appellation. The tree of life in Eden, | simple intelligence, but also of a practiundoubtedly conveyed to Adam, by cal feeling or experimental sense of the the express appointment of the Creator, thing known. Thus Ps. 101. 4, ‘I will a symbolical meaning, serving as a vis- not know a wicked person;' i. e. I will ible sign or pledge of the continuance to not have complacency in him. Mat. him of a blessed natural life, as long as 7. 23, 7. 23, Then will I profess unto them, he should continue obedient. Regard- I never knew you;' i. e. I never approed in this light he undoubtedly often ved of you. Rom. 7. 7, 'I had not ate of the fruit of the tree before his fall, known sin but by the law;' i. e. had not perhaps as a means of sustaining not experimentally known it.-In the life, or of making him immortal, but above remarks we have given what we sacramentally, as Christians now eat conceive to be, on the whole, the most of the Lord's supper, to confirm their correct interpretation of the phrase, faith in the divine promises, and as a 'tree of knowledge of good and evil.' symbol of spiritual blessings imparted At the same time it is, perhaps, but just to the soul. T In the midst of the to advert to an objection urged against garden. Heb. 7. The phrase this sense of the words by the learned in the midst,' as used by the sacred Vitringa, who seldom advances an writers, often signifies merely within cer- opinion that is not entitled to great retain limits, without implying an exact- spect. He argues, that 'to know good ly central position. Thus Gen. 41. 43, and evil,' in the language of Scripture, Heb. ' In the midst of the same (city ;)' | is to understand the nature of good and Eng. in the same. Job, 2. 8, (Heb.) evil, of right and wrong, not to experi'He sat down in the midst of the ashes;'ence it; and that the tree therefore Eng. among the ashes. Luke, 8. 7, could not have been so named prolepti(Gr.) 'Fell in the midst of thorns;' cally from the event. For although Eng. among thorns. In like manner by the fall the original pair had indeed all that is implied here probably is, that full experience of sin and misery, yet the tree of life grew within the precincts how could it be said that they thereby of the garden, while it was not found acquired the knowledge of good? If it without. This is confirmed by Gen. be answered 'by contrast,' the experi3. 22, 23, where the reason given for the ence of evil having taught them the man's being driven out of the garden is, value of those blessings which they had 'lest he should put forth his hand and lost, this implies that they were previtake of the tree of life;' from which the ously unacquainted with good; and not inference is natural, that the tree did only so, but that they experienced good not grow without the garden.¶ by an event from which they only deTree of knowledge of good and evil. rived evil. This is indeed a specious Gr. 'The tree of knowing that which objection, and has led some commenmay be known of good and evil.' Chal. tators to understand by the appellation 'The tree of whose fruit they that eat a tree which was the test of good and shall know the difference between good evil; a tree by which our first parents and evil.' These paraphrases give would be tried whether they would be the sense of the expression. The tree good or bad, or by which it would apwas so called because, being appointed pear whether they would obey or disoas a test of obedience, Adam by eating bey the commands of their Creator. of its fruit, would acquire the knowl- From the whole tenor of the history it edge of good by losing it, and of evil would appear, it is said, that the tree by experiencing it. The term knowl- of knowledge was appointed to be the edge in the idiom of the Scriptures usu- test of Adam's fidelity to his Creator, ally carries with it the idea not only of and consequently was so called from 10 And a river went out of from thence it was parted, and Eden to water the garden: and became into four heads. course ran through the Paradisaic enclosure. With Michaelis, Jahn, and other distinguished critics, we are inclined to consider the word 'river,' here as a collective singular for the plu the Hebrew, implying that not one only, but a number of rivers, viz. the four afterwards specified, flowed in different directions about the garden or through it. We are led to this conclusion from the extreme difficulty of identifying any place in the region of the Euphrates which answers fully to the localities here given.-After all, it is, we think, not improbable that the word rendered God's knowing by the result whether that it might be said, that the river or he would cleave to good or make choice | rivers flowed out of it, which in their of evil. This view of the import of the terms it would not perhaps be very ea- | sy to set aside, were it not for the language of ch. 3. 22, 'Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.' Here the 'knowing' is clear-ral, one of the commonest idioms of ly attributed to Adam and not to God, and as this was the result of eating of that particular tree, we know not how to avoid the conclusion that such is the meaning of the appellation, viz. that it was a tree by which Adam should know, instead of being known.—It is not perhaps necessary to suppose that there were barely two individual trees of the species abovementioned. The term tree is repeatedly used as a noun of multitude, implying many trees (see on Gen. 3. 2), and we suppose that the trees here spoken of were in fact two distinct species of trees, which the Cre-ginated in the district of Eden, and ator saw fit to appropriate to this peculiar use. They were probably interspersed here and there throughout the garden, so that Adam in traversing the delightful region would frequently meet with them, and thus be constantly reminded of the terms on which he held his happiness. While he was at full liberty to pluck and enjoy the fruit of the one, he was to consider himself forbid- . If but a single river be den by the most awful sanctions from putting forth his hand to the other. 