"You can observe a lot by seeing."
What was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
I don't know if this came directly from God or from me. I am always asking him questions. and He has answered them many times. Most, if not all of us have wondered what the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil could have possibly been. Adam's apple isn't called Adam's apple for nothing. I believe that when Adam bit into the Apple and it began it's descent down his throat, his eyes came open and he realized the stark implications of what he had done. The painful reality caused the apple to become lodged in his throat. This created the Adam's apple. Many of us have believed it to be the apple, but this helps to add validity to the reason why we have for so long. Just something to think about on today.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by John G. Roberts on -
Let's review the story. Genesis depicts Adam and Eve leading the plush life in Eden. They may eat fruit from any tree except one, "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Unsurprisingly, they eat the forbidden fruit and are expelled from paradise. As you suggest, the original Hebrew says only "fruit," but in latter-day Western art ranging from serious religious painting to about a million cartoons, the item in question is invariably depicted as an apple.
But it wasn't always. Early rabbis suggested the fruit was:
- the fig, because the next verse mentions sewing together fig leaves to make loincloths;
- grapes, which later cause trouble for Noah, not to mention many other vino lovers;
- the citron, a lemonlike fruit which in Hebrew is etrog, a pun on ragag, "desire";
- wheat, khitah in Hebrew and thus a pun on khet, "sin" - a stretch, considering wheat isn't a fruit and doesn't grow on trees; or
- the carob, because in Hebrew its name puns on the word for "destruction."
Many modern scholars think the author(s) of the text had the pomegranate in mind.
Genesis doesn't mention apples, but Proverbs 25:11 says a timely word is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. More significantly, in the Song of Solomon the apple is an erotic symbol indicating sweetness, desire, and the female breast, which gives you an idea how things are starting to go, metaphorwise.
Early Christian scholars often took the forbidden fruit to be an apple, possibly because of the irresistible pun suggested by the Latin malum, which means both "apple" and "evil." At least one early Latin translation of the bible uses "apple" instead of "fruit." A contributing factor no doubt was that apples were a lot more popular in Europe than in the Middle East, where it's generally too hot for them to thrive.
It wasn't just Christians who picked up on the apple's racy side. The most famous apple of Greek myth is the one you cite, the gold apple labeled "To the fairest" that Eris, goddess of discord, throws among the guests at a wedding party, leading to the judgment of Paris (he has to choose whether Hera, Aphrodite, or Athena is the most beautiful) and ultimately to the Trojan War. You get the picture: apples may look good, but they're trouble. Christian scholars knew the Greek myths and adapted many to their new religion.
Still, the apple wasn't the unanimous choice for forbidden fruit. Carved depictions of Adam and Eve with apples are found in early Christian catacombs and on sarcophagi. The apple was the favored representation of the forbidden fruit in Christian art in France and Germany beginning around the 12th century. But Byzantine and Italian artists tended to go with the fig.
In fact, you can read Christian iconography as a long, twilight struggle between figs and apples over which is the alpha temptation symbol. The apple has a lot to recommend it: red (blood) or golden (greed), round (fertility) and sweet-tasting (desire). The fig, on the other hand, has a certain phallic look, noted as far back as the ancient Greeks, who, admittedly, thought everything looked phallic. By the Renaissance, almost simultaneously we have Albrecht Dürer depicting Adam and Eve and the serpent with an apple (1504, 1507), and Michelangelo equipping the same cast with figs on the Sistine Chapel ceiling (circa 1510).
Ultimately the apple prevailed. In Areopagitica (1644), Milton explicitly described the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil as an apple, and that was pretty much the ball game. Islamic tradition, however, commonly represents the forbidden fruit as the fig or olive.
A related question: what's meant by the "knowledge of good and evil"? Take your pick:
- Ethical discrimination, knowing right from wrong. One problem with this interpretation: if Adam and Eve had no knowledge of right and wrong before eating the fruit, how would they know disobedience was wrong?
- Knowledge of sex. The first thing Adam and Eve do after their snack is realize they're naked.
- Knowledge, period. In this view, "good and evil" is an encompassing bookend phrase, like "A to Z." Having tasted of the tree, mankind wants to know everything.
In any event, the gist is clear: knowledge = the loss of innocence; ignorance = bliss.
— Cecil Adams
-
Permalink Reply by PROPHETESS CAROL on -
Wow! This is great feedback. You are right, no one really knows if the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was an apple. But I will say this, from the pros and cons that you have listed here, they surely do point to more in the direction of the apple. I am focusing on...
