Adam’s Apple?

(3 Minute Read. 3Aug2022)

Campground Apple Tree

Walking through our campground I noticed this tree loaded with apples. It reminded me of the common belief that the Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden was an apple.

Many people think Adam’s Forbidden Fruit was an apple, largely because the Forbidden Fruit appears as an apple in so many articles, books, and pictures. Is this correct?

The Great Creator had forbidden Adam to eat of the tree, but the Serpent persuaded Eve to eat, and she gave some to Adam. What was the Forbidden Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Was the Forbidden Fruit an Apple?

The Forbidden Fruit could not have been an apple. Yahweh clearly specified the allowed food for man and beast:
Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. (Genesis 1:29-30)

The allowed food included “every plant yielding seed” and “every tree which has fruit yielding seed” and “every green plant.” Apple trees are green plants and apples are fruit with seeds, so they were permissible food. Therefore an apple could not have been the forbidden fruit.

Campground Apple Tree

What Was the Forbidden Fruit?

If the Forbidden Fruit was not an apple, what was it?

Since Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves after they sinned (Genesis 3:7), some have thought the Forbidden Fruit was likely a fig. Michelangelo (1475–1564) apparently believed this because he depicted the Forbidden Fruit as a fig in his painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But figs have seeds, so figs are out.

Other suggestions for the Forbidden Fruit have included grape, pomegranate, citron, pear, and quince. But all these contain seeds, so these conjectures are wrong.

The pseudepigraphic Book of Enoch says the Forbidden Fruit “resembled grapes extremely fine and its fragrance extended to a considerable distance” (1 Enoch 31:3-5). This is interesting, but the Book of Enoch is outside the canon of Scripture and does not have the authority of God’s Word.

Scripture does not identify the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was probably more appealing than Eden’s most succulent peach, its most delicious cherries, or its most delectable pear. Eve was surely familiar with the fruit of Eden which undoubtedly far surpassed what we eat today. Yet the Forbidden Fruit was still “a delight to the eyes” for her (Genesis 3:6) and successfully tempted her.

Eve offers Adam the Forbidden Fruit
In this picture the Forbidden Fruit looks
similar to a hand grenade — it certainly
blew up all of creation.

The Forbidden Fruit was no doubt a fruit that no longer exists.

If You Were in Eden . . .

If you were in the Garden of Eden at the dawn of history, would you have eaten the Forbidden Fruit?

Would you have obeyed or disobeyed your Creator who commanded,
“From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

Would you have done better than Adam and Eve did when Eve was tempted by the Serpent in Eden and when Adam let himself be influenced to choose rebellion? Would you have eaten the Forbidden Fruit?

I think the answer is YES. You would have. I would have. Every one of us would have eaten. Adam was the best possible representative to take the obedience test. He was created perfect directly by Yahweh Himself. Yet he failed. He chose disobedience.

And like Adam, all of us his descendants fail to keep Yahweh’s law. On a daily basis we choose disobedience: we lie, we cheat, we steal, we take God’s name in vain, we dishonor parents, we lust after men and women, we covet.

Thank God that Jesus of Nazareth did not fail, even though He did feel the pangs of temptation (Luke 4:13; Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was under far more duress and in much less favorable circumstances than Adam, but He chose obedience. He lived a sinless life and died to pay the penalty for His people’s sin. In our weakness and guilt, each of us is called to receive Jesus’ costly gift of propitiation and cleansing. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Jesus’ instructions on how to pray are therefore so valuable:
Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:12-13)

Questions to Ponder

1. What strategy have you found most successful for overcoming temptation?
2. What Bible verse do you call to mind when faced with temptation?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

For Christ and His Kingdom. Soli Deo Gloria. Alere Flammam Veritatis.

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday August 3, 2022 A.D.

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)

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