The Hiddekel river of the Garden of Eden, was it the Tigris river?
In these videos, I showed how the Black Sea is where the Garden of Eden was located before it sank, and how 3 Black Sea submarine canyons were the actual sources of 3 of the 4 rivers that came out of the Garden. And these submarine canyons are: the Bosporus submarine canyon which was the original source of the Gihon river, the Kizilirmak submarine canyon which was the original source of the Euphrates river, and the Enguri submarine canyon which was the original source of the Pison river.
Now a submarine canyon is a steep-sided valley cut into the seabed of the continental slope having nearly vertical walls. Just as above-sea-level canyons serve as channels for the flow of water across land, submarine canyons serve as channels for the flow of turbidity currents across the seafloor. And an early and obvious theory of their formation was that the submarine canyons present today were carved during glacial times, when sea level was about 125 meters below present sea level, and that these submarine canyons used to be rivers flowing to the edge of the continental shelf.
In this video I will be showing you how another Black Sea submarine canyon named Chorokh was the original source of the Hiddekel river.
I will also show you in this video why the Hiddekel river was definitely the Tigris river as believed by many Bible scholars. The only information Genesis 2:14 gave us about the Hiddekel is that “it runs along the east side of Assur” which the King James version mistakenly translated as Assyria. This mistake is critical because the Assyrian empire was vast and covered a large territory with many cities, whereas Assur or Ashur was just its capital city. And since the city of Assur is much smaller than the Assyrian empire, one can pinpoint the location of the Hiddekel more accurately by simply looking for a river that runs along the east side of Assyria’s capital Assur.
It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word used for “runs along” is “haholek” having Strong’s number H1980 that corresponds to the Hebrew root word “halak”.
Looking at the Hebrew lexicon for this number, one can see that the Bible in Genesis 5: 22 and 24 used the same Hebrew word in describing Enoch’s walk or “halak” with God.
It was also used in describing Noah’s walk or “halak” with God in Genesis 6:9 as well. And this kind of walk with God by people declared righteous by Him implies closeness and special intimacy with God.
In the same manner, Hiddekel must have run along very near the east side of Assur, the capital city of Assyria.
In fact, this river ran so close to Assur that it actually defined the eastern border of that city.
And this use of the Hebrew word “halak” to mean defining a border was in fact used in Genesis 13:17, when God instructed Abram to “Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width for to you I give it”. Notice that in this verse, Abram was instructed not only to walk along the outside border of the land but also to walk in the land throughout the entirety of its area.
This implies that the Hiddekel did not only define the eastern border of Assur, but the river must have been let inside the city in order to irrigate it and serve as the capital’s main water source.
And looking at a map of Assur provided by Wikipedia, one can see that the Assyrians did not even build an eastern wall for the inner city, because the Tigris river already served for them as its defensive wall.
Exploration of the site of Assur began in 1898 by German archaeologists. And unless their discovery and claim was a mistake, then the only river that served as the eastern border of Assur was the Tigris river. And this implies that the Tigris river was one and the same as the Hiddekel river described in Genesis 2: 14. There can be no valid argument against this.
According to Strong’s Hebrew lexicon, the word Hiddekel occurred 2 times in 2 verses in the Hebrew concordance of the King James Version. And the second occurrence was in Daniel 10:4 which mentions Daniel being by the bank of the river Hiddekel.
However, if we put side by side the Hebrew interlinear for the 2 occurrences of this Hebrew word, one can see a difference in their niqqud or vowel notations, where one is spelled ‘hiddeqel’, while the other ‘hiddaqel’. Now some people argue that this difference means the river in Genesis 2:14 is not the same river as the one in Daniel 10:4. I emailed a Rabbi about this, and this is the text of my message to him with incident ID 5149881:
Genesis 2:14 mentions a river spelled Hiddeqel and Daniel 10:4 mentions a river spelled Hiddaqel. Using Hebrew interlinear one can see the difference in their niqqud notations. Some say they are the same river Tigris, while others say they are different rivers. If they are the same river Tigris, can you explain the difference in spelling and niqqud notations between the 2 verses?
The following is Chabad.org’s Rabbi Elchonon Kazen’s reply to me with reference no. 5149881:
The Qamatz vowel is interested at times with if the cantillation on the word is either a Sof Passuk or Esnatcha. Thus it is the same river and the pronunciation changes based on the cantillations.
Wikipedia, Hebrew cantillation, Purpose, Synagogue use: A primary purpose of the cantillation signs is to guide the chanting of the sacred texts during public worship. Very roughly speaking, each word of text has a cantillation mark at its primary accent and associated with that mark is a musical phrase that tells how to sing that word.
