A treatise of the situation of Paradise written by P.D. Huet; to which is prefixed a map of the adjacent countries ; translated from the French original.

CHAP. IV. Explanation of the tenth Verse.

I. Ambiguity of the tenth Verse. II. The Ground of the Opinion of those, who think that the four Rivers of Paradise spring out of the same Head, and having en∣tred into the Earth again, come forth in other places. III. The Opinion of those who maintain that the River which came out of Eden to water Paradise, had its Spring out of Paradise and Eden, is better grounded. IV. It is established upon the description of Moses himself. V. We begin to know more precisely the Situation of Paradise.

I. VErse 9. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of know∣ledge of good and evil.

Verse 10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

The words of the ninth Verse have no relation to the Situation of the Earthly Paradise, and are out of the subject of this work. But he that will read the following words with appli∣cation, will find that none in all this description, do more exactly mark the Situation of Paradise, yet none have been so little understood, none also have been a greater cause of mistakes to those who passed them over with a ••light and superficial view, and knew not how to get clear of the Ambiguities, that are there at least in as great a number, as in the foregoing places; for when Moses says that a river went out of Eden to water the garden, we know not, whether he means that a River went out of the Earth, and had its Spring in the Province of Eden, from whence it run along into the Garden; or whether he means that its Spring was in the Garden it self, that was in the Province of Eden; or whether his meaning be only that after having run through that Province, it went out of it to water the Garden. All these signi∣fications have their defenders, both

ancient and modern: The number is great of those that by the word went out, understand, grew or sprung out of the earth. And because this River di∣vided it self into four others, the heads of which are far from the Province of Eden, some have imagined subterra∣neous Conduits, through which the Waters of this Fountain were carried very far, and went out again to make the Ganges, Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile. Such is the opinion of those who think that the sealed Fountain, Fons signatus, which they pretend was the same that is now adays to be seen between Beth∣lehem and Hebron, and of which Solomon speaks in his Songs, was the Spring of the four Rivers; and that the enclosed Garden, Hortus conclusus, which they set in the same place, was the Earthly Paradise. St. John Damascene fansied that the Ocean was that Spring, and consequently that all the Earth was Paradise. Some believed that though the word River be here made use of in the singular Number, yet it hath a plural and collective Signification, which comprehends the four Rivers. Upon this ground, having found the Springs of the Tigris and Euphrates pretty near one another in the greater Armenia, they looked thereabouts for

the Spring of the Phison and Gehon; and deceived by some conformity of names, or some light resemblance, they made divers conjectures, all which have some essential defect, and do agree but with one part of the description of Moses. El-idris the Geographer, whom they without reason call Nubian, it being much more probable that he was born a Subject to Roger the second King of Sicily: This Geographer, I say, fansy∣ing that the Spring of this River, spoken of by Moses, was in Paradise, placed Paradise at the Spring of the Chamdan, a great River in China.

II. Although the Opinion of those who fansie that these four great Rivers sprung out of the same head, and en∣t••ed into the Earth almost as soon as they were come out of it, to go into very remote places and there come forth again, be very strange, yet it hath found credit, even amongst the Heathens themselves, and so much the more, because there are great confor∣mities betwixt those Rivers. Their over∣flowings are at set times, though pro∣duced by different causes; the Eu∣phrates and Tigris, as the Po, and many others, by reason of the Snow of the Mountains, which melteth away at the approaches of the Sun; the Nile

and Ganges, as all those of the Torrid Zone, by reason of the Rains that are frequent there, when the Sun is ver∣tical. The same Animals are found in the Ganges and in the other Indian Rivers, as in the Nile, as Crocodiles, and also Hippopotames, if we give cre∣dit to Philostratus and Onesicritus. The latter is contradicted by Strabo; and yet it is true, that the Nile is not the only River that produces these Ani∣mals. In that of Petzora, and in all the Coast of the Samojedes, which lies towards the Streights of Vaygats, there is to be found an amphibious Animal which the Moscovites call Morss, and is really a kind of Hippopotame. This may well be the reason why it was thought that the Nile and Ganges had one and the same Spring; since Alexander ha∣ving found some Crocodiles in the River Indus, and Beans like to those of Egypt, upon the sides of the Acesine, a River that falls into the Indus, did not question but he had found the Spring of the Nile. For all the Ancients, knowing very little of Geography, thought, even since the time of Marcus Paulus a Venetian, who lived four hun∣dred years ago, that the Aethiopians were neighbours to the Indians, and very often took the one for the other;

and that the Nile came from the East, and had its Spring in the Indies. Virg•…•… tells it very plainly, and the Poet Gra∣tius, who lived in the time of Augustu••, writes, that the Kings of Egypt did reap the Nard which grows on the sides o•• the Ganges. They believed also, as Pausanias and Philostratus inform us, that the Nile was derived from the Euphrates, which after having plunged his Waters into some Meers, sprung o•••• again in Aethiopia under the name of Nile. And finally we know, by the Te∣stimony of the Poet Lucan, and of B••••∣tius, some fansied that the Euphrates and Tigris had the same Spring. Here the•• you have the Springs of the Ganges, Nile, Euphrates and Tigris very near one another and even united, according to ancient Geography, which is indeed very false and very ridiculous, and which very much helped the receiving the gross Error of those who misunder∣stood the words of Moses, which we are now about to examine.

