Was The Forbidden Fruit An Apple – And How Did Eve Know It Was Edible?
Bodie
Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, July 25, 2025 (Donate)
If you were to open a children’s book about Adam and Eve and read about their sin, chances are that they will say that Adam and Eve ate an “apple”. Having children of my own and receiving kind gifts relating to Genesis, such as Bibles for kids, I usually have to look them over for any big red flags.When these children’s books say that the fruit was an “apple,” I usually get frustrated—so I get frustrated a lot, as this is a common problem (like the righteous anger Nehemiah felt in Nehemiah 5:1-7)!
In addition, it is not just in children’s books, but seems like common knowledge. For example, it made its way into an encyclopedia:
Many people believe an apple was the fruit that, according the Bible, Adam and Eve ate in the Garden of Eden.[1]
The confusion of this fruit with the apple may be due to the similarity of the two words in the Latin translation, known as the Vulgate. The word "evil" in the tree's name in Latin is mali (Genesis 2:17). The word apple in other places is mala (Proverbs 25:11) or malum (Song of Solomon 2:3). It seems like this similarity may have led to the confusion. In the original Hebrew, the words are not even close to the same. The word in Genesis 2:17 for evil is rah, while the word for apples in Proverbs 25:11 and Song of Solomon 2:3 is tappuwach.
Why Not An Apple?
Simply put, the Bible doesn’t say the fruit was an apple. Furthermore, apples are mentioned in Scripture (e.g., Song of Solomon 2:3; Song of Solomon 8:5; Joel 1:12), but not in the Garden of Eden scene, which is where the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was located (as well as the Tree of Life).
The forbidden fruit was indeed a real fruit, but not necessarily an apple. It was the fruit that bore from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The Fruit
What did fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil look like? We simply don’t know. Though, some have speculated. In fact, various artists have developed different depictions such as:
As shown in the Creation Museum; Photo by Bodie Hodge
As shown in the original A is for Adam, book; Image from Presentation Library.
This
last one, which was done for children, could be used for humor as well. After
Regardless, we simply have no idea what the fruit looked like and only speculation within biblical limits should be warranted.
How Did Eve Know That The Fruit Was Edible And Desirable To Make One Wise?
Some have tried to ponder how Eve knew that the fruit was edible and for that matter, desirable to make one wise. Let’s address this first part first.
We seem to be in a predicament because of Genesis 2:16-17, which says:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
Here, Adam was commanded not to eat and this command made it to Eve as well; albeit, she did not articulate it properly to the serpent (Genesis 3:2-3). Therefore, one may assume that the fruit would be impossible to eat (non-edible).
However, take note of what the Lord God says: “for in the day you eat of it.” The Lord knew that Adam would eat. So, the fruit was edible.[2] However, I do not suggest that this was the reason Eve knew the fruit to be edible. The Bible reveals something else.
Eve noticed something in Genesis 3:6. It says that she saw that the fruit was good for food. Thus, she was not reminiscing about what God had said, but something else had caught her eye regarding the fruit.
Keep in mind that mankind was not permitted to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but the Bible did not give any forbidding warning to animals. It is possible that an animal, perhaps even the serpent, took some of the fruit and ate before Eve so that she could see that this fruit was “good for food”.
Secondly, seeing the fruit being eaten may have been a triggering action for Eve to realize that the fruit could be eaten by them as well. This very thought process in turn could be what made her think she had gained wisdom (e.g., if an animal could eat it, then so could she and Adam). Wisdom incorporates the finding out of knowledge (see Proverbs 8:12). Note that Eve didn’t have to eat to gain wisdom. The aspect of gaining wisdom was not based on eating the fruit, but on visual acuity.
Of
course, there may have been a bit more deception than this. Had the serpent
eaten in front of her, he could have cleverly made it appear as though it had
gained some wisdom. Regardless, she most likely saw something eat that fruit in
order for her to view that it was edible and desirable for gaining wisdom.
Conclusion
Either
way, Eve’s actions and thought processes mimicked that of James 1:14-15. She
cannot blame the serpent entirely for its cunning deception, but it was her own
actions of eating that cannot be ignored—and the same with Adam (2 Corinthians
11:3).
We should learn that we too should not be deceived, which is why checking things against Scripture and viewing the Scriptures as the authority should be the goal of any Christian (Acts 17:11).
Originally here: https://answersingenesis.org/adam-and-eve/was-the-forbidden-fruit-an-apple/; Republished by permission.
[1] The
World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 1, World Book, Inc.,
[2]
Considering that Adam and Eve were preprogrammed with language and knowledge so
that they could immediately converse with God, then they may have known right
from the start that the fruit was edible. Though I would leave open the
possibility that this was some of the knowledge that they didn’t need; and
hence, not programmed into them. After all, they did not possess all knowledge, like God does (Colossians
2:3).
