Euphrates

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that makes fruitful
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


EUPHRATES, one of the rivers of Eden (Gen_2:14), derives its name from the Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] Purat, which is itself taken from the Sumerian Pura, ‘water,’ or Pura-nun, ‘the great water.’ Purat became Ufrâtu in Persian, where the prosthetic vowel was supposed by the Greeks to be the word u, ‘good.’ In the OT the Euphrates is generally known as ‘the river.’ It rises in the Armenian mountains from two sources, the northern branch being called the Frat or Kara-su, and the southern and larger branch the Murad-su (the Arsanias of ancient geography). The present length of the river is 1780 miles, but in ancient times it fell into the sea many miles to the north of its existing outlet, and through a separate mouth from that of the Tigris. The salt marshes through which it passed before entering the sea were called Marratu (Merathaim in Jer_50:21), where the Aramæan Kalda or Chaldæans lived. The alluvial plain between the Euphrates and the Tigris constituted Babylonia, the water of the annual inundation (which took place in May, and was caused by the melting of the snows in Armenia) being regulated by means of canals and barrages. The Hittite city of Carchemish stood at the point where the Euphrates touched Northern Syria, and commanded one of the chief fords over the river; south of it came the Belikh and Khabur, the last affluents of the Euphrates. The promise made to the Israelites that their territory should extend to ‘the great river’ (Gen_15:18 etc.) was fulfilled through the conquests of David (2Sa_8:3; 2Sa_10:16-19, 1Ki_4:24).
A. H. Sayce.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


Eu, Sanskrit su, denotes "good"; the second syllable denotes "abundant." Hebrew Prath, now Frat. Eden, wherein it is mentioned as one of the four, rivers. (See EDEN.) The bound to which God promised the land given to Abraham's seed should extend. Called "the river," "the great river," as being the largest with which Israel was acquainted, in contrast to the soon drying up torrents of Palestine (Isa_8:7; Gen_15:18; Deu_1:7). The largest and longest of the rivers of western Asia. It has two sources in the Armenian mountains, one at Domli, 25 miles N.E. of Erzeroum, the other N. of the mountain range Ala Tagh, not far from Ararat; the two branches meet at Kebban Maden, the one having run 400 the other 270 miles. The united river runs S.W. and S. through the Taurus and Antitaurus ranges toward the Mediterranean; but the ranges N. of Lebanon preventing its reaching that sea, it turns S.E. 1,000 miles to the Persian gulf. N. of Sumeisat (Samosata) the stream runs in a narrow valley between mountains.
From Sumeisat to Hit it runs amidst a more open but hilly country. From Hit downwards it runs through a low, flat, alluvial plain. The whole course is 1,750 miles, 650 more than the Tigris and only 200 short of the Indus; for 1,200 it is navigable for boats and small steamers. Its greatest width is 700 or 800 miles from the mouth, namely, 400 yards across, from its junction with the Khabour (Chebar) at Carchemish, to Werai, a village. Below the Khabour it has no tributaries, and so its depth and width decrease. At Babylon its width has decreased to 200 yards, with a depth of 15 ft. Farther down 120 wide, 12 deep. Moreover, its water here and lower down is much employed in irrigation; and it has a tendency to expend itself in vast marshes. But 40 miles below Lamlum it increases to 200 yards wide, and when joined by the Tigris it is half a mile wide The yearly inundation in May is clue to the melting of the snows in the Armenian mountains.
Nebuchadnezzar (Abyden., Fr. 8) controlled the inundation by turning the water through sluices into channels for distribution over the whole country. Boats of wicker work, coated with bitumen and covered with skins, are still to be seen on the river, as more than two thousand years ago in Herodotus' time. By this river the East and West carried on mutual commerce during the successive periods of Babylonian and Persian rule. As Babylon represents mystically the apostate church, so the waters of Euphrates, "where the whore sitteth" (in impious parody of Jehovah who "sitteth upon the flood"), represent the "peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues," which were her main support (Rev_17:15-16). The drying up of Babylon's waters answers to the ten kings' stripping, eating, and burning the whore, which is now being enacted in many European countries (Rev_16:12).
