What Was “Forbidden Fruit?”

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume III, Issue 189, 26 July 1913, Page 4 (Supplement)

What Was “Forbidden Fruit?”

YVhy and how it has happened that tho apple has been spoken of as the fruit titat was forbidden in the Garden of Eden is one of the great puzzles of Biblical scholars. The tact is that m Genesis iii., where the incident of the eating of this fruit of the ‘Tree oi Knowledge of Good and Evil ’ is mentioned, no name whatever is given to that fruit. All that is said is: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to tho eyes, and <a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (verse 6). In fact, scholars doubt very seriously whether it was the apple at all. They suggest tbat all evidence points to it having been the quince, the fragrance of which was held in the highest esteem bv tho Orientals. Another point in favour of the quince is that it is the fruit sacred to Venus, the.goddess of love, and in a great many of the ancient writings the quince is very frequently mentioned in this manner. In Babylonia Ishtar took the place of Venus in the Roman mythology, and" it should be remembered that the story of tho creation originated with the Babylonians. All evidence seems to point away from tho apple having been the “Forbidden Fruit,” and towards the quince as having been that fruit of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.’