Where is the Biblical land of Havilah? According to Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture it's in the Philippines. Let's examine the relevant section from Solomon's Treasure which is "the monumental case for the Philippines no one can disprove." Then we will examine what the Bible has to say about the location of Havilah.
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| Solomon's Treasure, pg. 60 |
The ancient land of Adam and Eve is designated as Havilah in Genesis 2 and it is represented by three resources which lead to only one nation even today. The Bible is proficient. This reminisces of the Rivers from Eden which we will test in Chapter 17. We truly attempt to leave no stone unturned in this expedition.
Genesis 2:10-12 KJVAnd a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 60
This chapter is ridiculously byzantine as Tim ferrets out the meaning of the word Havilah and then attempts to test the resources attributed to it.
When studying this passage, most scholars read it, even cite it and deviate from it to dock on assumptions which they do not return and validate with scripture. We will. However, this island (not India, Ethiopia nor Yemen) surrounded by the Pison River from Eden is named Havilah in antiquity. It’s interpretation divulges much more than solely some incidental estate.
הוילח havilah: that suffers pain; that brings forth, circle :
“That suffers pain, that brings forth” refers to childbirth – Eve’s curse from the Garden of Eden. What many miss is this word Havilah is a direct Hebrew variant of Eve’s Hebrew name as it is a reference not just to Eve’s curse but to Eve’s land named after her because Eve was not named until after the exile from the Garden. Notice also, this word Havilah means “circle” which is doubtlessly an allusion to the basis that it is encompassed by the Pison River. We will demonstrate the Pison is still there and still functions. We will also locate Havilah.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 60-61
First note that Tim is saying Havilah is an island because it is "surrounded by the Pison River." However the word translated compass does not necessarily mean to encircle.
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| https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h5437/kjv/wlc/0-1/ |
סָבַב çâbab, saw-bab'; a primitive root; to revolve, surround, or border; used in various applications, literally and figuratively:—bring, cast, fetch, lead, make, walk, ×whirl, × round about, be about on every side, apply, avoid, beset (about), besiege, bring again, carry (about), change, cause to come about, × circuit, (fetch a) compass (about, round), drive, environ, × on every side, beset (close, come, compass, go, stand) round about, inclose, remove, return, set, sit down, turn (self) (about, aside, away, back).
We see this reflected in modern translations.
The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
There are no circular rivers on the face of the earth. Tim's solution is that the Pison River is an undersea ocean trench which circles the whole of the Philippines.
In Chapter 5 on Havilah, Land of Eve, we found that the Philippines leads the world in these three resources which define it as Ancient Havilah – gold, pearl and the onyx stone. To date, it maintains a leadership position in all three as it is the historic forerunner in gold abundance, has no rival in largest pearls on Earth and possesses the strongest onyx and marble from Romblon. Therefore, the Pison River must surround this whole land of the Philippines.
You can observe the culmination of the 65,000 kilometer Mid-Ocean Ridge off the coast of Mexico essentially. At that point begins a series of Oceanic Trenches which travel all the way up the coast of America to Alaska, then, over to Russia, down to Japan and splits and surrounds the whole land of the Philippines especially. This is the ancient Pison River, the first River From Eden that branches from the main source river. It is positioned at the end of the entire Eden River System yet it is ranked first. This is because Hebrew writing initiates from right to left or East to West in direction. Therefore, the Eastern-most river would be first.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 275
Tim teaches that before the flood the earth had no ocean and was watered by a mega-river system.
The Bible tells us far more than we realize about the layout and ecosystem of the pre-flood existence. Prior to the Flood, the water system of the earth was described as five mega-rivers with fountains of the great deep within. There is no mention of a world ocean but we did not see a firm balance for exactly how much of the earth was water and how much land prior to the Flood until we studied 2 Esdras.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 269
These "five mega rivers" are now ocean trenches. This is completely wrong. There are not series of interconnecting ocean trenches along the coast of North America that culminates in surrounding the Philippines.
Ocean trenches are long, narrow, steep-sided depressions found on the ocean floor that contain the greatest depths in the ocean (11,000 meters - western Pacific). There are 26 oceanic trenches in the world: 3 in the Atlantic Ocean, 1 in the Indian Ocean, and 22 in the Pacific Ocean (Figure 10p-3). Generally, the trenches mark the transition between continents and ocean basins, especially in the Pacific basin. Trenches are also the tectonic areas.
