Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EUPHRATES

(Gk. Euphrátēs)

The longest and most important river of southwest Asia. The waters of the Euphrates nourished important cultures of Mesopotamia including the Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian. Arguably no river was more important to the early development of urban civilization.

The Euphrates begins in eastern Turkey near Lake Van. Two streams, the Kara Su and Murat Su, unite near Malatya to form the Euphrates. The river descends southward for ca. 400 km. (250 mi.) and enters the Syrian Plain near Carchemish. Near ancient Emar the Euphrates bends sharply to the southeast. Two major tributaries, the Balikh and ³abur Rivers, join the Euphrates prior to reaching the Mesopotamian flood plain near modern Hit in Iraq. The Euphrates exhibits an anatomosing course throughout the flat, alluvial flood plain; the river follows multiple channels which separate and rejoin in an intricate pattern that, properly utilized, provided adequate irrigation possibilities in a region where rainfall was insufficient to support agriculture. The meandering courses of the lower Euphrates have shifted periodically. In antiquity the two main branches of the lower Euphrates passed Sippar, Babylon, Uruk, Nippur, Kish, and Ur. Today several of these sites lie in the desert as the two main branches of the Euphrates (the Shaṭṭ al-Hindiyah and Shaṭṭ al-µillah) shifted to the east. The Euphrates and the Tigris join in the south to form the Shaṭṭ al-ʿArab, a waterway that flows into the Persian Gulf. Marshes, shallow lakes, and water channels predominate in the southern portion of the delta formed by the Tigris and Euphrates.

Life in central and southern Mesopotamia depended upon irrigation provided by the Euphrates. The Euphrates, along with the Tigris, flooded annually from late March into June. Unlike the Nile, the flooding was unpredictable, at times causing destruction of crops and cities, and at other times being insufficient for irrigation purposes. Also, the timing of the flood was less suitable to crop production. Some scholars believe this phenomenon accounts in part for a basic pessimism that underlies the Mesopotamian worldview. Salinization of the soil also was a problem for the Mesopotamian farmer. As the Euphrates slowly built up over the surrounding plain and water spilled over the levees, over a period of time salts built up in the soil. Farmers adapted by utilizing salt-tolerant crops, especially barley.

Biblical writers name or allude to the Euphrates with a frequency exceeded only by references to the Jordan and Nile Rivers. The Euphrates (Heb. pĕraṯ; cf. Akk. Purattu) first appears as one of four rivers associated with Eden (Gen. 2:14). Israel’s ancestors came from “beyond the Euphrates” (Josh. 24:2), a reference to the Haran region from whence Abraham migrated. The Euphrates appears in descriptions of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 15:18; Deut. 1:7; 11:24; Josh. 1:4). The diviner Balaam came from Bethor on the Euphrates (Num. 22:5). David engaged Hadad-ezer, king of Hamath, as he extended his military reach to the Euphrates River (2 Sam. 8:3). Later, Josiah died at the hands of Neco II when the latter was reinforcing the Egyptian position at Carchemish on the Euphrates against the emerging Chaldean/Babylonian threat (2 Kgs. 23:29). Because the Euphrates was the natural boundary separating the Levant from Mesopotamia, the prophets referred to the Euphrates as they warned Israel and Judah of impending judgments executed by Assyria and Babylon (Isa. 7:20; 27:12; Jer. 13:4-7; 46:2-10). In the Persian period Judah was part of the Fifth Satrapy “Beyond the River,” the land W of the great bend of the Euphrates (Ezra 4:10-11; 5:3; 6:6; Neh. 2:7). In the NT the Euphrates is the setting for apocalyptic events (Rev. 9:14; 16:12).

Bibliography. R. McC. Adams, Heartland of Cities (Chicago, 1981); S. W. Cole, “Marsh Formation in the Borsippa Region and the Course of the Lower Euphrates,” JNES 53 (1994): 81-109; J. Zarins, “The Early Settlement of Southern Mesopotamia,” JAOS 112 (1992): 55-77.

Thomas V. Brisco

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EUPHRATES

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)