Apple vs fig

Use this forum to discuss the June 2020 Book of the month, "Killing Abel" by Michael Tieman.
Post Reply
User avatar
Nqobile Mashinini Tshabalala
Book of the Month Participant
Posts: 1887
Joined: 23 Jul 2020, 03:06
Favorite Book: Happy Healing
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 299
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-nqobile-mashinini-tshabalala.html
Latest Review: Anatomy of Revenge by Fred Grace

Re: Apple vs fig

Post by Nqobile Mashinini Tshabalala »

Apples are cleaner and easier to eat without needing much "cleaning" attention. Figs require a lot of work and are not the most pleasant looking.
Documented history is a gift from the past to the future! - NqobileM
User avatar
R Lefler
Posts: 46
Joined: 07 Aug 2020, 10:49
Currently Reading: Moby Dick;
Bookshelf Size: 375
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-r-lefler.html
Latest Review: Chameleons by Onyx Gold

Post by R Lefler »

We can never know for sure. The reason it is commonly imagined or illustrated as an apple is that it was depicted as an apple in European Renaissance art. Probably because it was a fruit that was common in Europe. A fig is more Middle-Eastern. Thus, it may more likely have been a fig, depending on where you think the historical Garden of Eden was. They may have also used the apple in European Renaissance depictions because the apple already had mythological significance in Greek, Norse, Germanic, and other pagan storytelling traditions. It's similar to how Jesus is painted sometimes as looking like a northern European. It's not literal, it just helps translate the story into a particular culture.
User avatar
Intel
Posts: 109
Joined: 09 Aug 2020, 09:57
Favorite Author: Sarah Dessen
Favorite Book: The Hobbit
Currently Reading: Fahrenheit 451
Bookshelf Size: 28
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-intel.html
Latest Review: Timewise by Robert Leet
fav_author_id: 3879

Post by Intel »

I feel like it may not be a fruit of what we have come to know. Just like how the term seed can refer to a plant or a child. They ate of the fruit, but which exactly?
User avatar
Asunshine
Posts: 27
Joined: 29 Jul 2020, 04:25
Currently Reading: Diary of a Wimpy Kid :The Ugly Truth
Bookshelf Size: 15
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-asunshine.html
Latest Review: We are Voulhire: Someone Else's End by Matthew Tysz

Post by Asunshine »

Since I was a child I was always told it's an apple. But in the bible it is not mentioned whether it's an apple or a fig. So it's hard to know for sure.
Clancy193
Posts: 90
Joined: 02 Jun 2020, 20:08
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 31
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-clancy193.html
Latest Review: The Cult Next Door by Elizabeth R. Burchard, Judith L. Carlone

Post by Clancy193 »

It wasn't stated in the Bible as an Apple or A fig. It was only know to be the three of knowledge. It might also be traced to Solomon where Apple was mentioned. Maybe that where the whole idea of apple came from. Just my opinion.
User avatar
himawari333
Posts: 9
Joined: 23 Aug 2020, 23:05
Currently Reading: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Bookshelf Size: 1291

Post by himawari333 »

The last time I checked, researchers and anthropologists haven't been able to determine the actual fruit, but some scholars say its species is closer to a banana than an apple.
User avatar
Nidhi_391005
Posts: 28
Joined: 18 Jun 2020, 23:27
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 14
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-nidhi-391005.html
Latest Review: Guardian of Deceit by William H. Coles

Post by Nidhi_391005 »

I was told that it was an apple but I guess we will never be sure about it. I was also curious to know why the author chose fig.
Lhammamy
Posts: 76
Joined: 15 Aug 2020, 22:40
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 20
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-lhammamy.html
Latest Review: Manasakd by Kelly May Andrews

Post by Lhammamy »

Even in Qur'an the type of the fruit was not mentioned. However I don't think we will ever know because the aim of telling the story of Adam was not in the kind of fruit but in the results of the disobedience of God. Soo a fig or an apple it doesn't really matters.
User avatar
AbhyarnaAman
Posts: 342
Joined: 25 Aug 2020, 01:59
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 22
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-abhyarnaaman.html
Latest Review: Julu by Jan Anderegg

