Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 12/05/2005 15:45, tladatsi AT charter.net wrote:

> Walter & Co.
>
> I was not making geographical argument.  No river anywhere 
> branches out as it flows down hill.  Branches of a river 
> come together on the downward path not apart.  The nearest 
> thing to what is described is in Cambodia where the Mekong 
> River overflows it's banks in the wet season near Phnom 
> Penh into a short river and then into a lake (Tonle Sab).  
> So for part of the year, the Mekong river branches out.  A 
> similar situation occurs on the Nile with Al Fayyum Lake 
> and in southern California with the San Gabriel River and 
> the Rio Hondo.  Those situations are at best seasonal and 
> involve one branch, not four.
>  

The Nile branches into at least two main channels, and in antiquity into 
at least four, where it entered its delta. And this is common of many 
rivers entering deltas at the foot of mountains, sometimes but not 
always where they enter seas or lakes. Modern irrigation has tended to 
restrict such rivers to a single course, but this would not have been 
true at the time that these accounts were written.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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