The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
The Pison (overflowing). The name seems to denote a large, mighty river.
Compasseth the whole land of Havilah, [Septuagint, Euila]. It might naturally be expected that this designation, as used in the course of the same history, would be applied to one particular district, more especially as the prefix of the Hebrew article seems to mark it as a well-known or distinguished locality. But it is doubtful whether the name be thus exclusively employed (cf. Genesis 25:18; 1 Samuel 15:7, in which passages Havilah is the name of the region southeast of Palestine). Those who place Eden in Armenia, and regard the Pison as the Phasis, are led to consider that the country can be no other than Colchis-a region the name of which has the same radical or essential letters, and in which they endeavour to show were met all the substances described as characterizing the primeval Havilah. For not only did the Phasis flow over sands sparkling with gold grains, but the whole Colchian region abounded with the precious metal, which many mountain torrents carried down to the plains, and was afterward famous in classic story as the scene of the Argonautic expedition for the Golden Fleece. Bochart places it in the southeastern part of Arabia, not far from the Persian Gulf (cf. Genesis 10:7; Genesis 10:29, where a large district of that name is mentioned as divided between two different tribes of Shemites and of Hamites), deriving Havilah from a Hebrew root which signifies sand, its sandy character being probably the origin of its designation; he identifies it with the modern Chaulan or Khanlan, and mention is made by Strabo of a people called chaulotaioi, in that vicinity, whose name bears some resemblance to Havilah or Chavilah. Their country also abounds in the natural productions for which Havilah is described to have been famous. He adduces a number of testimonies to prove that this country possesses all the conditions required.