Genesis 2:12

12 and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

Genesis 2:12 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 2:12

And the gold of that land is good
Arabia was famous for gold: Diodorus Siculus ^F24 speaks of gold in Arabia, called "apyrus", which is not melted by fire out of small filings, as other; but as soon as dug is said to be pure gold, and that in the size of chestnuts, and of such a flaming colour, that the most precious stones are set in it by artificers for ornament: and in Colchis and Scythia, as Strabo ^F25 relates, there are rivers which produce gold; and from whence came the fable of the golden fleece, the Argonauts went to Colchis for:

there is the bdellium, and the onyx stone;
the first of these is either an aromatic gum; the tree, according to Pliny ^F26, is black, and is of the size of an olive tree, has the leaf of an oak, and its fruit is like capers; it is found in Arabia, India, Media, and Babylon; but the best, according to him, is in Bactriana, and, next to that, the bdellium of Arabia: or else it is a precious stone, and which the Jewish writers ^F1 commonly take to be crystal; and, according to Solinus ^F2, the best crystal is in Scythia. Bochart ^F3 would have it that the pearl is meant, because of its whiteness and roundness, for which the manna is compared to it, ( Numbers 11:7 ) and the rather because of the pearl fishery at Catipha, taking Havilah to be that part of Arabia which lies upon the Persian gulf. The latter, the onyx, is a precious stone, which has its name from its being of the colour of a man's nail; and, according to Pliny ^F4, the onyx marble is found in the mountains of Arabia, and the ancients thought it was nowhere else; and he speaks elsewhere of the Arabian onyx precious stone, and of the sardonyx, as in the same country ^F5; and some think that is here meant; though the word is sometimes by the Septuagint rendered the emerald; and the best of these, according to Solinus ^F6 and Pliny ^F7, were in Scythia.

(After the global destruction of Noah's flood, it is doubtful that the location of these places could be determined with degree of certainty today. Ed.)

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 133.
F25 Geograph. l. 1. p. 31. & l. 11. p. 344.
F26 Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 9.
F1 Jarchi in Numb. xi. 7. David de Pomis Tzemach David, fol. 8. 3.
F2 Polyhistor. c. 25.
F3 Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 5. p. 675
F4 Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 7.
F5 lb. l. 37. c. 6.
F6 Polyhistor. ut supra. (c. 25)
F7 Ut supra, (Nat. Hist. l. 36.) c. 5.

Genesis 2:12 In-Context

10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided into four heads.

11 The name of the first is Pison; that is it which compasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12 and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon; this is the same that compasses the whole land of Ethiopia.

14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel; this is that which goes toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.