland) before the Jews increasingly migrated to it after 1948. It seemed that the very land of Israel responded to the Jewish presence and it had since flourished. The Jews are the physical seed of Abraham and so are in a sense blessed.
John Appelt
In the discussion of the location of the Garden of Eden is this proposal to consider. In "The Lost Rivers of the Garden of Eden," Gaines R. Johnson used the Biblical descriptions of the rivers and the geological evidence to pinpoint an alternate location of the Garden of Eden. He placed it in the Holy Land. The following comes from his article. The unusual feature is that from one river came four rivers, Genesis 2:10: Pishon, Genesis 2:11, 12, is only mentioned here. Havilah is southeast of Israel and may include Saudi Arabia and Yemen. A long dry riverbed that traverses Saudi Arabia toward Kuwait was discovered by satellite imaging and might be the remnant of the Pishon. Gihon, Genesis 2:13, is in the Ethiopian area of Africa. Ethiopians claim it is the Abay River or Blue Nile which circles the ancient kingdom of Gojjam. In the ancient Ge’ez language, the river and the springs at its source were called ‘Felege Ghion.’ Hiddekel, Genesis 2:14, is the Tigris, the northern river flowing out Turkey and across Iraq. In Turkish it is called “Dicle.” The river is also mentioned in Daniel 10:4. Euphrates is not described likely because it is the well-known river of the same name, mentioned 22 times in the Bible, flowing out of Turkey across Iraq, the old Assyria. The one thing the rivers have in common is that they are connected to the Great Rift Valley system. The huge volcanic, earthquake-prone fault line is over 4,000 miles from southern Turkey to eastern Africa, and it passes right through the land of Israel. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are north of Israel and the Gihon and Pishon Rivers are to the south which could mean the source was somewhere in between. The great Flood or its aftereffects could have obliterated evidence of the original rivers. When Genesis 2:8, says the garden was in the east or eastward, it does not necessarily mean the garden was in the east as in Mesopotamia, but possibly the eastern region of the land of present-day Israel. Interestingly, the same Hebrew name ‘Gihon’ is shared both by the river around the land of Cush and the springs in the Jerusalem area, I Kings 1:33. According to the proposed thesis, this might be evidence they were connected at one time. But one of the compelling reasons for the location in Israel is the future river that flows from Jerusalem described in Ezekiel 47:1-12 and Revelation 22:1-2. The key thought that Ezekiel brings out is that this river produces an abundant amount of water so rapidly that the river measures quite deep just a short distance away. It seems to be like the four rivers of Eden coming from one powerful spring-fed river. This river described in Ezekiel and Revelation may possibly be from the same source as the great river going out the garden of Eden. It is too coincidental to not be the same location – the eastern part of Israel in Jerusalem.
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