Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06

L.
set forth do not now exist.
Rev. DR.. George S. Duncan: professor
nj Egvptology at American UniverSit!
here. has attempted to reconstruct tn'
geography of the first book OF the BLDG
g., in the light of modern scientific knoWl'
edge in an effort to locate the site IRON
which mans first parents were barred
bv the angel with the flaming SWore
after falling into sin.
An exact translation Of Genesis. M
eays, reveals in the first place that tn:
was not garden" but an incloSet
mark planted with fruit trees such a.
were common in the Babylonlan civil
ization. The park was located east
ward from Palestine in district calico
Eden" Thus Eden becomes an area
of indefinite extent. allowing consider
ably more leeway in matching up the
Biblical geography. Reconstructmg the
account in Genesis. DR.. Duncan says:
"A large river flows from this district
into the park and probably by many
branching canals irrigates it. Baby
lonian parks and gardens were thus
irrigated by canals from the Euphrates
and Tigris. AS this river leaves the
park it branches into four rivers. One
of these is called the Pishon encircling
the land of Havilah Another is named
the Gihon. comprising the land OF
Cush The third river is the Hiddekel
flowing in front of ASsyria. The fourth
river is the Euphrates."
How To Locate Eden.
The Hiddekel, Dr. Duncan says, has
baen identified with the TigriS. The
Huphrates is we'll known. So all that
is necessary in order to locate Eden is
to follow up the Tigris and the Eu-
pirates to a common source where they
ioin with two other rivers. ASSyria, a
great empire. with its capital at Nineveh
has been pretty well uncovered by
archaeological research and its bounda-
rieS are known. Havilah and Cush are
doubtful localities, but the former usu-
ally has been regarded as Arabia and
the latter as Africa.
But the utmost efforts have failed to
reveal the PiShon and Gihon. There is
not even any geological evidence that
two such rivers might have existed.
Moreover. the TigriS and the EuphrateS
do not have common source. They
rise approximately so miles apart in
the Taurus Mountains. Anybody who
tries to find Eden from the directions
in Genesis is going down blind alley.
Baff1ed by these difficulties theologianS
have made some ingenious reconstruc-
tons of the biblical geography. DR.
Duncan says. BY actual count, over 80
specific localities have been reduced,
ranging from Scandinavia to the South
Sea Islands. Early writer's, such as
Josephus, labored under the fallacy that
the land mass of the world was en-
circled by the ocean and explained
q fhn dffT7aYrJfNy 1Axy VN1o rionr Elov1 ir1
some indefinite location to the east
ward beside this all-embracing sea
which was the source of the four rivers.
The Pishon was identified with the
Ganges and the Gihon with the Nile.
Others placed Paradise in the Taurus
Mountains somewhere near the sources
of the Tigris and Euphrates, and de-
Scrlbed 1t as valley of springs. The
two unknown rivers were assumed to
be obscure mountain streams since dis
appeared. Thus would put Eden some
where in the present Armenia. John
Calvin located the garden in lower
Babylonla, assuming that the two I'M
known rivers were channels from ths
Tlgrls and Euphrates entering the per-
sian Gulf. Martin Luther believed that
the landmarks had been wiped out by
the food so that it would be impossible
to local Paradise by physical signs. Still
others propounded a symbolic interpre-
tatlon, calling Eden Heaven and the
Tour rivers the streams of wisdom flow
ing from God.
Another Explanation.
Another explanation OF what NAV
nave been in the mind of the authol
OF Genesis, DR.. Duncan said, may be
reconstructed as follows: In Northern
IMeSopotamia there was a large BODY
OF water suggested by dim knowledge
OF the Black Sea. Here was the park in
Eden and here was the source of the
Tour rivers. The Euphrates and the
tI1grlS flowed southwark and ended ir
marshes. The Pishon, suggested by the
.herKka, starting more to the east
flowed into the Persian Gulf, supposed
TO be a river, then turning westward.
1T circled Havilah, Arabia and finally
ended in the Red Sea. The Gihon,
suggested by the Karun, starting still
further to the east, ended finally in
the Nile.
The ultimate source of the Hebrew
PARADISE seems to have been in Baby
Iona, where there was the garden o.
God with the tree of life at the mouth.
OF the four rivers, Euphrates, Tigris
kerkka and Karun. The Hebrews an
parently transferred this location from
the mouths of the rivers - a supposed
common source in Northern Mesopo.
tarAla where God was supposed tc
dwell"
In the final analysis, DIR. Duncan
says, the author of Genesis had in mind
a place somewhere east of Palestine.
Leading Old Testament scholars he
says. would probably agree in saying
that the Biblical writer had only vague
and indefinite ideas of geography cas-
OF Palestine. He was man of his time
IN his knowledge His geography of the
park in Eden cannot harmonic will
our modern exact knowledge of land
and rivers east of Palestine"
DR.. Duncan believes, however, that in
a general way the author of Genesis
was right. The actual Eden was cas-
OF Palestine-Several thousand miles
The Biblical writer thought in term
OF only few score miles. Modern
archaeology, he holds, has demonstrate
rather clearly that the emergence o.
man took place in Central Asia, wher
The most primitive pre-human skeleta
remains have been found. The write
OF Genesis may have had in mind GER
tain vague Legendary which the print
tive race carried with it as it Sprea
eastward from the Monaghan Desert
There are some theories, he admits
which hold that Eden was in the Val
OF Cashmire, long known as one G
the lovelieSt spots on earth. This woul
be in keeping with the ideas derives
from the Bible of the extreme lowell
ness of mans first home, and at tn
same time roughly consistent with tn
anthropological evidence of the dwell
ing place of the first men. He believes
however, that this location still is no
far enough eastward and that the mod
ern scholars are falling into the sam
error as the writer of Genesis in thel
efforts to preserve the beauty OF tn
Biblical legend.
Explains Babel Tower Story.
Recent archaeology in Biblical land
DR.. Duncan says, has thrown niue
new light in the Scriptures, which no.
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