Genesis 2:8-15
From OpenWordBase
“... the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom he had formed ... and out of the ground [grew] 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 knowledge of good and evil ... and a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads ... the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; ... the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone ... the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia ... the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria ... the fourth river is Euphrates ... the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”
Geography, Behavioral Science, Agriculture
Spring, River (81) (82) (83)
God provided this garden for the first man, which He created. God gave the first man, as with every man, a purpose -- to dress and keep it (ultimately to serve God and to observe what He had created while appreciating it). It had every kind of plant with fruit including every kind of tree with fruit and all kinds of seed-bearing grasses. I was well watered from springs in the ground (Genesis 13:10). The Jordan plain was later likened to it. There was a single tree that was considered off limits to Adam - called the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Weeds and tares often grow around, among, and right with fruitful plants, but they are not removed until the harvest to keep from pulling up the good plants.
Many rivers have their source from springs that come up from under the ground. We see this in the illustration of the river that came out of Eden in verse 10. Three of these rivers no longer exist, since they disappeared with the world flood. The Euphrates River exists but takes a different course. This river formed four rivers. Several rivers are formed from tributaries of other rivers today, as in this Bible passage.