III. But those who maintain that this River that went out to water Para∣dise, had its Spring out of Paradise and Eden, and that the word went out doth not signifie sprung out, but run f••om Eden into Paradise, are more in num∣ber and of greater weight. The word

Egrediebatur, which the Author of the vulgar Translation made use of; and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which the Seventy Interpreters used, answered to by the Oriental Translations, express the running of a River, and not its Spring. And even the term 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 jotse which is in the He∣brew Text, gives us the same Notion. For altho' it is taken elsewhere, and even by Moses himself, for the Spring of Waters; yet these being figurative Expressions, and this word being ne∣ver made use of in historical Narra∣tives, I do not see what may be in∣ferred from thence for its proper signi∣fication. The Hebrews have many other words much more proper for that signification; and they have none more proper than 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 jatsa to signifie coming out or running to go into another place.

IV. If we consider well the thing it self described by Moses, it leadeth us to this very sence. For Eden and Paradise being two different places, (I mean different, as the whole from its part) and the Sacred Author ha∣ving a mind to say, that the River went from one to go into the other, he expressed the two bounds of this running, Eden and the Garden, and he used the Words and Particles most

suitable to this Expression; for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 jatsa, as I said, in its most natural sence, signifies go out; and the Pre∣position 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Min, which is joyned with the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Eden in the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Meeden, doth denote the place of this going out. The Seventy Interpreters rendred it very well by the Prepo∣sition 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and the vulgar Translation by De. In the following word, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 l••haschcoth, to water, the Par∣ticle expressed by the letter 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 com∣monly denoting the Gerund, signi∣fies the final cause of this going out: And the following words 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 eth∣hagan, the Garden, denote the local bound of this running. If by these words, And a river went out of Eden to water the Garden, Moses had meant that this River sprung out of the Earth in Eden, 'tis evident his Nar∣rative had been defective; having said nothing of the running of this River: And to make it compleat, it should have been in these words, And a River had its Spring in the Land of Eden, from whence it ran along to water the Garden.

V. This Explication being received, we begin to have a clearer sight of the Situation of Paradise. I said that Paradise was situated on the Canal

of the Tigris and Euphrates joyned together, betwixt their coming toge∣ther 〈…〉〈…〉 separating from one ano∣ther. This Canal is now called Schat-el Arab, that is to say, the River of the Arabians. It is the River here spoken of by Moses: Seeing Paradise comprehended the easterly part of the Province of Eden, as I suppose, I have plainly evidenced it; and the River that did water it, ran through that Province, before it en∣tred into Paradise; it must necessa∣rily follow, that Paradise was situ∣ated on one of the turnings of this River, that goeth from West to East. And if any should desire to have something more precise or particular in this, we may understand that great turning of the River toward the West, betwixt its joyning and dividing, and which is called Agathodaemon in the Maps of Ptolomy, and say that Paradise stood at the easterly end of the Meridional Branch of this turning. And consequently all those who set it in the places where this River runs towards the West, or the South, have been under a mistake. Perhaps it had another turning in Paradise, and then ran as before to∣ward, the South. Josephus says, That

it incompassed that delicious place, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Which I but partly believe, for I am per∣suaded that the greatest part of the Garden was on the easterly side of the Tigris. I desire the Reader to re∣flect on this Observation, which is of very great Importance for the present inquiry.

Notes

• Ambiguity of the tenth Verse.
• John Da∣masc. de orthod. fid. l 2. c. 9.
• Geogr. Nub. clim. 2. part. 10.
• Ground of the opinion of those, who think the four Rivers spring out of the same head, and having en∣tred into the Earth again, come forth in an∣other place.
• Phil. Vit. Apol. l. 6. c. 1. Onesi∣crit. Strabo l. 15.
• Virgil. Georg. l. 4.
• Pausan. Corinth. Philostrat. vit. Apoll. l. 1. c. 14.
• Lucan. l. 3. Boet. Con∣sol. l. 5. metr. 1.
• The opinion of those who maintain that the river which came out of Eden to water Para∣dise, had its Spring out of Paradise and Eden, is better grounded.
• It is esta∣blished upon the descrip∣tion of Mo∣ses himself.
• We begin more pre∣cisely to know the Situation of Paradise.
• Joseph. Antiq. l. 1. c. 2.