"The kings of the Euphrates" (compare Rev_1:6) are the saints of Israel and the Gentiles accompanying the king of Israel in "glory returning from the way of the East" (Eze_43:2; Mat_24:27). The obstacles which stood in the way of Israel and her king returning, namely, the apostate church (both Rome and the Greek apostasy) and her multitudinous peoples, shall be dried up, her resources being drained off, just as Cyrus marched into Babylon through the dry channel of the Euphrates.
The promise to Abraham that his seed's inheritance should reach the Euphrates (Gen_15:18; Deu_1:7; Jos_1:4) received a very partial fulfillment in Reuben's pastoral possessions (1Ch_5:9-10) (the Hagarites here encountered them, the inscriptions confirming scripture as to their appearance upon the middle Euphrates in the later empire); a fuller accomplishment under David and Solomon, when an annual tribute was paid from subject petty kingdoms in that quarter, as Hadadezer king of Zobah, etc. (1Ch_18:3; 2Sa_8:3-8; 1Ki_4:21; 2Ch_9:26.) The full accomplishment awaits Messiah's coming again. (See CANAAN.) The Euphrates was the boundary between Assyria and the Hittite country, after Solomon's times, according to inscriptions. But Assyria at last drove back the Hittites from the right bank. (See CARCHEMISH.)
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Euphra'tes. Euphrates is probably a word of Aryan origin, signifying "the good and abounding river". It is most frequently denoted in the Bible by the term "the river."
The Euphrates is the largest, the longest and, by far, the most important of the rivers of western Asia. It rises from two chief sources in the Armenian mountains, and flows into the Persian Gulf. The entire course is 1780 miles, and of this distance more than two-thirds (1200 miles) is navigable for boats. The width of the river is greatest at the distance of 700 or 800 miles from its mouth ? that is to say, from it junction with the Khabour to the village of Werai. It there averages 400 yards.
The annual inundation of the Euphrates is caused by the melting of the snows in the Armenian highlands. It occurs in the month of May. The great hydraulic works ascribed to Nebuchadnezzar had for their chief object to control the inundation.
The Euphrates is first mentioned in Scripture as one of the four rivers of Eden. Gen_2:14. We next hear of it in the covenant made with Abraham. Gen_15:18. During the reigns of David and Solomon, it formed the boundary of the Promised Land to the northeast. Deu_11:24; Jos_1:4.
Prophetical reference to the Euphrates is found in Jer_13:4-7; Jer_46:2-10; Jer_51:63; Rev_9:14; Rev_16:12.
"The Euphrates is linked with the most important events in ancient history. On its banks, stood the city of Babylon; the army of Necho was defeated on its banks by Nebuchadnezzar; Cyrus the Younger and Crassus perished after crossing it; Alexander crossed it, and Trajan and Severus descended it." ? Appleton's Cyclopedia.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


a river of Asiatic Turkey, which rises from the mountains of Armenia, as some have said, in two streams, a few miles to the north- east of Erzeron, the streams uniting to the south-west near that city; and chiefly pursuing a south-west direction to Semisat, where it would fall into the Mediterranean, if not prevented by a high range of mountains. In this part of its course the Euphrates is joined by the Morad, a stream almost doubling in length that of the Euphrates, so that the latter river might more justly be said to spring from Mount Ararat, about one hundred and sixty British miles to the east of the imputed source. At Semisat, the ancient Samosata, this noble river assumes a southerly direction, then runs an extensive course to the southeast, and after receiving the Tigris, falls by two or three mouths into the gulf of Persia, about fifty miles south-east of Bassora; north latitude 29 50'; east longitude 66 55'. The comparative course of the Euphrates may be estimated at about one thousand four hundred British miles. This river is navigable for a considerable distance from the sea. In its course it separates Aladulia from Armenia, Syria from Diarbekir, and