The Euphrates river begins, as seen in the below map, at the place where the Karasu and Murat join in northeastern Turkey. It is the longest watercourse in Southwest Asia. The distance from the source of the Murat to where it joins with the Tigris (near Basra, Iraq) is 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles).
According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, the Euphrates and Tigris rivers originally entered into the Persian Gulf by separate channels. At that time the Gulf extended up as far as the home of Abraham in Ur which made the city a seaport. Since the time of Abraham, however, sediment from these rivers has filled up the head of the Persian Gulf for nearly 100 miles (161 kilometers).
Life Giving Water
The Euphrates waterway provided the water that led to the first flowering of civilization in Sumer dating from about the 4th millennium B.C. Many important ancient cities were located on or near it including Nippur, Shuruppak, Uruk, Eridu, and Ur (where Abraham was born). For several centuries, it was the eastern limit of effective Egyptian and Roman empire control.
The region around the Euphrates river is known as Mesopotamia. This area, where the invention of writing and the wheel occurred, is the cradle of civilization. Mesopotamia eventually became the heartland of the Babylonian and Assyrian world empires. In modern times, the use of dams on the river generates power for the entire area.
Its First Mention
The river's first mention, by name, is in the book of Genesis.
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed . . .
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was divided and became four heads. The name of the first is Pishon, which surrounds all the land of Havilah, where there is gold . . .
And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that surrounds the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris, which goes toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates (Genesis 2:8, 10 - 11, 13 - 14, HBFV).
The river is also mentioned in regard to the covenant God made with Abram (Abraham). This covenant, which promised an inheritance in the land of Canaan, was made after Abraham had left his home in Ur of the Chaldees. God promised to give him the land from the Nile River to the Euphrates, which was populated at the time by peoples such as the Kenites, Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites and others (Genesis 15).
Fulfilling Biblical Prophecy
This area around the river will play a pivotal role in end time Bible prophecy. Sometime during the Great Tribulation, when the Beast and False Prophet rule the world, four demonic spirits that have been "bound" or held at the waterway will be freed in order to unleash a wave of death upon all mankind.
And the sixth angel sounded his trumpet; and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God; And it said to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet, "Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates."
Then the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were loosed, so that they might kill a third of men . . . (Revelation 9:13 - 15, HBFV).
Just before Jesus returns to earth a second time, the kingdoms of the North and the South will begin making their preparations for the battle of Armageddon. God will then cause the Euphrates river to dry up so that the armies of the world can gather together (along with the beast and false prophet) to fight Jesus coming directly from heaven. This will be the last world war mankind will have to fight.
And the sixth angel poured out his vial into the great river Euphrates; and its waters were dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared . . .
Then I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet; For they are spirits of demons working miracles, going forth to the kings of the earth, even of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of the Almighty God. (Revelation 16:12 - 14, HBFV).