Falling River, Fall of Adam

10 And I, the Lord God, caused a river to go out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 And I, the Lord God, called the name of the first Pison, and it compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where I, the Lord God, created much gold;…
13 And the name of the second river was called Gihon; the same that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river was Hiddekel; that which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river was the Euphrates. (Moses 3:10-11, 13-14)

For the river to go out of Eden, Eden had to be on a higher elevation than everything else. This geographic state is clearly communicating to us a spiritual truth. Eden was a mountain of the Lord.

The river’s course also foreshadows the Fall of man, the exile from Eden, and the loss of unity, and being scattered in all directions to different lands.

But all of this downward and outward flow of humanity is eventually reversed, as Isaiah prophesies of the flow of people who will both come together and go up to the mountain of the Lord.

2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2-3, emphasis added)

Image from “Hiking in Southern Japan” blog, http://demo.inktails.com/2007/11/kamiyama-the-spirit-mountain-of-tokushima/