Diarbekir from Arabia, and passing through the Arabian Irak, joins the Tigris. The Euphrates and Tigris, the most considerable as well as the most renowned rivers of western Asia, are remarkable for their rising within a few miles of each other, running the same course, never being more than one hundred and fifty miles asunder, and sometimes, before their final junction, approaching within fifteen miles of each other, as in the latitude of Bagdad. The space included between the two is the ancient country of Mesopotamia. But the Euphrates is by far the more noble river of the two. Sir R. K. Porter, describing this river in its course through the ruins of Babylon, observes, “The whole view was particularly solemn. The majestic stream of the Euphrates wandering in solitude, like a pilgrim monarch through the silent ruins of his devastated kingdom, still appeared a noble river, even under all the disadvantages of its desert- tracked course. Its banks were hoary with reeds; and the grey osier willows were yet there, on which the captives of Israel hung up their harps, and, while Jerusalem was not, refused to be comforted.” The Scripture calls it “the great river,” and assigns it for the eastern boundary of that land which God promised to the Israelites, Deu_1:7; Jos_1:4.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


Among the rivers of west Asia, the Euphrates was the largest. It was often referred to as ‘the great river’ or simply ‘the River’ (Gen_15:18; Deu_1:7; Ezr_8:36; Neh_2:9; Neh_3:7; Isa_7:20). The territory of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers was known as Mesopotamia, and formed part of the ancient land of Babylon. This was the region where the garden of Eden was located (Gen_2:10-14). The ancient city of Ur was on the Euphrates (Gen_11:28; see UR).

The Euphrates formed the eastern boundary of the territory that God promised to Abraham and his descendants (Gen_15:18; Deu_11:24). Only at isolated times, however, did Israel extend its power that far (2Sa_8:3).
During the time of the Assyrian Empire, the Euphrates formed a line of defence for Assyria against attacks from the west, and its name became synonymous with Assyria (Isa_7:20; Isa_8:7; Jer_2:18). When Babylon conquered Assyria in 612 BC, Egypt tried to prevent further Babylonian expansion by moving its army north through Judah to Carchemish on the western bank of the Euphrates (2Ki_23:29; 2Ch_35:20). But Babylon conquered Egypt at Carchemish and spread its rule west as far as the Mediterranean Sea and Egypt (2Ki_24:7; Jer_46:2; Jer_46:6; Jer_46:10).
The city of Babylon, capital of the Babylonian Empire, was situated on the river Euphrates (Dan_4:29-30; see BABYLON). In the Persian Empire, which came after the Babylonian, the Euphrates formed the boundary between the Empire’s eastern and western parts (Ezr_4:10; Ezr_5:3; Neh_2:9).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.


ū̇-frā?tēz (פרת, perāth; Εὐφράτης, Euphrátēs, ?the good and abounding river?): The longest (1,780 miles) and most important stream of Western Asia, generally spoken of in the Old Testament as ?the river? (Exo_23:31; Deu_11:24). Its description naturally falls into 3 divisions - the upper, middle and lower. The upper division traverses the mountainous plateau of Armenia, and is formed by the junction of 2 branches, the Frat and the Murad. The Frat rises 25 miles Northeast of Erzerum, and only 60 miles from the Black Sea. The Murad, which, though the shorter, is the larger of the two, rises in the vicinity of Mt. Ararat. After running respectively 400 and 270 miles in a westerly direction, they unite near Keban Maaden, whence in a tortuous channel of about 300 miles, bearing still in a southwesterly direction, the current descends in a succession of rapids and cataracts to the Syrian plain, some distance above the ancient city of Carchemish, where it is only about 200 miles from the Northeast corner of the Mediterranean. In its course through the Armenian plateau, the stream has gathered the sediment which gives fertility to the soil in the lower part of the valley. It is the melting snows from this region which produce the annual floods from April to June.