Ocean trenches are evidence for plate tectonics which is something Timothy Jay Schwab rejects even though his Rivers from Eden maps outline these plates.
We have but we reject the unproven science of moving plates floating on magma nor liquid. If we have such, a simple scientific test would tell us there would only be 1 continent and it would be a mountain into space with the earth moving at 1000 mph at the equator. No one has ever observed such. Furthermore, Moses speaks of the ancient mountains and lasting hills meaning from before the Flood. Land didn't move, it got carved out by mega tsunamis and rapid erosion. Yahuah God Bless.
Here is what the Philippines ocean trench system looks like.
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| https://www.air-worldwide.com/blog/posts/2019/4/the-philippines-is-shaking-again/ |
These trenches do not "completely surround this whole land of the Philippines" as Tim says it must.
Next Tim makes a huge leap saying that Havilah is related to the Hebrew word for Eve.
Genesis 3:20 KJVAnd Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.הוח chavvah: life-giver; Chavvah (or Eve), the first woman:—Eve
Eve is the life giver. Compare the two words and they are the same Hebrew letters. Havilah as a variant adds an “YL” or in Hebrew, a “Y,” YAD and an “L,” LAMED. Interestingly, “IY” is the Hebrew word for isle even and perhaps this is a prophetic forerunner to the Philippines, Havilah which will become over 7,000 islands after the Flood. Before the Flood, the Philippines was known as the Mountains of Eden but was one isle. Therefore, if one can locate this ancient land of Havilah, you have found the land of Adam and Eve as it is named for Eve. Let us unearth it now.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 61
Do you see what Tim did here? He said Eve and Havilah are related because they have the same letters with Havilah adding a few extra letters. That is stupid. That is a dumb as saying "dumb" and "thumb" are related words because both end with "umb."
Throughout his books and videos Tim refers to the Blue Letter Bible which is a website with many tools for examining the Hebrew and Greek. It is therefore astounding that, though the footnote for the definition refers to the BLB, Tim ignores what Blue Letter Bible has to say about the word Havilah.
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| https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2341/kjv/wlc/0-1/ |
Havilah means circle and is given two locations. We also see that there are two Havilah's in the Bible. One a son of Cush and the other a son of Joktan. The rest of Tim's definition for Havilah, that suffers pain, that brings forth, is found in Hitchcock's Bible Names which is referenced in the footnote. BLB says this word has its root in H2342.
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| https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2342/kjv/wlc/0-1/ |
חוּל chûwl, khool; or חִיל chîyl; a primitive root; properly, to twist or whirl (in a circular or spiral manner), i.e. (specifically) to dance, to writhe in pain (especially of parturition) or fear; figuratively, to wait, to pervert:—bear, (make to) bring forth, (make to) calve, dance, drive away, fall grievously (with pain), fear, form, great, grieve, (be) grievous, hope, look, make, be in pain, be much (sore) pained, rest, shake, shapen, (be) sorrow(-ful), stay, tarry, travail (with pain), tremble, trust, wait carefully (patiently), be wounded.
This word is not found in Solomon's Gold which means Tim did not even bother to look it up. According to the Blue Letter Bible this word has no connection to the word translated Eve. Tim's etymology is false and entirely made up.
As we already proved out, this river surrounds the land of Adam and Eve named Havilah after Havah’s or Eve’s curse of childbirth.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 71
Tim has by no means proven that Havilah is named after "Eve's curse of childbirth." Why would Adam name his homeland after his wife's curse? That makes no sense and Tim's only source to believe that tale is the fake etymology he has rendered for Havilah which he has pulled out of his own head.
After the etymology comes the testing of the resources.
Genesis 2:11-12 KJVThe name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.Three resources define this nation so now we assess. First, there is gold but not just some gold. The gold of this land is towb: טוב or abundant as in wealthy, prosperous or bountiful especially. In other words, this is not just any land of gold, it is the land of gold defined by having the most gold. Where is that? We already demonstrated the Philippines is the leader in all of history in gold.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 61
This is totally wrong. That Hebrew word does not mean abundant. That is a completely different word H7227. What Tim is doing here is making it appear like this means that the land is filled with gold but that's not what the text says. It says the gold is good meaning pleasant, agreeable, excellent, etc.
