called by the Accadians id Idikla; i.e., "the river of Idikla", the third of the four rivers of Paradise ( Genesis 2:14 ). Gesenius interprets the word as meaning "the rapid Tigris." The Tigris rises in the mountains of Armenia, 15 miles south of the source of the Euphrates, which, after pursuing a south-east course, it joins at Kurnah, about 50 miles above Bassorah. Its whole length is about 1,150 miles.
(rapid ), one of the rivers of Eden, the river which "goeth eastward to Assyria," ( Genesis 2:14 ) and which Daniel calls "the great river," ( Daniel 10:4 ) seems to have been rightly identified by the LXX. with the Tigris. Dekel is clearly an equivalent of Digla or Dighath, a name borne by the Tigris in all ages. The name now in use among the inhabitants of Mesopotamia is Dijleh .
HIDDEKEL
hid'-e-kel (chiddeqel):
One of the rivers of EDEN (which see) (Genesis 2:14, the Revised Version margin "that is, Tigris"; so Septuagint Tigris), said to flow East to Assyria, usually identified with the Tigris, which rises in Armenia near Lake Van and, after flowing Southeast through 8 degrees of latitude, joins the Euphrates in Babylonia to form the Shatt el-'Arab, which runs for 100 miles through a delta which has been formed since the time of Abraham, and now enters the Persian Gulf through 2 branches. About one-third of the distance below its source, and soon after it emerges from the mountains of Kurdistan, the Tigris passes by Mosul, the site of ancient Nineveh, and, lower down at Bagdad, approaches within a few miles of the Euphrates. Here and for many miles below, since the level is lower than that of the Euphrates, numerous canals are conducted to it, irrigating the most fertile portions of Babylonia.
George Frederick Wright
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