Genesis Lecture 51 (The Fourth River) Eng.Mafundisho ya Mwanzo 51 | Mto wa Nne | Kiingereza
Bible passage: Genesis 2:14-15Andiko la Biblia: Mwanzo 2:14–15
"The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. [15] Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it."“Jina la mto wa tatu ni Hidekeli; huo ndio upitao mbele ya Ashuru. Na mto wa nne ni Frati. Bwana Mungu akamtwaa huyo mtu, akamweka katika bustani ya Edeni, ailime na kuitunza.”
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is the 51st lecture on Genesis. In the last session, I talked about three of the four major rivers that God made on Earth. Now, let me talk about the fourth river, the Euphrates. We have the Euphrates River today as well. The Euphrates starts from the highlands of Eastern Turkey and runs through Syria and Iraq to finally end in the Persian Gulf. It flows very close to the third river, the Hiddekel or otherwise called the Tigris, and these two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, later join together. So, sometimes they combine these two rivers and call it the Tigris-Euphrates.
The original Euphrates is not exactly the same as today's Euphrates. The topography has changed to a great extent over a long period of time. Genesis 15:18 also mentions the Euphrates. It says, "On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:" Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldeans, on the lower end of the Euphrates, around 2,000 BC.
Then, in obedience to the word of God, he moved to the land of Canaan. The big river Euphrates at the time of Abraham is in close relation to today's Euphrates. But there is no way for us to know exactly the shape and location of the Euphrates when God first made it. The literal meaning of 'Euphrates' is to taste sweet. But the spiritual meaning that God put in this name is 'affluence'. Why did God put such a meaning- Where the Euphrates adjoins the Tigris, a plain of very fertile land is formed.
Ndugu wapendwa katika Kristo, hili ni somo la 51 la Mafundisho ya Mwanzo.
Katika somo lililopita, nilizungumza kuhusu mito mitatu kati ya ile minne mikubwa ambayo Mungu aliiumba duniani. Sasa nitazungumza kuhusu mto wa nne, Frati. Mto Frati upo hadi leo. Chanzo chake ni nyanda za juu mashariki mwa Uturuki, kisha unapita Syria na Iraq na kumwaga maji katika Ghuba ya Uajemi. Unapita karibu sana na mto wa tatu, Hidekeli, unaoitwa pia Tigri. Baadaye mito hiyo miwili, Tigri na Frati, huungana. Ndiyo maana wakati mwingine huitwa mito ya Tigri na Frati kwa pamoja.
Frati ya awali haifanani kabisa na Frati ya leo. Jiografia imebadilika sana kwa muda mrefu. Mwanzo 15:18 pia inautaja Frati: “Siku ile Bwana akafanya agano na Abramu, akasema, Uzao wako nimewapa nchi hii, tangu mto wa Misri mpaka huo mto mkubwa, mto Frati.” Abrahamu alizaliwa Uru wa Wakaldayo, upande wa chini wa Frati, karibu mwaka 2000 kabla ya Kristo.
Kisha, akitii Neno la Mungu, alihamia nchi ya Kanaani. Mto mkubwa Frati wa wakati wa Abrahamu una uhusiano wa karibu na Frati ya leo. Lakini hatuwezi kujua kwa hakika umbo na mahali ulipokuwa Frati Mungu alipouumba mara ya kwanza. Maana ya moja kwa moja ya jina “Frati” ni “kuonja utamu.” Lakini maana ya rohoni ambayo Mungu aliweka katika jina hili ni “utajiri.” Kwa nini Mungu aliweka maana hiyo? Mahali Frati unapokutana na Tigri, kuna tambarare yenye udongo wenye rutuba sana.