Genesis 3:6
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was "PLEASANT TO THE EYES," and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Sometimes we can go so deep into a thing that we overlook the obvious. Mind you, I am still not trying to say of a surety that the fruit was an apple, but I am pretty sure that if you were to dangled a grape, a fig, or an apple in front of someone, the likely choice would more than likely be the apple. Let's face it, a fig or a grape is no way as appealing as an apple. Red apples are crimson in color. You gave an awesome response. Thanks!
Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
The color of crimson....Remember that the color may differ slightly because one is a fabric and the other is a fruit, but I have seen red apples closer to the color of the fabric.
-
Permalink Reply by marvin phillips on -
Jewish folks tell it is the grape. Adam got in trouble because of it, Noah got in trouble because of it, "wine is a mocker". Proper use in rituals is good. At Purin one is to get so drunk that one cant tell who in Esther is good or bad. Cant figure that one out.
-
Permalink Reply by Debbie Hasty on -
Good question and you have placed a challenge before me as I love a good challenge to dig even deeper into the word of God. I will go dig now and in a few days will post what I find into a new discussion. I'm leaning toward it being a fig, but maybe not even been a fruit at all as Gods word is Spiritual at times and literal at times. I'll be back soon with my post.
-
Permalink Reply by PROPHETESS CAROL on
-
Let's not forget that the Jewish people are the apple of God's eye. Many of the judgments in the book of revelation will be because of the persecution of God's chosen people. Just like Adam should have never touched the apple because it belonged to God, it is the same way with the Jewish people. I know that we are all his people but He refers to them as being the "apple" of His eye.
-
Permalink Reply by Sean Terrell on -
It has to be something tangible. Hence in verse 3 says "neither shall you touch it, lest you die."
This is an interesting question. One that will never be answered until we get to heaven. The fact that the exact fruit on the tree is not mentioned speaks to me that the type of fruit is of no importance. What is of importance is obeying God's commandments.
-
Permalink Reply by PROPHETESS CAROL on
-
I agree with you to some extent on your response, but think of this for a moment if you will. You know how some are prone to equate salvation with the works of the law. I think that another reason for this is that some people would have looked at this fruit as being evil. For what God has made clean is clean. People would have erred from the faith because they would have tried to undo what had already been done which cannot happen. Therefore, they would no longer desire the thing that they wanted so bad in the beginning as though it would make things right with God. It's the difference between offering bulls and goats when we no longer have a need for them since Christ has come. For we know that by the works of the law, there shall be no flesh justified in his sight. God is already there before we even arrive. He is so much wiser and so much smarter. By the way, I pray that he will enlighten me concerning my microeconomics class before it proves to be the undoing of me.
-
Permalink Reply by Sean Terrell on
-
Well, the idea of the fruit itself being evil is shot down in Genesis 1. Let's start with verse 11 and continue through verse 13.
11And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. 12The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And again in verse 29-31 29And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30Andto every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
God created everything perfect. Through rebellion, evil entered the world. Not God. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5
Whatever the fruit was, it was off limits not because it was bad, but because God said not to eat of it, or touch it.
-
Permalink Reply by PROPHETESS CAROL on
-
This is true, I am just trying to give you the mindset of some.
-
Permalink Reply by Sean Terrell on
-
I know I know. Since you brought it up, I had to refute it. Just who I be!
God Bless!
-
Permalink Reply by Charles David Ziegler on -
Would it of necessity now still be a fruit that we are familiar with? If in vs. 29 God said that He gave every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the Earth,and every tree with seed in its fruit. The seed is for propagation of the species so would this particular tree necessarily require this. The entry of this tree as well as the tree of life into the earth came at the creation of the Garden of Eden not mentioned until Chap. 2:8 yet the earth creation was recorded as completed in 2:1. He references all the trees pleasant to the sight and good for food , and the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The last two were an addition to creation not found on earth prior to Eden. This is why I think that the fruit is probably not known now for these trees would not replicate themselves due to their power attached to them and speak of things eternal not temporal. Thus they may not have bore fruit with a seed thus setting them out side of the "may eat" category. I find it interesting that only after Eve listens to the serpent does she look on the tree and
When the woman saw that that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,and a tree to be desired to make one wise,she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband there with her; and he did eat.
only after hearing "another wisdom" did she meditate the plausibility of the benefits of eating this tree then it became pleasant to the eye good enough to eat and a TREE TO BE DESIRED. This other wisdom was contrary and contradictory to the only wisdom that they were familiar with(God's). but this is another topic
Just a thought Love in Christ Jesus Dave
-
Permalink Reply by PROPHETESS CAROL on
-
That's the way it is with almost anything be it good or evil. People only want that which they are told they cannot have??? So whether it was good or evil was not the issue but rather they had been told not to touch it. I love your response, it's a very good and enlightening one.
Latest Activity
© 2012 Created by Pastor Greg.