One can compare these cantillation marks to musical notes which are symbols that represent the pitch and duration of a sound.
The Rabbi mentioned the cantillations Sof passuk and Etnachta. Sof passuk is the cantillation mark that occurs on the last word of every verse in the Tanakh. While Etnachta marks the end of the first segment or sentence of a verse.
In the case of Daniel 10:4 ‘hiddaqel’ is the last word of the verse which is why it contains the Sof passuk cantillation. In the case of Genesis 2:14 ‘assur’ is the last word of the first segment or sentence of the verse which is why it contains the Etnachta cantillation. Note that the word ‘hiddeqel’ in Genesis 2:14 contains the Zaqef qatan cantillation mark.
And unlike the Sof passuk or the Etnachta, the Zaqef qatan can appear anywhere in the verse any number of times.
However, the Rabbi in his email emphasized that the Qamatz vowel is interested or substituted at times only when the cantillation on the word is either a Sof passuk or Etnachta, otherwise the original vowel, which in this case is the Segol should remain unreplaced.
Thus, the ‘hiddeqel’ in Genesis 2:14 minus the Zaqef qatan cantillation mark and using an unreplaced Segol vowel represents the regular pronunciation of the word, and which is why it is the one used in the Hebrew lexicon entry.
Thus in summary, the Qamatz vowel can be substituted or ‘interested’ if the cantillation of the word containing the Qamatz is either the Sof passuk or the Etnachta. And this happens whenever the word is the last word of the verse or the last word of the first segment or sentence of the verse.
Daniel was still in exile in Babylon in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia when he was by the side of the great river Hiddekel, and the only river other than the Euphrates that is near enough to Babylon and occupied by King Cyrus was the Tigris river.
And this is another solid argument why the Tigris is one and the same as the Hiddekel river flowing out of the Garden of Eden. But since I claim that the Chorokh submarine canyon in the Black sea was the original source of the Hiddekel, how do I connect the Tigris with the Chorokh submarine canyon?
The first connection between these 2 bodies of water will be the Lake Van. A scientific paper posted in sciencedaily.com titled “Porewater salinity: Key to reconstructing 250,000 years of Lake Van’s history” was published on May 16, 2017.
It is about the reconstruction of the huge lake-level fluctuations that occurred over the past 250,000 years in Lake van. One of its conclusions is that “When the lake [Van] was at its highest level, there must have been an outflow into the Tigris, in the southwestern part of the basin”.
Now the important question is when was the last time Lake Van was at its highest level and an outflow occurred into the Tigris?
Wikipedia, Lake Van, Prehistoric lake levels: The water level of the lake has often altered dramatically… Approximately 9,500 years ago there was a dramatic drop to more than 300 meters (or 980 ft) below the present level. This was followed by an equally dramatic rise around 6,500 years ago.
In one of my videos titled “What year was Adam created, and which years are Sabbatical or Shmita years?”, I came to the conclusion that Adam was created in the year 4,000 BC or exactly 6,019 years ago from the year 2020.
Thus, if the dramatic rise of the water level of Lake Van around 6,500 years ago persisted for at least 500 years, then during the time of Adam and Eve, there must have been an outflow from Lake Van into the Tigris river.
Strabo, a 1st century BC Greek geographer, mentioned in book 11, chapter 14, paragraph 8 of his work “Geography”, how the Tigris flows through Lake Van which he called lake Arsene, or Thopitis.
And I quote “There are also large lakes in Armenia; one the Mantaine… Another is Arsene, also called Thopitis… The Tigris flows through this lake after issuing from the mountainous country near the Niphates…” end of quote.
According to Hewsen, Arzashkun, the capital of the early kingdom of Urartu in the 9th century BC, was at the northeastern shore of Lake Van, now inundated by the waters of Lake Van. Arzashkun seems to be the Assyrian form of an Armenian name … which recalls the name Arsene, Arsissa, applied by the ancients to part of Lake Van.
Strabo also tells us that the Tigris issues from the mountainous country near the Niphates before flowing through Lake Van.
John Milton, in book 3 of his work ‘Paradise Lost’, uses Mount Niphates as Satan’s landing spot upon Earth after his fall from grace in Heaven. This happens before he tempted Adam, and shortly after inquiring Uriel the place of habitation of God’s new creation which is Man, pretending a zealous desire to behold Adam. Satan landing first on Mount Niphates after inquiring Uriel the place of habitation of Adam implies that Adam was inhabiting Mount Niphates.
