"Why did Eve want to leave the garden of Eden and move to New York? She fell for the Big Apple!"
Did you know that today is National Apple Day? You do now.
Now, ask anyone where you'd find apples in the Bible, and you'll almost certainly get one answer: Genesis! The forbidden fruit!
Right? In the Garden of Eden God tells Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, or else they will surely die. However, a crafty serpent tempts Eve to take the forbidden fruit anyway, and so she takes the apple – or does she?
It may surprise you to know that there is no apple in Genesis. In the original Hebrew, there is only the word for fruit.
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So why do so many of us think it's an apple?
One reason may be a Latin confusion. In the historically dominant Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, The word for evil in the name of the deadly tree is mălum (Genesis 2:17). Elsewhere, the word for apple does appear, as mala (Proverbs 25:11) or mālum (Song of Songs 2:3). Since eating the the fruit of the tree caused mălum to enter the world, you can see how you might think the fruit was mālum.
Another reason may be artistic. Renaissance artists famously used various elements of Greek mythology in their depiction of biblical scenes, in both style and content. Various stories featured use of golden apples as prize possessions or objects of a great quest. In Hera's Garden of the Hesperides, a tree produces golden apples which grant eternal life when eaten. Thus turning the unnamed fruit of Eden into an apple makes perfect sense, since the apple was already a popular storytelling device.
There could be other reasons. Apples hang from trees, they're popular, and perhaps biting into one just makes you feel a bit naughty. There's nothing like sinking your teeth into a juicy apple, it takes effort and commitment – any toothless fruit novice can nibble on a banana, but the apple has high standards. As you plunge in you're immediately met with a sharp burst of acidic taste, making you wonder if you've done something wrong.
"Have I just caused the fatal fall of humankind?" you might ask.
Frequent, unprovoked attacks against apples and other zesty fruits from my dentist only add to the sense of guilt. The deadly poison apple in Snow White doesn't help.
Since it is #NationalAppleDay, is it time we granted the apple an overdue apology? Have we unfairly condemned it in the name of religion?
Was the humble apple complicit in the original sin that brought evil and death into the world? Who can say. It may have been a tropical Eden – and Eve could helped herself to a fresh mango, or a hearty coconut.
Here's what we can say: from the bounty of apples we've been blessed not just with life-giving vitamins, but cider, and the alcoholic alternative Christian lunches would be lost without: Appletiser. All that's to say nothing of apple crumble, apple pie, apple strudel, apple turnovers… you get the point. They've done no wrong.
Did God really say, "Eat the apple and you shall die?"
No he didn't. So be at peace. Happy National Apple Day!
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