OCR Text |
Show MERELY A POPULAR BELIEF Scholars Question Whether the Apple Was the "Forbidden Fruit" In the Garden of Eden. Why and how It has happened that tho apple has been spoken of as the fruit that was forbidden in the Garden Gar-den of Eden is one of the great puzzles puz-zles of Biblical scholars. The fact is that in Genesis 3, where the incident of the eating of this fruit of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" is mentioned, no name whatever is given to the fruit All that is said is: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the 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 serious-ly whether It was the apple at all. They suggest that all evidence points i to it having been the quince, fragrance 1 of which was held in. the highest es- teem by the Orientals. Another point in favor of the quince is that it is the fruit which was sacred to Venus, the goddess of live, and in a great many of the ancient writings the quince is very frequently mentioned In this manner. man-ner. In Babylonia Ishtar took the place of Venus in the Roman mythology, mythol-ogy, and it should be remembered that the story of the creation originated origina-ted with the Babylonians. All evidence evi-dence seems to point away from the apple having been the "Forbidden Fruit," and towards the quince as having hav-ing been that fruit of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." |