In Ezekiel 28: 13-14 there is mentioned a holy mount of God located in the Garden of Eden. This holy mountain must have been the dwelling place of Adam where Satan landed for the first time on Earth, and which John Milton named Mount Niphates.
And I believe this mountain is located at the east side of the Garden of Eden, which according to Genesis 3:24 was where the Tree of Life is located.
Looking at the map of the Black Sea, one can see that the Chorokh canyon, the source of the Hiddekel river, is also located at the east side of the Garden of Eden. Thus my conclusion that the mountain of God mentioned in Ezekiel 28, and which Strabo and John Milton called Niphates, was the source of the Hiddekel river flowing through the Chorokh canyon towards the Supsa river.
Lake Van has an altitude of 1,640 m (or 5,380 ft). For the Hiddekel river to climb up this very high altitude, the source of the Hiddekel should have an altitude even higher. And this source as I said earlier was the mountain of God whose altitude must have been considerably higher than that of Lake Van.
The principle is the same as that used by modern aqueduct which uses water pressure to transport water from a source whose altitude is higher than the altitude of its final destination. Along the path of these modern aqueducts, we can see water plunging deep and then climbing uphill provided the altitude being climbed is lower than the altitude of the source.
Because of friction and dispersion, water pressure is weakened along the way, and therefore the altitude of the entire path should never be higher than the source until the water being transported reaches its final destination. This is because the lost pressure will prevent the water from climbing to an altitude as high as the source. And this is why underground tunnels used to transport the water are designed and constructed to minimize friction and dispersion.
But in an open and exposed river, this ideal environment is not met, as we see river courses widening along the way causing dispersion, and adverse weather and major blockages causing friction that lessens the momentum of the river current.
However, in spite of this, we do see rivers climbing uphill, and one such river is the Mississippi river:
Why the Mississippi river flows uphill. The Mississippi river (or any river flowing towards the equator) actually flows uphill. The Earth is not a perfect sphere. There is an equatorial ring about 13.5 miles high. In other words “sea level” is not constant. It is higher at the equator than it is at the poles.
In the case of the Mississippi, sea level at the mouth of the Mississippi is 6,373,159 meters from the center of the Earth. Sea level at the source of the Mississippi is 6,366,524 meters. [Thus, the sea level is higher at the mouth than at the source]. The difference is 4.12 miles. The source of the Mississippi, Lake Itasca, is 1400 feet above sea level, and the mouth is, by definition, zero feet above sea level. So we think of all that water flowing downhill 1400 feet. But it is actually flowing against the force of gravity, going four miles uphill. The force that keeps the water flowing is actually the centrifugal force of the earth’s rotation.
To understand how the centrifugal force works, let us look at the case of the Chorokh submarine canyon which is the source of the Hiddekel river. As you can see, the centrifugal force can be broken down into its 2 component forces, one is the force that is anti-parallel to gravity and acts to oppose or weaken gravity, and the other is the force that is perpendicular to gravity and acts to accelerate the river’s current along earth’s surface towards the equator.
The antigravity component of the centrifugal force that weakens gravity pushes the tides upwards as gravity pulls it down. Thus the stronger the antigravity component of the centrifugal force, the higher the vertical waves of a river current will rise.
The component of the centrifugal force that is perpendicular to gravity on the other hand accelerates the current’s momentum along earth’s surface towards the equator, thus continuously increasing its water pressure during its journey at a magnitude that can even be higher than the water pressure from its source.
This explains why the Mississippi river (or any river flowing towards the equator) is able to climb uphill at an altitude higher than its source, and this also explains how the water coming from the mountain of God that falls down to sea level at the Chorokh canyon was able to climb uphill towards Lake Van whose altitude is 1,640 m (or 5,380 ft).
The effect of the centrifugal force can be likened to the effect the Moon’s gravity has on tides. The Moon’s motion as it rises from the east and sets in the west directs the tides to likewise follow its westward motion at an accelerated rate. This can be compared to the perpendicular component of the centrifugal force that directs the river current towards the equator also moving at an accelerated rate. And during a full Moon when it is directly overhead the tides and during a superMoon when it is closest to the tides, the Moon’s gravity produces its strongest, fastest and highest tides.
The same can be said of the centrifugal force which is stronger near the equator than near the poles. And this explains the existence of equatorial waves which are oceanic and atmospheric waves trapped close to the equator, but can propagate in the longitudinal (east or west) and vertical directions (up and down).
