What Was The Forbidden Fruit? [RQ]
The institution of original sin in Christianity manifested in the first book of the Bible, and its foundational nature places it in the spotlight in popular culture depictions. Adam and Eve often appear in the Garden of Eden, adorned with fig leaves over their genitals and standing beneath an apple tree. This common depiction seems to suggest that the general understanding of the story is that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must have been an apple tree. However, there is no direct confirmation in the Bible for what species the tree was and what fruit it produced. So, why then is it so often depicted as an apple tree? Moreover, what evidence is available to point to the truth of what may have been the species of this tree?
Understanding why the artists in western culture so often choose an apple is, like most other curiosities in the Bible, difficult to answer directly. One factor in this popular depiction is that the apples that are common in the western world today share a common ancestor in a species still available today: Malus sieversii. [1] Based on its prevalence in Central Asia, it is likely that apple trees were a common sight in Antiquity in the Middle East. That alone does not explain the acceptance of apples as the forbidden fruit. Some scholars suggest it may have been the result of a Latin pun, following its translation into Latin in the 4th century CE by St. Jerome. [2] In this pun (or perhaps a misunderstanding), Eve ate the mālum(apple) and contracted malum(evil). [2] These translators did not have the benefit of a direct translation from the Hebrew, which simply used a generic term (peri) for the fruit hanging from the tree.[2] Not to mention that during Jerome’s lifetime malus did not strictly refer to an apple. Rather, it could have been used to describe “any fleshy seed-bearing fruit.” [2]
The only conclusion that can be drawn with certainty is that the there was a fruit hanging from this tree. That said, one can further speculate from information in the surrounding verses. It is noted that Adam and Eve used fig leaves to cover their genitals, and it is not a substantial leap to conclude that they may have simply grabbed leaves from the tree which they had just eaten to fashion their coverings. [Gen. 3:6-7] Regrettably, this matter is without a definitive answer, but the presence of figs and fig trees throughout the Bible, one could argue, imparts a powerful thematic logic for choosing a fig tree as the species of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
#bible #christianity #oldtestament #readerquestion
Sources:
[1] https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/malus/malus-sieversii/
Eric B – BA History, Minor in Religious Studies
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