Distinction from the River Gihon

The Spring of Gihon in Jerusalem is not to be confused with the river Gihon mentioned in reference to Eden (Gen 2:10–14). This is sometimes viewed as a mythological reference (Neiman, “Giḥon and Pishon,” 321–28). However, it more likely refers to an actual water source in Mesopotamia, perhaps characterized by Gihon’s lexical root “to burst forth” (גיח, gych). Genesis 2:13 describes Gihon as running “through the entire land of Cush.” While Cush often refers to Ethiopia in the Bible (e.g., Isa 20:3, 5), in this case it refers to a region in Mesopotamia. The immediate context identifies its location in the east (Gen 2:8), and the broader context also connects Cush with Mesopotamia (Gen 10:8–12). Speiser connected this “Cush” to the region of the Kassites (Speiser, “Rivers of Paradise,” 176–77). The Kassite rule replaced the dynasty of Hammurabi from the Old Babylonian Period after Muršillis I led the Hittite invasion of Babylon in 1595 bc. Given this connection, in conjunction with the description in the Eden passage, it seems likely that the river Gihon refers to one of the water sources that was connected to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.