The middle division, extending for about 700 miles to the bitumen wells of Hit, runs Southeast ?through a valley of a few miles in width, which it has eroded in the rocky surface, and which, being more or less covered with alluvial soil, is pretty generally cultivated by artificial irrigation.... Beyond the rocky banks on both sides is the open desert, covered in spring with a luxuriant verdure, and dotted here and there with the black tent of the Bedouin? (Sir Henry Rawlinson). Throughout this portion the river formed the ancient boundary between the Assyrians and Hittites whose capital was at Carchemish, where there are the remains of an old bridge. The ruins of another ancient bridge occur 200 miles lower down at the ancient Thapsacus, where the Greeks forded it under Cyrus the younger. Throughout the middle section the stream is too rapid to permit of successful navigation except by small boats going downstream, and has few and insignificant tributaries. It here has, however, its greatest width (400 yds.) and depth. Lower down the water is drawn off by irrigating canals and into lagoons.
The fertile plain of Babylonia begins at Hit, about 100 miles above Babylon; 50 miles below Hit the Tigris and Euphrates approach to within 25 miles of each other, and together have in a late geological period deposited the plain of Shinar or of Chaldea, more definitely referred to as Babylonia. This plain is about 250 miles long, and in its broadest place 100 miles wide. From Hit an artificial canal conducts water along the western edge of the alluvial plain to the Persian Gulf, a distance of about 500 miles. But the main irrigating canals put off from the East side of the Euphrates, and can be traced all over the plain past the ruins of Accad, Babylon, Nippur, Bismya, Telloh, Erech, Ur and numerous other ancient cities.
Originally the Euphrates and Tigris entered into the Persian Gulf by separate channels. At that time the Gulf extended up as far as Ur, the home of Abraham, and it was a seaport. The sediment from these rivers has filled up the head of the Persian Gulf for nearly 100 miles since the earliest monumental records. Loftus estimates that since the Christian era the encroachment has proceeded at the rate of 1 mile in 70 years. In early times Babylonia was rendered fertile by immense irrigating schemes which diverted the water from the Euphrates, which at Babylon is running at a higher level than the Tigris. A large canal left the Euphrates just above Babylon and ran due East to the Tigris, irrigating all the intervening region and sending a branch down as far South as Nippur. Lower down a canal crosses the plain in an opposite direction. This ancient system of irrigation can be traced along the lines of the principal canals ?by the winding curves of layers of alluvium in the bed,? while the lateral channels ?are hedged in by high banks of mud, heaped up during centuries of dredging. Not a hundredth part of the old irrigation system is now in working order. A few of the mouths of the smaller canals are kept open so as to receive a limited supply of water at the rise of the river in May, which then distributes itself over the lower lying lands in the interior, almost without labor on the part of the cultivators, giving birth in such localities to the most abundant crops; but by far the larger portion of the region between the rivers is at present an arid, howling wilderness, strewed in the most part with broken pottery, the evidence of former human habitation, and bearing nothing but the camel thorn, the wild caper, the colocynth-apple, wormwood and the other weeds of the desert? (Rawlinson). According to Sir W. Willcocks, the eminent English engineer, the whole region is capable of being restored to its original productiveness by simply reproducing the ancient system of irrigation. There are, however, in the lower part of the region, vast marshes overgrown with reeds, which have continued since the time of Alexander who came near losing his army in passing through them. These areas are probably too much depressed to be capable of drainage. Below the junction of the Euphrates and the Tigris, the stream is called Shat el Arab, and is deep enough to float war vessels.
Literature
Fried. Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies? 169 f; Chesney, Narrative of the Euphrates Exped., I; Loftus, Travels, etc., in Chaldoea and Susiana; Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, chapters xxi, xxii; Rawlinson, Herodotus, I, essay ix; Ellsworth Huntington, ?Valley of the Upper Euphrates River,? Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc., XXXIV, 1902.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Euphrates, termed in Deu_1:7, 'the great river,' where it is mentioned as the eastern boundary of the land which (Deu_1:8) God gave to the descendants of Abraham. In Gen_2:14, the Euphrates is stated to be the fourth of the rivers which flowed from a common stream in the Garden of Eden. Divines and geographers have taken much trouble in order to learn the position of Eden from the geographical particulars given in the Bible, without remembering that probably nothing more than a popular description was intended.
