Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“The name of the first is Pishon: it flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;“
Genesis 2:11

The rivers that branch off from the river that irrigates the garden are known by their size, the goodness of their water, and the goodness of their fruit.

Already God is speaking of the riches of the Earth. He is pointing out their existence AND where humanity could find them. He is identifying regions by the good things that are found there. This is before humanity had a use for them. Before we had a reason to seek them out. God always provides for us BEFORE we need it. If we listen to Him and obey Him in what He says to us, we will NEVER lack (Psalm 23:1).

There is a danger in trying to identify where these rivers are, or which rivers they are (where names don’t match), because these rivers and their locations are given to us PRE-FLOOD. When the flood happened, the world changed. The landscape changed. And it is quite possible that the locations of these rivers changed. Where they and the garden lie BEFORE the flood is NOT NECESSARILY where they lie AFTER the flood.

Traditionally, PISHON is identified by the sages as being the Nile in Egypt. The sage Chizkuni writes that the gold mentioned here is that which used to be brought from Ophir. According to Bible Central, Ophir was a seaport or region from which the Hebrews in the time of Solomon obtained gold. The gold was proverbial for its fineness, so that ‘gold of Ophir’ is several times used as an expression for fine gold (1 Chronicles 29:4; Job 28:16; Psalms 45:9; Isaiah 13:12). Even the regions NEAR the garden were blessed with higher quality riches than those found elsewhere. The blessings of the garden were meant to spread.