The Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8-14)

The word "Eden" may be related to two potential cognates: 1) The Sumerian EDIN, which means "steppe country"; or 2) The Aramaic cognate, which means "to enrich, make abundant." Current Semitic studies leans toward the second option.[1] In Hebrew, the word Eden means "delight."[2]

Concerning the Garden of Eden (גַּן־עֵדֶן), "Genesis 2:10 indicates that the garden should be understood as adjoining Eden because the water flows from Eden and waters the garden. 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 flowing out in various directions as the waters exit."[3]

In the garden were two unique trees: 1) The tree of life; and 2) The tree of knowledge of good and evil. The description (cf. 2:29; 3:3) seems to indicate "that the two stood side by side in the center" of the garden.[4] "The first tree offered the possibility of eternal life (Gen. 3:22), but the couple were no longer permitted to eat from it after eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."[5]

A river flowed out of Eden and watered the garden. From there it divided and became four rivers (v. 10):

2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

2:12 The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.

2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.                 

2:14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Tigris and Euphrates flow through modern day Iraq, but the Pishon and the Gihon have not been identified, perhaps because they dried up in antiquity.[6] In fact, "analysis of sand patterns in Saudi Arabia and satellite photography have helped identify an old riverbed running northeast through Saudi Arabia from the Hijaz Mountains near Medina to the Persian Gulf in Kuwait near the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates. This would correlate with the information given for the Pishon River (Sauer). The river is believed to have dried up between 3500 and 2000 B.C. Today the dried riverbed is called Wadi al-Batin. The ancient river has been dubbed the Kuwait River. The Hijaz Mountains area is also home to the famous "Cradle of Gold" (Mahd edh-Dhahab), one of the richest gold mines in the region of Medina. This area along the Red Sea produces spices and precious stones as well."[7]

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[1] T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 2003), s.v. "Garden of Eden," by J. H. Walton.

[2] Kidner, Genesis, 62.

[3] Alexander and Baker, eds., s.v. "Garden of Eden," by J. H. Walton.

[4] Matthews, Genesis 1-11:26, 202.

[5] T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 2003), s.v. "Fall," by M. D. Gow.

[6] Alexander and Baker, eds., s.v. "Garden of Eden," by J. H. Walton.

[7] Alexander and Baker, eds., s.v. "Garden of Eden," by J. H. Walton.