Read: Genesis 2:4-14
A river flows out of Eden to water the garden. (v. 10 NRSV)
The Bible begins and ends with rivers and trees. Have you noticed? The Bible begins (Genesis 1-2) and ends (Revelation 21-22) with rivers and trees. We will leave the trees (pun intended) for another time in order to focus here on the rivers.
From the waters under the ground, a subterranean ocean of sorts, our text tells us that a river arose out of Eden. This river divided into four branches—each flowing to a different corner of the then known world. Two of these rivers have the same name today: the Tigris and the Euphrates, crucial waterways in the crucible of human history. In an often parched part of the planet, Eden provided life-giving water to the world.
And in the final chapter of the Bible (Rev. 22) we are told that in God’s good future, there will be in the new Jerusalem a river, bright as crystal, running right smack-dab down the middle of that jeweled city. This river of life, shimmering and dancing and clapping its hands, flows from the very throne of God and the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain and now reigns as Lord. In this perfect heaven-on-earth city flows a river, flows water, the elixir of life. And all things are nourished, at home, the way they are supposed to be. Shalom.
As you pray, rest in the promise of the resurrection and in the vision of the redeemed city, with its river of life.
Steve Bouma-Prediger is the Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A graduate of Hope College, his Ph.D. is in religious studies from The University of Chicago. His most recent book is Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic.
When not teaching or writing, he spends as much time as possible canoeing or backpacking in his favorite places in North America or simply hiking among the magnificent trees in southwest Michigan parks.
