Gihon River

Biblical Text

The Gihon River appears in the description of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:10–14. A river went out of Eden to water the garden and from there was parted into four heads. The first was the Pison, which encompassed the land of Havilah; the second was the Gihon; the third was the Hiddekel, which goes toward the east of Assyria; and the fourth was the Euphrates. Of the Gihon, Genesis 2:13 says only, "And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia." This is the only verse in Scripture that mentions the river directly.

Name and Background

The Hebrew name Gihon is commonly explained as deriving from a root meaning "to gush forth" or "to burst out." Cush, the land the river is said to encompass, elsewhere in the Old Testament usually refers to the region of Nubia and Ethiopia south of Egypt. The Korean Revised Version, New Revised Edition, renders this region as "Cush," whereas the KJV reads "Ethiopia." Cush also appears in Genesis 10:6 as the name of a son of Ham.

Views on the Location

The fourth river, the Euphrates, and the third, the Hiddekel (commonly identified with the Tigris), are readily associated with present-day rivers. It is unclear, however, which rivers the Pison and the Gihon were. The principal views are as follows:

• The Nile view: This interpretation identifies Cush with Ethiopia and the Gihon with the Nile. The Jewish historian Josephus is known to have held this view, and it was widespread among ancient and medieval church interpreters.
• The Mesopotamian view: In keeping with the text's statement that the four rivers branch from a single region, this interpretation identifies the Gihon with a river near the Tigris and Euphrates. On this reading, "Cush" is understood as a different region or people east of Mesopotamia.
• The indeterminate view: This position holds that the geography of the text cannot be mapped directly onto a modern map. Some attribute this to major changes in the landscape after the Flood; others propose that the text is concerned less with precise geography than with portraying Eden as the source of life.

None of these views has been established as a definitive conclusion in either scholarship or the church.

Distinction from the Gihon Spring in Jerusalem

The Old Testament also mentions a spring bearing the same name, Gihon, beside the city of David in Jerusalem. Solomon was anointed king at Gihon (1 Kings 1:33–45). Hezekiah stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon and brought its water down to the west side of the city of David (2 Chronicles 32:30). Manasseh built an outer wall on the west side of Gihon, in the valley (2 Chronicles 33:14). This spring is a different place from the Gihon River of Eden. Nevertheless, some interpreters see a symbolic connection between the two, since the water source of the city where the temple stood bears the name of a river of Eden.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The New Testament does not mention the Gihon River directly. However, the image of a river flowing out of Eden to water the whole land reappears later in Scripture. Ezekiel 47 describes a life-giving river flowing out from the temple, and Revelation 22:1–2 describes the river of the water of life proceeding from the throne in the New Jerusalem, together with the tree of life. Many interpreters read this as a progression in which the abundance of life given at the first creation is restored at the end of the age.