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. //Jewish tradition holds that the fruit was figs, grapes, or wheat. Another fruit often proposed is the pomegranate, one of the earliest fruits domesticated. It came to be known as a symbol of fertility and immortality. Greek and Persian mythology uses the pomegranate as a representation of life, regeneration, and marriage. The one fruit that no scholar considers seriously is an apple.
But in the fourth century, the word
malum appeared in the Vulgate translation of Genesis in the phrase "the tree of good and evil."
Malum, in Latin, means both evil and apple. They've been connected ever since.
In the end, Adam and Eve may not have eaten of any fruit at all. Partaking of the "fruit of the tree of good and evil" may have been an allegorical feast, describing the first sin of the flesh, as explained in the very next verse:
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.
Published on October 21, 2011 06:46