10. A river went out of Eden to water the garden. The language here is peculiar, and such as we should scarcely expect, if the common opinion respecting the topography of the garden be correct. For as the garden itself was within the limits of Eden, why should it be said that a river went out of Eden in order to water it? This can only be explained on the supposition that Eden, compared with the garden, was so large a tract of country, went out' really implies rising or springing out of the ground, the design of Moses being here simply to inform the reader that these rivers ori consequently afforded an abundant source of irrigation. That the Heb. term to go forth is used in the sense of issuing or springing forth from the earth, especially as applied to plants, and streams of water is unquestionable. See 1 Kings, 5. 13. Is. 11. 1. Job, 14. 2. Deut. 8. 7. Is. 41. 18. -T From thence it was parted. Heb. here intended, the partition spoken of must have commenced immediately upon its leaving the garden, and at the same time not very far from its mouth ; for although it is not unusual for a large river to discharge itself by several distinct outlets into the sea, like the Nile and the Ganges, yet it is very seldom that it is found thus dividing itself in the midst of its course, and far in the interior of the country through which it flows. But it utterly confounds all that is known of eastern geography to make the Euphrates and the Tigris short 11 The name of the first is Pi- | "the whole land of Havilah, where son: that is it which compasseth there is gold; branches of a larger river on which the garden was situated. We are constrained, therefore, to reject the idea of but a single river being intended. We adopt also the opinion, that the phrase 'from thence' ( mishsham) is indicative rather of time than of place; | a sense which it undoubtedly has in the following among other passages, Hos. 2. 15, 'And I will give her vineyards from thence (175),' i. e. from that time, afterwards. Is. 65. 20, There shall be no more thence (a) an infant of days,' i. e. from that time. Thus interpreted the historian's meaning is simply, that from the beginning four considerable rivers, including the three principal in central Asia, flowed over or along the pleasant land of Eden, by means of which, or some of their branches, the enclosure of the garden was watered and fertilized; that at the time of which he speaks neither the region of Eden, nor the rivers themselves were distinguished by nam s; but that afterwards (D) at a period indefinitely subsequent, geographical distinctions arose, the extensive tract was divided into minor portions, and the rivers were 'parted,' that is, assigned in geographical reckoning to particular districts or territories embraced in the larger original whole. These rivers thus 'parted' were afterwards known by the names which he proceeds to specify, and by the designation of which he would help the reader to understand the true topography of the primitive Eden. As to a physical partition or division of a single river into different channels or courses, it is by no means necessarily implied in the import of the original word. It is the proper term for expressing that kind of conventional allotment which we understand by it. See note on Gen. 25. 23.——¶ Became into four heads. That is, came to be | u ch. 25. 18. known or distinguished as four principal rivers, four capital streams; a prevailing sense of the word 'head' in the original, denoting the chief or principal of any thing to which it is applied. As to the sense of sources or fountainheads, it is supported by no instance whatever of such an usage. It is here clearly synomynous with 'river,' as appears from v. 13, where it is said that the name of the second river'—one of the abovementioned heads-'is Gihon.' 11. The name of the first is Pison. The name of the first river, not the first head, v. 13. It was so called from the multitude, increase, or volume of its waters. Accordingly, the author of Ecclesiasticus, ch. 24 25, in allusion to this etymology, says of God, 'He filleth all things with his wisdom as Pison.' As the names of the two first rivers here mentioned have long since become obsolete, they can only be determined by settling the locality of the countries to which they are adjacent, and even this is a matter of no small difficulty from our yet imperfect knowledge of the geography of the East. Which compasseth. -T original word does not always signify to encircle or surround, but sometimes merely to pass along by the side of, to meander or wind its way through. It occurs Josh. 15. 3 and 6. 16, where it is properly rendered passed along and passed by; in which sense it is probably to be taken here. land of Havilah. The - The whole So called from the name of its first and most distinguished occupant, like 'land of Ashur,' 'land of Edom,' 'land of Zebulon,' &c. all so named from the individuals by whom There were two they were settled. persons of the name of Havilah, one the son of Cush, the son of Ham, Gen. 10. 7, whose territory lay in Arabia, near the Persian Gulf, Gen. 25. 18. 1 Sam. 15. 17. But from the absence of any river of note in this region, though it was indeed somewhat distinguished for its treasures of gold and precious stones, it is hardly probable that this is the Havilah here intended. The other person of this name, Gen. 10. 29, was the son of Joktan of the race of Shem. His possessions fell to him to the east of Persia in the country watered by the Indus, in or near the region afterwards termed Cabul, which might, through the oriental pronunciation, be easily derived from Havilah. He was brother to Ophir, whose land was celebrated for gold, and the English editor of Calmet, with other eminent geographers, is of opinion that the ships of Solomon in sailing to Ophir ascended the Indus. The two brothers may be supposed to have settled near together, and if so, the hypothesis is very probable, that the ancient Pison was no other than the modern Indus. And how well this river is entitled to the appellation of abundant will appear from the remarks of Mr. Burnes who has devoted a chapter to a comparison of the Indus and the Ganges in respect to the quantity of water which they severally discharge into the sea. 