Apple vs fig

Use this forum to discuss the June 2020 Book of the month, "Killing Abel" by Michael Tieman.
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Marvin85
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Re: Apple vs fig

Post by Marvin85 »

Nobody knows what type of fruit it was. Apple, I think is just a general term loved by many maybe because of its taste. It might be that the author preferred the term fig because it has been mentioned in other biblical accounts, and also that the figs were a common fruit in ancient Israelite society.
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Post by baha Ibrahim »

A fig does seem more historically accurate. I believe people have used an apple to replace the "fruit" term simply because it is the first thing people come to mind
:tiphat: Baha :tiphat:
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Post by Haywhyre7 »

This has always been an interesting argument as I concur with the fact that an apple wasnt named in Eden. We would never know for sure as the Bible is one complete mystery
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Post by simplybyjenn »

That is so true, I never thought of it as I have always been taught it was the apple as well. The fig is mentioned over the apple but it is not as common and not as appeasing to the eye. I wonder why the author chose to use something that is against the mainstream.
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Post by Astrolorraine »

As you point out, it doesn't say anywhere what fruit it was. That leaves us at liberty to imagine any fruit, apple or fig or any of the other thousands of fruit types. As for knowing for sure, I guess only a heavenly announcement would clarify that.
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Post by Kola+wole »

Like someone rightly said, we will never know. Whenever the story is being told, an apple is usually what is visualized (I wonder if I heard it somewhere or it just came naturally).
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Post by Nimisha_91 »

I was always told it was an apple too.. Isnt that where "Adam's apple comes from"??
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Post by David_Kariuki »

B Creech wrote: 07 Jun 2020, 11:30 It doesn't tell us anywhere in the Bible what fruit Adam and Eve are from the tree of knowledge in the Bible. I always have heard that it was an apple. I had never heard anyone say it was a fig or any other fruit. God told them (Adam and Eve) not to eat of the "fruit." To my knowledge, the apple is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible, however, the fig tree is. In Mark 11:12-25 Jesus curses the fig tree as a sign the Jewish people don't accept him as the Messiah.

Could the fruit Adam and Eve had eaten in the garden have been a fig as the author portrays? Or was it actually an apple? Or, will we ever know for sure?
If the Bible didn't mention the actual name of the fruit, then I guess God didn't find it necessary for us to know. Could it be that God made the tree extinct all-together? Could it also be that the 'tree'...the 'fruit' ....and even garden weren't meant to be taken literally, but instead symbolic?
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Post by Leecedar »

David_Kariuki wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 06:05
If the Bible didn't mention the actual name of the fruit, then I guess God didn't find it necessary for us to know. Could it be that God made the tree extinct all-together? Could it also be that the 'tree'...the 'fruit' ....and even garden weren't meant to be taken literally, but instead symbolic?
My pastor often compared the philosophy of taking the Bible as a cake recipe... if you only take it as suggestions, or think you can change ingredients at will, then you're not going to have a good cake. If you follow the recipe as written, you get a cake.

If you only follow the Word as suggestions, or metaphors, then you won't be correct. Take it literally. So, tree and fruit.
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Post by Eunice Geres »

I think it is a fruit that doesn't exist in our world. Maybe God kept it to himself so that no one will be tempted to use it again.
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Post by David_Kariuki »

Leecedar wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 15:58
David_Kariuki wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 06:05
If the Bible didn't mention the actual name of the fruit, then I guess God didn't find it necessary for us to know. Could it be that God made the tree extinct all-together? Could it also be that the 'tree'...the 'fruit' ....and even garden weren't meant to be taken literally, but instead symbolic?
My pastor often compared the philosophy of taking the Bible as a cake recipe... if you only take it as suggestions, or think you can change ingredients at will, then you're not going to have a good cake. If you follow the recipe as written, you get a cake.

If you only follow the Word as suggestions, or metaphors, then you won't be correct. Take it literally. So, tree and fruit.
I think we have to look at it both ways...like when Jesus said that He would destroy the temple and rebuild it in 3 days...He didn't literally do that. It was symbolic....take also when The Bible says that the Son of man shall crush the head of the snake, we don't see Jesus literally doing that either. We can't just ignore the fact that the Bible is full of metaphors and symbolism.
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Post by Brenda Creech »

David_Kariuki wrote: 11 Aug 2020, 02:04
Leecedar wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 15:58
David_Kariuki wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 06:05
If the Bible didn't mention the actual name of the fruit, then I guess God didn't find it necessary for us to know. Could it be that God made the tree extinct all-together? Could it also be that the 'tree'...the 'fruit' ....and even garden weren't meant to be taken literally, but instead symbolic?
My pastor often compared the philosophy of taking the Bible as a cake recipe... if you only take it as suggestions, or think you can change ingredients at will, then you're not going to have a good cake. If you follow the recipe as written, you get a cake.

If you only follow the Word as suggestions, or metaphors, then you won't be correct. Take it literally. So, tree and fruit.
I think we have to look at it both ways...like when Jesus said that He would destroy the temple and rebuild it in 3 days...He didn't literally do that. It was symbolic....take also when The Bible says that the Son of man shall crush the head of the snake, we don't see Jesus literally doing that either. We can't just ignore the fact that the Bible is full of metaphors and symbolism.

I agree! That is why when we study the Bible we need to take our time and reflect to understand as much as God wants us to understand!
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Post by Rosemary Okoko »

I have never given it much thought as i grew up believing that the Bible mentioned an apple. For sure now that I know the Bible didn't mention an apple, i will never know the type of fruit it was.
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Post by Imstaci-1 »

A number of researchers have suggested that in Latin, malus means both apple and evil and this is where it might have started. However, in Genesis
1:27-29 God said to Adam and Eve that they could eat all fruit trees with seeds. As apples have seeds perhaps on a more literal note this is not the fruit. It took time before I understand that the "fruit" actually meant Eve slept with Lucifer- the shock!
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Post by Inkroverts »

You raised the question I've been thinking for a long time. In visual depictions, I always see apples. But in written words, they're sometimes figs and sometimes apple. It can possibly be neither. So we'll never know for sure.
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