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| https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2896/kjv/wlc/0-1/ |
Tome Pires says the quality of gold from the Philippines is of poor quality.
The Borneans go to the lands of the Lucoes to buy gold, and foodstuffs as well, and the gold which they bring to Malacca is from the Lucoes and from the surrounding islands which are countless; and they all have more or less trade with one another. And the gold of these islands where they trade is of a low quality —indeed very low quality.
Next, we have bdellium which some scholars argue over yet it is a very simple topic to resolve. They generally claim it is either pearl or African resin. Please note the resin they mention as African is also found in the Philippines thus not specifically African even. This is an attempt to stretch the scripture for Africa to fit yet it cannot on many levels especially since it’s in the wrong direction, far too close and in Ham’s territory. The Hebrew word bdellium is only used twice in scripture. The second time does remedy.
Numbers 11:7 KJVAnd the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.Would it make sense that the Israelites ate manna the color of nasty, gritty, dirty looking blackish-brown resin, or pearly white? The entire Old Testament never mentions the word pearl in Hebrew except these two times but has a name for every sacred resin or spice used and none known as bdellium ever. It’s pearl and there really is no question.
Solomon's Treasure, pg. 61-62
Is Tim aware that not all bdellium is blackish-brown?
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| https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/macro-closeup-organic-indian-bdellium-guggul-343884821 |
Granted that is Indian bdellium but the point remains that not all bdellium resin is black or brown. Modern translations have taken that into consideration.
The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin.
The last resource to be tested is onyx. Guess what? It too is found in the Philippines. Therefore Tim has successfully proven that Havilah is in the Philippines. Actually he has proven no such thing and ignores what the Bible says. Havilah is in Southern Arabia near Egypt.
Genesis 25:18 And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.
1 Samuel 5:7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.
There you go. End of story. There is one and only one land of Havilah in the Bible and it is not the Philippines. Here is a resource test for the region:
"Havilah. The rich land surrounded by the river Pishon according to the story of the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:11). Its richness derives from the GOLD, RESIN BDELLIUM and ONYX STONES present there. ALL THREE OF THESE PRODUCTS POINT TO SOUTH ARABIA AS THE LOCATION OF HAVILAH, since South Arabia is the homeland of valuable resins and precious stones. According to Pliny (Natural History 12.23), the tree which yields bdellium also grows in Arabia, and the resin from Commiphora mukul, Arabic muql, is up to now a Yemenite product...Onyx (Arabic gaz) is found at all times in various places in Yemen; and among the sorts which were usually named after the places where they are found, there was also a 'Khaulanite onyx' (al-Hamadani 1884:202-3). Among the gold mines of the Arabian peninsula, the mine of `Asam in the region of the Quda`a is attested, the gold of which is red and excellent; also attested are the mines of al-Qufa`a in the land of Khaulan, which yield gold of superior quality (cf. al-Hamadani 1968 :138-41). J. Halevy reports that, as an eyewitness in1870 in Sirwah in Khaulan, he saw Arabs washing gold and noted that gold was found in small grains of sand and in the river bed (1872:54). (p. 82. Vol. 3. W. W. Muller. "Havilah." David Noel Freedman. Editor. The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York. Doubleday. 1992)
http://www.bibleorigins.net/PishonRiverMapWadiBishahAsir.html
I do not believe Tim read his Bible and missed this information. I believe he chose to ignore it. Rather than leaving no stone unturned he has declined to examine Genesis 25:18 and 1 Samuel 5:7 both in his book and his videos because it overturns his thesis. Now, he might counter by inquiring about the Pison River. Perhaps it is now a dry river bed running through Kuwait and Arabia as James Sauer thought. Perhaps it is not. One thing's for sure and that is the Pison River cannot be an underwater ocean trench. That is Tim's solution to the Rivers of Eden and it is wrong. The Bible mentions these rivers in a way that readers would be familiar with them. Making them be invisible underwater ocean trenches renders the text unintelligible.
The bottom line here is Timothy Jay Schwab is, as always, wrong. Havilah is not in the Philippines. It's an area to the south of Israel. The Bible says so.
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