And the name of the second river [is] Gihon: the same [is] it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
13. Gihon ] This river is not mentioned again by the same name in the Bible, except in Sir 24:27 . The student will be careful not to confound it with the Gihon of 1Ki 1:33, a spring in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. It is here described as encircling “the whole land of Cush.” “Cush” in the Bible generally denotes Ethiopia (but cf. Gen 10:8 note); and by Ethiopia would be signified Nubia, the Soudan, and Upper Egypt, a great tract of country watered by the Nile, cf. Isa 18:1. Hence, though the description “that compasseth the whole land of Cush” is fanciful, it seems very probable that the Gihon here means the Nile. The Nile is generally called in the Bible y e ’or (cf. Gen 41:1), and sometimes Shihor (cf. Isa 23:3, Jer 2:18). See note Gen 41:1. For Cushites in David’s time, cf. 2Sa 18:21.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gihon; not that river in the land of Israel, so called, 1Ki 1:33; 2Ch 32:30; but another of the same name, which in Hebrew signifies, the branch of a greater river: here it is a branch either of Euphrates, as most think, or of Tigris, as some late writers conceive.
Ethiopia; not that country in Africa above Egypt, commonly so called; but either Arabia, which in Scripture is frequently called
Cush or Ethiopia; of which, see Poole on “2Ki 19:9“, see Poole on “Job 28:19“, see Poole on “Eze 29:10“, see Poole on “Eze 30:8“, see Poole on “Eze 30:9“, see Poole on “Hab 3:7“.
Or rather a country adjoining to India and Persia, with which Cush is joined, Eze 38:5; see also Isa 11:11; Eze 27:10; and about which place the Ethiopians are seated by Herod. 1. 7, Homer, Hesiod, and others. Of which see my Latin Synopsis.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the name of the second river [is] Gihon,…. There was one of this name in the land of Israel, which, or a branch of it, flowed near Jerusalem, 1Ki 1:33 this Aben Ezra suggests is here meant, and which favours the notion of the above learned man, that the garden of Eden was in the land of Israel. Josephus h takes it to be the river Nile, as do many others; it seems to have been a branch of the river Euphrates or Tigris, on the eastern side, as Phison was on the west; and so Aben Ezra says it came from the south east. The learned Reland i will have it to be the river Araxes: it has its name, according to Jarchi, from the force it goes with, and the noise it makes. And it seems to have its name from , which signifies to come forth with great force, as this river is said to do, when it pours itself into the Baltic sea.
The same [is] it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia; either Ethiopia above Egypt; and this favours the notion of those who take Gihon to be the Nile: for Pausanias k says, that it was commonly reported that the Nile was Euphrates, which disappearing in a marsh, rose up above Ethiopia, and became the Nile, and so washed that country, and is thought to agree very well with the Mosaic account: or else that Cush or Ethiopia, which bordered on Midian, and was a part of Arabia, and may be called Arabia Chusea, often meant by Cush in Scripture. Reland l thinks the country of the Cossaeans or Cussaeans, a people bordering on Media, the country of Kuhestan, a province of Persia, is intended.
(After the global destruction of Noah’s flood, it is doubtful that the location of these rivers could be determined with any degree of certainty today. Ed.)
h Antiqu, l. 1. c. 1. sect. 3. Philostorg. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 10. p. 482. i De situ Paradisi, p. 32. k Corinthiaca sive, l. 2. p. 94. l Ut supra, (De situ Paradisi) p. 38.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(13) Gihon, the river that bursts forth, has been supposed to be the Nile, because it is said to wind about Ethiopia (Cush). According to this view, there was originally no break between Asia and Africa, and the Nile, entering Abyssinia from Arabia, took thence a northerly course, and traversed Egypt. But Cush is now known to have signified at this period the southern half of Arabia, and it was not until later times that the name was carried by colonists to Abys. sinia. Moreover Gihon, in Arabic Jaihan, is a common name among the Arabs for a river, and perhaps the Oxus is here meant, which flowed northward from Armenia into the Caspian. Mr. Sayce, however, thinks it is the Araxes, the river of Babylon, which flowed westward into the desert of Cush, in Arabia (Chald, Gen., p. 84).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Gihon This name occurs again only as denoting a fountain near Jerusalem . 1Ki 1:33; 1Ki 1:38 ; 1Ki 1:45; 2Ch 32:30.
Compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia The attempt to explain this as referring to any of the lands subsequently known as Ethiopia, or Cush, are, perhaps, the best possible refutation of the notion that the rivers of Eden are identical with any rivers now known . Cush was evidently the name of a region or country in the land of Eden, and it was very natural for Ham, the son of Noah, after the flood to name one of his sons in memory of this ancient country. Gen 10:6. The same considerations apply to the names Hiddekel, Assyria, (or Asshur; compare Gen 10:11; Gen 10:22,) and Euphrates, or Phrath, in the following verse . There is no sufficient reason for the belief that the original rivers and countries of Eden remained traceable after the flood.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 2:13 And the name of the second river [is] Gihon: the same [is] it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
Ver. 13. The name of the second river is Gihon. ] This is the same, say some, which the Egyptians call Nile. Others make it to be a channel of the river Euphrates, called by those that dwell near it Naharsares. The hill where Solomon was anointed king, was also called Gihon.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
verses 8-14 Figure of speech Parecbasis. App-6.
Gihon = the river E. of the Tigris. The modern Kerkhah, and ancient Khoaspes, rising in the mountains of the Kassi. Kas has been confused with the Heb, Cush. It is not the African Cush or Ethiopia, but the Accadian kas.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Gihon: The Araxes, which runs into the Caspian sea.
Ethiopia: Heb. Cush, The country of the ancient Cussaei. Gen 10:6, Isa 11:11
Reciprocal: 2Ki 17:30 – Cuth Isa 37:9 – Ethiopia