THE RIVER HIDDEKEL. PHYSICAL HISTORY.-Site of Paradise - Pison - Gihon - TigrisTopography-Nineveh-Assyria. THE MISSION OF JONAH.--The City-the Painted Walls-The Throng at the Gate-the Woe-Royal Penitence-The ProclamationThe Petulant Prophet - Evening -- Morning - The Fast-The Sheltering Gourd―The Divine Reproof-Corruption of the Heart -The Lord's Mercy. - Sennacherib SUBSEQUENT HISTORY.- Arbaces - Shalmaneser phecy. THE LOWER RIVER.-Topography-Seleucia-Ctesiphon-Al Modain -Bagdad. DANIEL'S VISION.-The Glory of the Lord-Its Effect upon Daniel The Second Coming of Christ. GENESIS II. THE site of the terrestrial Paradise, the garden of delights, which the beneficence of Jehovah planted for his creature's residence, while innocent, has been defined by the inspired historian, by its connexion with four rivers. Yet, notwithstanding the particularity with which three of these are described, great uncertainty involves the question as to where it was actually placed. This obscurity arises from the difficulty of finding any two rivers answering to the Pison and the Gihon, in so close proximity to the Euphrates and the Hiddekel, (or Tigris,) as shall meet the requirements of the sacred text. It may indeed be that the flood has so altered the surface of the land that the two smaller rivers no longer exist, without destroying the channels of the Tigris and the Euphrates; yet the impression of one who reads the Book of Genesis, must certainly be that the sacred historian intended to identify the scene by geographical features, which existed at the time that he wrote. Somewhere upon the courses of the Euphrates and Tigris, we may safely assume that the garden was placed, but whether near the sources, or near the termination of these rivers, the opinions of the learned are conflicting. Some have supposed, with Calvin, Bochart, and others, that we must seek the site at the confluence of these great rivers, where now the town of Korna is situated. The united channel, now called the Shat el Arab, flowed, on this hypothesis, through the garden, and then entered the Persian Gulf by two mouths. Thus the river has been compared to a highway crossing a forest, which may be said to divide itself into four ways, two on one side, and two on the other side of the forest. The western of the discharging channels is supposed to have been the "Pison;" and the "Land of Havilah," which it bordered, to be represented by the eastern part of Arabia, at the head of the Gulf. Strabo mentions a people, named Xavλoraîoi, (Chaulotaioi,) in this vicinity, whose name resembles the word Havilah, or Chavilah; and the productions mentioned, gold, the onyx, and "bdellium," are all characteristic of this region, whether we consider the latter substance SITE OF PARADISE. 85 to be a gum-resin, or, as seems more probable, pearls. The Gihon would be the distinctive appellation of the eastern channel, by which the united waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris entered the Persian Gulf. It is true, no remembrance of this or the preceding name is retained in the neighbourhood; but the country of which the Shat el Arab forms the western boundary, is still called Khusistan, or the land of Khus, agreeing with the Cush (translated Ethiopia" in our version) of the Scripture. 66 But another hypothesis, and perhaps the most generally received, considers that the "four heads" indicate the sources of four rivers; though we see not how, in that case, they could be described as one river parted and becoming four heads. In confirmation of this supposition, which would place the lovely spot among the mountains of Armenia, it may be said that the Euphrates and the Tigris have their sources not far from each other, and in a region where rise two other rivers of note, the Phasis and the Araxes of the Greek writers. Of these, the Phasis is supposed to represent the Pison, and Colchis is the land of Havilah; the Araxes seems to have a better claim to identity with the Gihon, inasmuch as these names, Araxes in the Greek, and Gihon in the Hebrew, denote an arrowy rapidity, which is said to characterise this stream. The Araxes, moreover, is still called by the Persians the Jihon. The term Cush might be found in the name of the Cossæi, who inhabited the region watered by this river. To this theory it may be objected that there are many more than four streams which water this elevated country; F and that there seems no reason, except the slight similarity of sound, for identifying the Phasis with the Pison, when larger rivers are passed by, such as the ancient Cyrus, the modern Kur. There is scarcely any doubt, however, about the identity of the Hiddekel, and none at all about that of the Euphrates. The latter is simply mentioned, as needing no description, being sufficiently familiar to the Hebrew people; and the name, Phrat, is the same by which it has been known in all ages to the present day. The Hiddekel is described as going eastward to Assyria (marginal reading); and the name, deprived of the aspirate, is essentially the same as that by which it is still locally known, Digl, Dijel, or Dijlah; of which the word Tigris is merely a Greek modification. It is said to signify a dart, or swiftness; and is a characteristic epithet of this rapid river. Pliny indeed pretends to draw a distinction, by saying that the name of Tigris is applied to the river only where it flows rapidly, and that where its course is slow it is named Diglito; but Josephus affirms that the whole river is called Diglath. The whole course of the Tigris, from its most remote source to the point where its waters mingle with those of the Persian Gulf, extends through a winding line of 1,250 miles; as it joins the Euphrates, however, at Korna, as before intimated, its proper length is about 100 miles less than this. The upper parts of the river, and the various mountain streams which combine to form its arrowy course, are not yet well investigated; but the principal of them rises on the southern side of the mountain range, at the foot of which on the opposite side rolls the Euphrates, already a majestic river; and not far from the point where it pours itself through a narrow gorge in the mountain chain, which there crosses its line. For 25 miles the Tigris flows to the north-east, maintaining an elevation of nearly 5,000 feet above the level of the Mediterranean; then turning to the south east for about 60 miles, reaches the Turkish town of Diar-bekr, situated in a fertile plain, cultivated and occupied with gardens. It contains about 30,000 inhabitants, though its prosperity and population have greatly decayed. It is believed to occupy the site of the ancient town of Constantia. The river at this place is about 250 yards wide during the spring floods; but is not navigable, except for rafts of timber. Hence it flows on at a much lower level, |