Note that the stronger the equatorial waves, the higher the tides will rise up vertically and the stronger its longitudinal momentum eastward or westward will be. Wave trapping is the result of the Earth’s rotation, or the centrifugal force this rotation creates.
I believe that before the Great Flood of Noah’s time, the Chorokh submarine canyon, or the source of the Hiddekel river, was much nearer to the equator than it is now.
Research shows that during the last 200 million years a total true polar wander of some 30° has occurred. While these researchers do not believe in super-rapid shifts in the Earth’s pole, I instead believe that this 30° pole shift happened instantly and quite catastrophically during the Great Flood of Noah’s time.
This 30° pole shift was what caused the Great Pyramid, located at the equator or 0° latitude before the Great Flood, to be located today at 29° 58’ 45” N.
In my previous video titled “The Garden of Eden, the Book of Enoch & the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil”, I discussed how before the Great Flood, the Great Pyramid’s apex was exactly at the equator and its 4 corners were perfectly facing the 4 cardinal directions of the North, South, East and West.
This is why according to the Book of Enoch, the Great pyramid was used to divide the earth into 4 hemispheres, namely, the northern, southern, western and eastern hemispheres. Note also how before the Great Flood, the Garden of Eden and therefore the Chorokh canyon, was about 30° nearer at the equator at approximately 11°51' 12.66"N only compared to its current latitude of 41°49' 57.66"N.
Thus, the centrifugal force before the Great Flood acting on the Hiddekel river starting from its source the Chorokh canyon, until the Lake Van whose latitude was only 8° 41' 9.17"N then, was a lot stronger than it is today. And this means the water pressure and the momentum of the Hiddekel river’s current as it flows from the Chorokh canyon upto the Lake Van must have been very strong in the past.
And this is why Strabo in book 11, chapter 14, paragraph 8 of his work “Geography” describes the Tigris river in the following way, and I quote “The Tigris flows through this lake [Van] after issuing from the mountainous country near the Niphates; and because of its swiftness it keeps its current unmixed with the lake; whence the name Tigris, since the Median word for ‘arrow’ is ‘tigris’”, end of quote.
Having said all this, let me now discuss the path taken by the Hiddekel in the past starting from Lake Van until it connects with the Tigris river.
Wikipedia lists Lake Hazar as the main and only relevant source of the Tigris river. Looking at Google map, we can see that the Tigris connects with Egil Baraji, which connects with Kiralkizi Baraji, which connects to Lake Hazar through several small creeks.
However, the Tigris river has other sources or tributaries, one of which originates very near Lake Van. This tributary is the Botan river also known as the Ulucay. The upstream or main source of the Botan river is often called Catak and is joined by the Buyukdere river at Cukurca.
Meanwhile, downstream at the Botan river, it is also joined by two other rivers which are its other sources, and these are the Zorava cayi or river and the Bitlis, also known as the Basur cayi. Finally at Cattepe in Siirt province, the Botan or Ulucay joins the Tigris river.
Now let us look at a map provided by Wikipedia to understand this better. Here is where the Catak, or the source of the Botan, is joined by the Buyukdere river at Cukurca. Here is where the Botan river is joined by the Zorava river.
And here is where the Botan river is joined by the Bitlis or Basur river. Note how the Bitlis river is located very near Lake Van, and I will be discussing this river in greater detail later on.
Another river, the Kezer or Pinarca cayi is located near lake Van, and it also connects with the Bitlis river. However this river drains towards Lake Van and not towards the Tigris, and is therefore not one of the tributaries or sources of the Tigris.
Now finally, here is where the Botan or Ulucay river joins the Tigris, and thus becomes its other source or tributary other than Lake Hazar. The Ulucay river joins the Tigris at 37°43’39.2”N and 41°46’41.5”E. The Gokcesu stream joins the Ulucay at 37°48’37.7”N and 41°50’7.4”E. The Bitlis stream joins the Gokcesu stream at 37°54’47.9”N and 41°47’58.0”E.
Now according to Google map, the path of the Bitlis stream ends at 38°28’19.9”N and 42°11’30.8”E. And if we look at its satellite image; and then zoom out, we can see that the Bitlis stream ends very near Lake Van already. Wikipedia refers to the Bitlis River as a tributary of the Tigris. And thus, we have a tributary or source of the Tigris located very near Lake Van.
Now Strabo also said this about the Tigris and Lake Van which he called lake Arsene or Thopitis, he said and I quote “Near the recess of the lake [Van] the [Tigris] river falls into a pit, and after flowing underground for a considerable distance rises near Chalonitis'' end of quote. Chalonitis is probably the name of the enormous mountain where the Bitlis river starts its course very near its base. So far, Strabo has been very accurate in describing the Tigris as well as the Lake Van.