'It appears from Mr. G. A. Prinsep's essay, that in the month of April, the Ganges discharges, at Sicriguli, about 21,500 cubic feet of water in a second. The average breadth of the river at that place is given at 5000 feet, which is also the velocity in a second of time: while its average depth does not exceed three feet. In the middle of April, I found the Indus at Tatta to have a breadth of 670 yards, and to be running with a velocity of two miles and a half an hour. It happens that the banks are steep on both sides of the river in this part of its 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. course: so that the soundings, which amount to fifteen feet, are regular from shore to shore, if we except a few yards on either side, where the water is still. This data would give a discharge of 110,500 cubic feet per second; but by Buat's equations for the diminished velocity of the stream near the bed, compared with that of the surface, it would be decreased to 93,465 cubic feet. Some further deduction should be made for the diminished depth towards the shores: and 80,000 cubic feet per second may be taken as a fair rate of discharge of the Indus in the month of April. From what has been above stated, it will be seen that the Indus, in discharging the enormous volume of 80,000 cubic feet of water in a second, exceeds by four times the size of the Ganges in the dry season, and nearly equals the great American river, the Mississippi.' Travels into Bokhara, Vol. I. pp. 137, 138. On the east, therefore, we consider the land of Eden to have extended to the borders of India, and in accordance with this the Targum of Jonathan renders the verse, 'The name of the first river is Phison, which environs (i. e. runs along) the whole land of India, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is excellent.' 12. The gold of that land is good. That is, fine, precious, of superlative excellence. Thus 2 Chron. 3. 5, 'And the greater house he ceiled with fir-tree, which he overlaid with fine gold (Heb. good gold).' - There is bdellium, Heb. 3 bedolahh. Of the many opinions respecting the true import of the original Hebrew term the most probable is, that it stands for the pearl. Some indeed contend for its being a resinous aromatic gum, exuding from a certain species of tree, and used as in son of Ham, spread themselves, by varous removals, over countries widely separated from each other, the general term appears to have been employed by the Hebrews to denote all the countries of the south, an extensive region spread from the Persian gulf westward, and cense for burning. But we adopt the former opinion, not only because the bdellium is here mentioned along with gold and precious gems, but for another still weightier reason. Moses describing the manna Num. 11. 7, says that 'it was like the seed of coriander, anding along the southern coast of Asia, the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.' But we know from another passage Ex. 16. 14, 31, that the manna was white, which corresponds with the colour of the pearl. But neither the round shape of the coriander seed nor the white colour of the manna correspond with the aromatic gum which has received the name of bdellium. The pearl therefore is undoubtedly meant; and it is well known that the shores of the Persian gulf and the Indian ocean, along which the province of Havilah lay, produce finer pearls and in greater abundance than any other place in the world.¶ And the onyx-stone. Heb. Du shoham. All that is known with certainty of this substance is; that it was a precious stone, probably a kind of flesh-coloured agate, resembling the human nail; whence it is rendered in the Greek v onyx, i. e. nail. It is elsewhere translated beryl, and was one of the gems in which the names of the twelve tribes were engraven and borne on the breast-plate of the High Priest, Ex. 28. 9, 10. 13. The name of the second river is Gihon. A name importing in the original eruption of waters. The identity of this river, like that of the former, can be determined only by fixing the site of the country to which it was contiguous. T The same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. Heb. 'land of Cush.' Our English translators, following the example of the Septuagint, have generally rendered Cush by Ethiopia, as though but one country were intended. Such however is not the fact, and a want of attention to this will involve some places of Scripture in inextricable confusion. As the different descendants of Cush, the : man of colour.' Of these the inhabitants of Egypt and East Africa generally were the most remarkable, and though many of the race were settled in the southern parts of Arabia along the coasts of the Red sea, we seem to be guided by this circumstance to fix upon the Nile as the river intended by the Gihon and it is a circumstance peculiarly worthy of notice, that the editor of Calmet remarks in the article on the 'Nile,' that 'the inhabitants of the kingdom of Goiam call this river Gihon.' (Robinson's Calmet, p. 702). This view of the subject, it is admitted, represents the ancient Eden as a very widely extended territory, reaching from the Indus on the east, to the Nile and the Mediteranean on the west, and including the intermediate countries. But we perceive nothing in the letter of the narrative or the reason of the thing which compels us to regard it as peculiarly small, nor do we think it possible, without violently wresting the language of Moses and assuming the most gratuitous hypotheses, to make the tract of Eden any other than a large one. As to the garden itself, the reader may, if he chooses, conceive it to have been |