10 | Genesis 2:10 depictions two or four rivers flow out of the mouth of Nun, who represents the cosmic abyss. An ivory inlaid plaque from Assyria shows a central divine figure with four rivers flowing from him in four directions. He is flanked by two trees, and standing next to each tree is a winged guardian. It should also be noted that the idea of rivers flowing from the holy place is found not only in ch. 2( which portrays Eden as the Most Holy Place) but also in Ezekiel’ s temple( Eze 47:1). The picture is of a mighty spring that gushes out from Eden and is channeled through the garden for irrigation purposes. All of these channels then serve as headwaters, for the four rivers flow out in various directions as the waters exit the garden. 2:11 – 13 Pishon... Gihon. Attempts to identify these two rivers include: canals, other rivers of Mesopotamia( Balikh, Diyala, Zab, etc.), other rivers outside of Mesotemple, and there are many images and symbols that evoke the relationship between temple and cosmos. The temple is considered the center of the cosmos and is itself a microcosmos. In Egypt the temple contained within its sacred precincts a representation of the original primeval hillock that emerged from the cosmic waters. In Mesopotamia, the primary imagery of the temple was that it was the center of the cosmos. In Syro-Palestine, the temple is the architectural embodiment of the cosmic mountain. This concept is represented in Ugaritic literature as well as in the Bible, where Mount Zion is understood as the mountain of the Lord( e. g., Ps 48) and the place where his temple, a representation of Eden, was built. In Isa 66:1 the Lord indicated:“ Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?” Here God indicates that the man-made temple cannot be considered the true temple( cf. 1Ki 8:27). It is only a micro-scale representation of the cosmic temple. Ps 78:69 communicates a similar idea by indicating that the temple was built on the model of the cosmos. Ideas like these are also found in literature from Mesopotamia that compares temples to the heavens and the earth and gives them a cosmic location and function. It is evident, then, that Israel and her neighbors viewed the cosmos in temple terms and viewed the temple as a model of the cosmos or the cosmic temple.
If the cosmos is being ordered as sacred space, then it is possible that a cosmological text could adopt the language of temple-building and temple-dedication. In a temple construction project, the structure would be built, and the furniture and trappings would be made in preparation for the moment when all was ready for the dedication of the temple. On this occasion, often a seven-day celebration, the functions of the temple were declared, the furniture and hangings were put in place, the priests installed, and the appropriate sacrifices made to initiate the temple’ s operation. Somewhere in the process, the image of the deity was brought into the temple to take up his repose. On the basis of all of this, Ge 1 can be viewed as using the metaphor of temple-dedication as it portrays God’ s creation(= making functional / operational) of his cosmos( which is his temple, Isa 66:1). The main connection, however, is the rest motif, for rest is the principal function of a temple, and a temple is always where deity finds rest. ◆
10 A riv er wa ter ing the gar den flowed
from Eden; from there it was sep a rat ed into four head wa ters. 11 The name of the first is the Pi shon; it winds through the en tire land of Hav i lah, where there is gold.
12( The gold of that land is good; ar o mat-
2:14 r Da 10:4 ic res in a and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the sec ond riv er is the Gi hon; it winds through the en tire land of Cush. b
14 The name of the third riv er is the Ti gris; r
a 12 Or good; pearls Mesopotamia b 13 Possibly southeast
2:10 – 14 Most scholars would place Eden in or near the northern end of the Persian Gulf, based on the locations of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The distinction“ in the east”( v. 8) merely indicates Mesopotamia, and is typical of primordial narratives. The flow of the rivers and the uncertainty of the location of the Pishon and Gihon( see note on vv. 11 – 13) has caused some to look near the source of the Tigris and Euphrates and some scholars have identified two other major rivers in that area that might qualify. In such a mountainous region the garden would be in an elevated valley, though for some, the imagery of a well-watered garden where humans do no work and life springs up without cultivation is more suited to the marshy areas around the Persian Gulf. 2:10 four headwaters. Genesis uses a familiar picture of fertile waters flowing from the seat of deity. In Egyptian