pison Summary and Overview

Babylonian, the current, broad-flowing, one of the "four heads" into which the river which watered the garden of Eden was divided (Gen. 2:11). Some identify it with the modern Phasis, others with the Halys, others the Jorak or Acampis, others the Jaab, the Indus, the Ganges, etc.

[EDEN]

PI'SON (the full-flowing, Gesenius, or the free-flowing, Furst), one of the four "heads" into which the stream that watered Eden was parted. Gen 2:11. There have been numberless conjectural identifications of the Pison, which of course will depend for their likelihood upon the location of Eden, which see. If Eden was in Armenia, near the sources of the Euphrates and Tigris, then the ancient Pison may be the modern Phasis. The Rev. L.W. Bacon sums up these views by stating that "for the river of Havilah, the Pison, some like (for the sound of the name doubtless) the Phasis; others (because it is so great and beautiful), the Halys; and others, the Cyrus, flowing into the Araxes." The above writer would identify the Pison with the Jorak or Acampis, that rises in the same mountain with the Araxes and the Euphrates, and bounds Colchis on the west. If, on the other hand, Eden was near the mouth of the Euphrates, some would identify the Pison with the river Jaab, which empties into the Tigris near Kurnah. - Newman's Babylon, p. 68. Among other streams which have been suggested as identical with the Pison are the Indus, the Ganges, the Hyphasis, the Nile, etc. Dr. Tayler Lewis suggests the northern shore of the Arabian Sea. - Lange's Genesis, p. 219. See Havilah.

One of the four heads of Eden's river (Genesis 2:11), compassing Havilah. (See EDEN.)