“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.”
The Spirit sets the river to water the garden so we shall consider the river heads as derivative of divine blessings which hold different significance to the godly and to the pagan respectively. For example assuming the river Gihon signifies the river Nile we have their Pharaohs assuming divine status which is merely their own understanding of the divine Providence. Moses and Aaron present themselves before on behalf of the God of the Hebrews, “And told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness,/And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.”(Ex.5:1-2) The hauteur of the Pharaoh is that of appropriating the same status as the God of the Hebrews. The Hebrews being slave-nation he could be dismissive as we can infer from their first audience with the Pharaoh.
Not so with the King of Babylon. A touch of madness and healing brought a great transformation for his prayer reveals it. “I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.”(Dan.4:34)
The third is altogether different. “But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things./ Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory.”(Dan.11:36-39)
And of the fourth we say Amen. “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: Yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.”(Ps.144:15)
The four beasts in the night vision of Daniel Ch.7 shall have a direct bearing on all four.. Their dominion and majesty is only a flash in the pan. They all stand vile and as heathen before the Man. “and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him./ And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”(Dan.7:13-14)
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
GuidetohisWord 