An Erroneous Idea by F. A. BOWER

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 12, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 36.

An Erroneous Idea

By F. A. BOWER

It is said that the land through which the Euphrates River now flows must be the land in which Noah and his family lived before the Flood.

The fact is that Noah and his family were shut in the ark for five months, while it was driven by fierce winds over the waters which covered the whole earth to a depth of at least fifteen cubits, or about twenty-two feet. When the ark rested on the ground, and Noah and his family stepped out on the earth once more, there was no telling where they were. They may have been ten or twelve thousand miles from where they started; but as they began to explore the country, and came across a large river, they naturally named it after the one they were familiar with at home.

Before the Flood, the rivers sent off branches to water the earth, very much like an irrigation system; but now the small streams flow into the larger ones.

In Gen. 2:10-14 we read: "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates."

It is quite evident that Noah lived in the land watered by the Euphrates when the earth was in its Edenic beauty. The present country of Assyria is probably a namesake of the antediluvian territory watered by the river Hiddekel. Likewise Ethiopia derives its name from the land watered by the river Gihon.

F. A. BOWER.