Post by AbhyarnaAman »

Apple being the common fruit might have entered the folklores and still exists. There is no counterevidence so we still believe it.
Latest Review: Julu by Jan Anderegg
User avatar
Leecedar
Posts: 84
Joined: 30 Jun 2020, 07:09
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 33
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-leecedar.html
Latest Review: The Godfathers of Sex Abuse, Book I: Jeffrey Epstein by Deana Pollard Sacks

Post by Leecedar »

Lhammamy wrote: 27 Aug 2020, 14:17 Even in Qur'an the type of the fruit was not mentioned. However I don't think we will ever know because the aim of telling the story of Adam was not in the kind of fruit but in the results of the disobedience of God. Soo a fig or an apple it doesn't really matters.
Lhammamy, that is an excellent point. Here we've been going on about the type of fruit, and you get to the heart of the matter. I really appreciate your comment.

Lee
User avatar
ews2406+9497
Posts: 36
Joined: 11 May 2020, 15:04
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 17
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-ews2406-9497.html
Latest Review: Effective Thinking by William Taddit
Reading Device: B00I15SB16

Post by ews2406+9497 »

As a child we were told or taught that it was an apple even in some christian books, they draw an apple and that's wrong cause nowhere in the bible has it ever said they ate an apple, i dont think we are ever going to know what fruit it was that they ate.
Adeniyi+samson-
Posts: 126
Joined: 09 May 2020, 11:23
Favorite Book: The Secrets To Living A Fantastic Life...
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 73
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-adeniyi-samson.html
Latest Review: Illustrated Short Fiction of William H. Coles: 2000-2016 by William H. Coles

Post by Adeniyi+samson- »

It's neither an apple nor from a fig tree because it's not specify in the scriptures which one.
Chigo Nwagboso
Posts: 1159
Joined: 28 Aug 2020, 15:03
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 78
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-chigo-nwagboso.html
Latest Review: Last minute wedding date by Anthony george

Post by Chigo Nwagboso »

The Bible didn't give a record of the specific fruit, but "the forbidden fruit" The fruit is commonly mistaking to apple fruit.
User avatar
Katielvs2read
Posts: 7
Joined: 17 Jul 2020, 11:13
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 14
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-katielvs2read.html
Latest Review: Perfection and Other Illusive Things by J Mercer

Post by Katielvs2read »

My grandpa used to say that was going to be a question he asked St. Paul when he reached the pearly gates. In my opinion, the apple was put in as a place holder. An apple is probably the most well known and eaten fruit that grows on trees. It's easy to see yourself eating an apple. I have never eaten a fig. I don't think the fig is as popular as an apple or orange. Peeling an orange would be something else to stop Adam and Eve from finishing the deed of eating the fruit. Sometimes if you are delayed in doing something you shouldn't, you don't end up doing it.
User avatar
m+c4
Posts: 19
Joined: 20 Jul 2020, 11:39
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 24
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-m-c4.html
Latest Review: Worldlines by Adam Guest

Post by m+c4 »

So in the original Hebrew Bible, the word 'peri' is used meaning generic fruit. When the scripture was later translated into Latin 'peri' became 'malus'. 'Malus' was a pun, meaning both evil and any fleshy seed-bearing fruit. For example, an apple is a type of 'malus', but so is a fig, a grape, and a pomegranate. Scholars have made arguments for each of these (and more) being the forbidden fruit.

One of the main reasons why apple is assumed to be the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was Milton. In Paradise lost he continued to refer to the forbidden fruit as malus. During his time, the meaning of malus was still equivocal. It could refer to either the apple or to any fleshy seed-bearing fruit. As a popularly accepted influential book, it was its later readers that started to associate 'malus' with 'Malus pumila' the scientific name for the common apple.
Post Reply

Return to “Discuss "Killing Abel" by Michael Tieman”