He further stated 2 other facts about Lake Van which are both confirmed by Wikipedia. Strabo said that Lake Arsene or Lake Van contains soda and that the fish in the lake are of one kind only.
And according to Wikipedia, Lake Van is a saline soda lake, and that the only fish known to live in the brackish water of Lake Van is the Pearl Mullet.
Now going back to the Bitlis river, if we further zoom out and look at the Google map, we can see that the start of the Bitlis river is located near the southwest portion of Lake Van. And if you still recall the scientific paper posted in sciencedaily.com, it concluded that and I quote “When the lake was at its highest level, there must have been an outflow into the Tigris, in the southwestern part of the basin” end of quote.
Now having established the path taken by the Hiddekel river on its way from Lake Van until it connects with the Tigris, let me now show you the path taken by the Hiddekel starting from its source at the Chorokh canyon until it reaches Lake Van.
If we look at a map showing the Chorokh canyon and the Supsa river, and if we zoom in on this map, one can clearly see a submerged path connecting these two geologic points. The Chorokh canyon connects with the Supsa river at 42°01’06.2”N and 41°45’07.8”E. The Supsa river connects with the Baramidzistskali at 41°56’52.5”N and 42°27’50.9”E. The other end of the Baramidzistskali river according to Google map, is at 41°50’07.3”N and 42°37’40.3”E. It also shows that this end of the Baramidzistskali river is near one end of the Ghaghvistskali river at 41°49’38.6”N and 42°37’06.8”E.
If we now look at the satellite image of these two rivers, one can trace what could be a dried up path taken by the Baramidzistskali river to connect itself with the Ghaghvistskali river in the past, before the Great Flood.
The Ghaghvistskali river connects with the Kvabliani. The Kvabliani connects with the Potskhovistskali. The Potskhovistskali connects with the Mtkvari. The Mtkvari connects with the Kura Nehri. The Kura Nehri connects with the Kara stream at 41°10’42.4”N and 43°05’33.7”E.
And at 41°07’32.4”N and 43°16’09.6”E of the Kara stream it comes close to Cildr Golu at 41°06’16.7”N and 43°15’51.7”E with ground distance of only approximately 2.55 kms. Looking at the satellite image one can trace a dried up path that could have connected these 2 bodies of water in the past.
The Cildr Golu connects with the Carci stream. The Carci stream connects with the Kars stream. The Kars stream connects with the Arpacay Baraji. The Arpacay baraji connects with the Akhurian river. The Akhouryan connects with the Aras river.
And at 38°59’39.3”N and 45°26’57.8”E of the Aras river’s path, it connects with a dried up stream. I said this because if we zoom in on the satellite image, and then look at its Google map, we can see that this dried up stream is not shown in the map. Now following the course of this dried up stream, it connects with an unnamed lake at 38°51’13.8”N and 44°50’37.2”E, whose only identification is that it is located between Yuxari Qorul and Dowrt Aghach.
A dried up creek comes out of this unnamed lake that connects with the Sarimehmet Baraji at 38°48’14.1”N and 43°49’04.6”E. The Karasu stream comes out of the Sarimehmet Baraji at 38°47’34.4”N and 43°44’57.7”E. And finally, following the Karasu stream’s path, we can see that it connects with the Lake Van at two points, one of which is at 38°34’57.1”N and 43°13’20.7”E.
If we now trace the course taken by the Hiddekel using Google path, we can now see how the Hiddekel must have looked like in the past. Note that the courses of some of the bodies of water I mentioned in defining Hiddekel’s path have reversed. Which is why we see some of them moving northwards and draining at the Black Sea instead of moving southwards towards the equator and originating from the Black Sea.
And this is because the original source of the Hiddekel, which was the mountain of God located near the Chorokh canyon, has sank after the Great Flood. The waters coming out of this mountain in the past had a tremendous momentum and water pressure, pushing the course of the Hiddekel southwards towards the equator.
In my next video I will give a scientific explanation as to why the Garden of Eden sank under the Black Sea. Afterwards, I will be discussing the river that went out of Eden to water the Garden. And by doing so, I will be giving the location of Eden and the land of Nod as well, where Cain built a city for his son named Enoch.
I believe this city that Cain built was one and the same as the fabled cities of Atlantis, and Dwaraka “a city of gold” built by Krishna according to the Hindus.
Comments
Post a Comment