xv. 7.]
[Footnote 3: Exod. xvi. 14; Numbers xi. 7: "The appearance (lit. "eye")
of it was as the appearance of bdellium" (R.V.).]
The "Onyx," or "Shoham," was most probably a pure red cornelian, and
this also was found in the Babylonian provinces, and was specially worn
by the Babylonian kings.
So the country west of the Euphrates answers very well to Havila without
any forcing, and without any placing it there _because_ of the river
rendering such a plan necessary.
As to the fourth river (Gihon), Delitzsch identifies it, still more
clearly, with a channel known as the "Shatt-en-nil," which branches off
from the Euphrates at Babylon itself, and passing the Scriptural city of
Erech, rejoins the main river lower down. A clay tablet has actually
been discovered, having the Euphrates, Tigris, and this Shatt-en-nil
channel _together_: the name of the latter is given as "K[=a]han de," or
"Gughande," a name which closely resembles Gihon. The channel is,
however, identified independently of the name. For the Gihon is
particularized in the narrative, by the fact that it "compasses" the
land of Cush. This (as already pointed out) is not the Ethiopian Cush.
Delitzsch states, that the whole country bounded by this branch was
anciently called Kash-shu, which he identifies with the Cush of Genesis
ii.
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