In consequence of its magnitude and importance, the Euphrates was designated and known as 'the river,' being by far the most considerable stream in Western Asia. Thus in Exo_23:31, we read, 'from the desert unto the river' (comp. Isa_8:7).
It has two sources and two arms?a western and an eastern?which rise in the mountains of Armenia. Of these streams the western is the shorter, and is called Kara Sou or Melas; the eastern is itself made up of several streams, the longest of which bears the name of Murad, or Phrat. The two arms unite about three days' journey from Erzeroom, near which rise two of the tributaries that concur in forming the Phrat. Thus uniting, they give rise to the Euphrates strictly so called, which, flowing to the south, divides Armenia from Cappadocia; but, being driven westward by the Anti-Taurus and Taurus mountains, it works its circuitous way through narrow passes and over cataracts, until, breaking through a defile formed by the eastern extremity of Mons Amanus (Alma Dagh), and the north-western extremity of Mons Taurus, it reaches the plain country not far from Samosata (Schemisat), then winds south and south-east, passing the north of Syria, and the north-east of Arabia Deserta, and at length, after many windings, unites with the Tigris, and thus united finds its termination in the Persian Gulf. In conjunction with the Tigris, it forms the rich alluvial lands of Mesopotamia, over which it flows or is carried by canals, and thus diffuses abroad fertility and beauty. At Bagdad and Hillah (Babylon), the Euphrates and Tigris approach comparatively near to each other, but separate again, forming a kind of ample basin, till they finally become one at Koorma. Under the Caesars the Euphrates was the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire, as under David it was the natural limit of the Hebrew monarchy.
Although occasionally much more, the breadth of the Euphrates varies between 200 and 400 yards; but for a distance of 60 miles through the Lemlun marshes the main stream narrows to about 80 yards. The general depth of the Upper Euphrates exceeds 8 feet, but is shallow enough in some places for laden camels to pass in autumn, the water rising to their bellies, or about 4? feet. In point of current it is for the most part a sluggish stream; for, except in the height of the flooded season, when it approaches 5 miles an hour, it varies from 2? to 3?, with a much larger portion of its course under 3 than above. The length of the navigable part of the river, reckoning from Bir to Bussora, is 143 miles; the length of the entire stream, 1400 miles. It is very abundant in fish. The water is somewhat turbid; but, when purified, is pleasant and salubrious.
The river begins to rise in March, and continues rising till the latter end of May. The consequent increase of its volume and rapidity is attributable to the early rains, which, falling in the Armenian mountains, swell its mountain tributaries; and also in the main to the melting of the winter snows in these lofty regions. About the middle of November the Euphrates has reached its lowest ebb, and ceasing to decrease, becomes tranquil and sluggish.
In ancient as well as in modern times the Euphrates was used for navigation. Herodotus states that boats?either coracles or rafts, floated by inflated skins?brought the produce of Armenia down to Babylon. The trade thus carried on was considerable. A great deal of navigation is still carried on from Bagdad to Hillah, the ancient Babylon; but the disturbed state of the country prevents any above the latter place. The prophets made use of the Euphrates as a figurative description of the Assyrian power, as the Nile with them represented the power of Egypt; thus in Isa_8:7, 'The Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria' (Jer_2:18).
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Euphrates
bishop of Cologne, was the successor of bishop Maternus. He was present at the Synod of Sardica in 347, and was sent by the bishops of that synod with recommendatory letters from the emperor Constance to the emperor Constantius to obtain the recall of the exiled catholic bishops. The report that a synod held at Cologne in 346 deposed Euphrates for not believing in the divinity of Christ is now generally regarded as spurious. The acts of this pretended synod were probably compiled in the eighth century, and are from beginning to end a forgery. — Wetzer und Welte, Kirchen-Lexik. 12:241; Rettberg, Kirchen-Geschichte Deutschlands, volume 1. (A.J.S.)

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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