When was it "decided" the apple was the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge?

Question

Aside from what Wikipedia says about it being a pun amongst medieval scholars, seeing as that has no contextual proof and is just an assumption on our part. It never specifically states an apple was eaten and there are a lot worse things that grow from trees than an apple.

So why the apple?

Answer 1

sorry, i'm not really answering your question, but i just wanted to say that i was reading some of your answers and basically you're just awesome.

Answer 2

Wiki only offers up the pun as a possible, but commonly accepted reason it's an apple, among Christians. Look above; the other religions believe it's a fig, wheat, or tamarind.

However, when Christianity was being spread around the world, remember the monks who did the beautiful illuminated manuscripts may have drawn the trees as apple trees based on the pun.

Wikipedia is not the definitive answer though; you may have to do some more research about the subject at the library.

Answer 3

A couple things. No one ever decided that it was an apple. The scripture reads "fruit". Apple is a pop culture myth.

Secondly, it is not the "tree of knowledge" but the "tree of knowledge of good and evil". This makes or at least could make a big difference in meaning. Also, there have always been those in the Church from the earliest times who taught that Man would eventually have been allowed to eat said "apple" when they were ready for it. (Off hand I recall St Ireneaos, St Athanasios, and St John Chrysostomos teaching such)

Lastly, many Church Fathers have held the opinion that the "trees" in the garden were not necessarily actual trees but act as symbols for some sort of spiritual reality.

Answer 4

I agree that it is probably just an assumption that the apple was the Forbidden Fruit. Apples being referenced as the Forbidden Fruit started with European Christians. Many different fruits have as well. I have seen apples, pears, bananas and more romantic...pomegranites. This is a pretty easy answer to find by just using a search engine, so I asume that your question is more than just "when was it decided the apple was the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge?". Heck, let be an apple, a pomegranite or a banana, whatever floats your boat. I think that is missing the point though. Perhaps it is more than fruit....perhaps it is that Adam and Eve did something that God had told them not to do (whatever you may believe that to be) and then they did it anyways b/c they knew they had to in order to obey God's commandment to have children? Think about that one...

Answer 5

Seems to me that the apple is just a basic fruit. I mean, if you ask someone to draw you a picture of a piece of fruit, the apple just seems like the default choice. Also it's a fruit you can definately bite into. And it's native to Europe, unlike most citrus and more exotic fruits.

I like the idea of it being a medieval pun, though. Oh, those silly monks! Such jokers...

Edit: Billy-- Posting a question on Yahoo! Answers is hardly making a mountain out of anything. The shape and style of the fruit in Genesis may not have spiritual significance, but it's still historically interesting to try to figure out how certain notions became popular.

Answer 6

Why the apple? It is because people lack imagination, of all the things that grow on trees. Also remember many of out fairy tales has something to say about apples. But in truth no one has settled on anything because it still not not known and may never be known. But think of all the things that grow on trees and it really could be anyone of them, That was the forbidden fruit. It could even be something that no longer exist anywhere in this world even to this day, other than in the Garden of Eden. Which still exist but still out of reach for mankind.

Answer 7

The bible never said it was an apple, I believe it said do not take the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I would think it is probably a symbolic statement because it does not state a specific fruit.

Answer 8

apple is often used to describe a range of different fruits in medieval writing and art as it had been for many many centuries before: a fruit being the culmination of the life of a tree or plant it is an analogy for thoughts and ideas from our minds hence the apple signifying the developing of an awareness that was not present before

Answer 9

I guess it's because an apple is a popular fruit.

The fruit -- for all we know -- could have been an "ancestor" of the fruits we know of today that doesn't exist anymore.

Assumptions like this sometimes turn into the common belief.

Another example is the jolly red-suited Santa we all know.

Santa Claus wasn't originally pictured as a big jolly man. He was pictured as a lean, saintly, possibly frail man.

Then a popular cartoonist drew him as the jolly soul we see today and it became the general idea about what he looks like.

Answer 10

Its the Apple because it is the only fruit with the Characteristics from which they described in the bible, ask your church they will give you a bullsh!t answer but hey at least its a step to answering your question......... Also i think they were trying to mess up apples for people to see how much power they had over the general public but it didn't work

Answer 11

I know what your talking about. It's an apple its the most commen fruit. Aside from banana. Like they say a apple a day keeps the docter away!