Pison

PISON, or Phison, one of the four great Rivers that watered the Terrestrial Paradise. We take it to be the Phasis, a famous River of Cholchis. Moses says, that it Gen. ii. 11, 12.runs through all the Land of Havilah, and that excellent Gold is found there. This River has its Source in the Mountains of Armenia, and discharges itself into the Euxine Sea. At its Mouth it is above half a League wide, and in depth above sixty Fathoms. There is hardly any River in the World that makes more Turnings and Windings, because of the Mountains it finds in its Way; from whence it came to Plin. l. 6. c. 4.pass that in the Time of Pliny, there were an hundred and twenty Bridges over this River: And this is, perhaps, what Moses hinted at, when he says, that Pison compasseth the whole Land of Havilah, which Land we take to be Cholchis. The Gold of this Country is much celebrated. All Antiquity extols the Riches of Cholchis. Strabo observes, That the Rivers and Strab. l. xi.Brooks of this Country, (or of the neighbouring Countries, for we cannot tell how far its ancient Limits might extend) carried Lumps of Gold along with their Waters, which the Inhabitants gathered upon Sheep-skins with their Wool on, or in Wooden Trays with Holes bored in them. We think the Gold of Phaz, Uphaz, or Ophaz, sometimes mentioned in Scripture, Cant. v. 11. Jer. x. 9. Dan. x. 5.is the same with that of Pison, or of Phasis. See our Commentary on Genesis, chap. ii. 11, 12. Many think the Pison to be the Ganges: But this River is too far from the Euphrates and the Tigris, which, Moses tells us, ran through the Earthly Paradise, as well as the Pison and the Gihon.

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