Imagine the scene. The serpent is speaking to Eve. He is tempting her with the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve is holding in her hand an item of produce. A fruit. The fruit. The fruit which, when eaten, will violate God's Law, break man's covenant with God, and open the floodgates of sin and death into a hitherto pristine Earth.
What does the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge look like?
Did you imagine in the cradle of Eve's hand an ... apple?
Wrong! It wasn't an apple. Did you know that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was NOT an apple?
If not an apple, then ... what was it?
[Also, stay tuned for my comic strip at the end!]
First off, if you don't believe me, re-read Genesis 3 (reproduced below).
I promise you, the word "apple" doesn't appear anywhere in Genesis 3:1-7:
Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
Isn't that weird? If you're like me when I was first told this, you might be feeling like this is some kind of trick. It's not.
That translation became known as the Vulgate, and the secretary was Saint Jerome. Saint Jerome would spend the better part of the next 15 years in the city of Bethlehem, translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek.
In the Hebrew Bible, a generic term, peri, is used for the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In his book Aguecheek's Beef, Belch's Hiccup, and Other Gastronomic Interjections, Professor Robert Appelbaum -- Yes! the professor's name is actually Apple-baum! -- describes the biblical provenance of the apple. [1]
Appelbaum, a professor of English literature at Sweden's Uppsala University, says that St. Jerome had several options for translating peri. "But he hit upon the idea of translating peri as malus, which in Latin has two very different meanings. As an adjective, malus means bad or evil. As a noun it seems to mean an apple, in our own sense of the word, coming from the very common tree now known officially as the Malus pumila."
The Malus pumila is the species name of the apple tree.
So malus means bad or evil like "malice," but it's also a word for apple. St. Jerome made a pun!
What fruit is mentioned specifically in Genesis 3?
... and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
Fig! It is much more likely that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was a fig.
What does the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge look like?
Did you imagine in the cradle of Eve's hand an ... apple?
Wrong! It wasn't an apple. Did you know that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was NOT an apple?
If not an apple, then ... what was it?
[Also, stay tuned for my comic strip at the end!]
First off, if you don't believe me, re-read Genesis 3 (reproduced below).
I promise you, the word "apple" doesn't appear anywhere in Genesis 3:1-7:
Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
What is the Tree of Knowledge a Metaphor For? Is it Much More Than a Metaphor?
So, where did we get the idea that the fruit of Original Sin was an apple? Why does every Children's Bible and every Sunday school class have an image of Adam, Eve, and the apple?
Why does every painting ever of the Fall of Man depict an apple? Was Michelangelo just lying to us? Milton?
No! It's a pun. A Latin pun, no less.
Why does every painting ever of the Fall of Man depict an apple? Was Michelangelo just lying to us? Milton?
No! It's a pun. A Latin pun, no less.
What is the Tree of Knowledge Fruit?
To get to the bottom of this, we have to go all the way back to the fourth century A.D. when Pope Damasus I asked his secretary to translate the Bible into Latin, the so-called "vulgar tongue."
That translation became known as the Vulgate, and the secretary was Saint Jerome. Saint Jerome would spend the better part of the next 15 years in the city of Bethlehem, translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek.
In the Hebrew Bible, a generic term, peri, is used for the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. In his book Aguecheek's Beef, Belch's Hiccup, and Other Gastronomic Interjections, Professor Robert Appelbaum -- Yes! the professor's name is actually Apple-baum! -- describes the biblical provenance of the apple. [1]
Appelbaum, a professor of English literature at Sweden's Uppsala University, says that St. Jerome had several options for translating peri. "But he hit upon the idea of translating peri as malus, which in Latin has two very different meanings. As an adjective, malus means bad or evil. As a noun it seems to mean an apple, in our own sense of the word, coming from the very common tree now known officially as the Malus pumila."
The Malus pumila is the species name of the apple tree.
So malus means bad or evil like "malice," but it's also a word for apple. St. Jerome made a pun!
So, if the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge wasn't an apple, what was it?
Re-read the passage from Genesis 3, above. Though you won't find the word "apple," you will find the name of another fruit ...What fruit is mentioned specifically in Genesis 3?
... and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
Fig! It is much more likely that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was a fig.
>> This also explains, by the way, why Jesus curses the fig tree! Read more about this here.
The Hebrew word peri could be basically any fruit. According to Appelbaum, "Rabbinic commentators variously characterized it as a fig, a pomegranate, a grape, an apricot, a citron, or even wheat. Some commentators even thought of the forbidden fruit as a kind of wine, intoxicating to drink."
In Saint Jerome's time, even the word malus could refer to any fleshy, seed-bearing fruit, such as a pear, a peach, or even a fig.
Michelangelo actually gets it right:
Also, what happened after the Fall and Original Sin? What was God's plan to fix what Adam and Eve messed up? Read about the Protoevangelium here - this is where God lays out his plan of redemption with three prophesies.
[1] Read more about the Latin pun here.
The Hebrew word peri could be basically any fruit. According to Appelbaum, "Rabbinic commentators variously characterized it as a fig, a pomegranate, a grape, an apricot, a citron, or even wheat. Some commentators even thought of the forbidden fruit as a kind of wine, intoxicating to drink."
In Saint Jerome's time, even the word malus could refer to any fleshy, seed-bearing fruit, such as a pear, a peach, or even a fig.
Michelangelo actually gets it right:
![]() |
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, The Fall of Man and the Expulsion from Eden |
Look at the leaves in Michelangelo's depiction of the Fall. Those are fig leaves! Before reading this, didn't you, like me, just assume it was an apple tree?
It was actually a 1504 engraving by Albrecht Dürer that marks the shift from fig to apple, from the Italian Renaissance to the Northern Renaissance.
Next, God shows up in the Garden. Adam and Eve hide. They know they messed up.
God says, "Where are you?" (As if He didn't know.)
Slowly, they creep out of hiding, and God asks, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
Game over. Adam and Eve confess their sin. Sort of. Adam points his finger at Eve, God, and the serpent, but not himself. Adam blames every other person on earth, but himself. Eve is far more contrite.
So what is this? The First Confession in human history.
We've now had the First Sin and the First Confession - what comes next?
The First Penance in human history.
Let me ask you a question. A Louisiana boy like myself takes fig trees and summer fig-picking for granted, but have you ever felt a fig leaf or fig sap? It's probably the itchiest substance known to mankind.
Now imagine making clothes with fig leaves and covering your private areas with these extremely itchy leaves. Bad idea!
Here's that COMIC I promised:
It was actually a 1504 engraving by Albrecht Dürer that marks the shift from fig to apple, from the Italian Renaissance to the Northern Renaissance.
What is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Wait ... Fig Leaf Clothing?
So, we've had the First Sin, right? Original Sin. For more on what actually happened at the Original Sin and how this relates to Lent and Jesus' Temptations in the Desert, read this.Next, God shows up in the Garden. Adam and Eve hide. They know they messed up.
God says, "Where are you?" (As if He didn't know.)
Slowly, they creep out of hiding, and God asks, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
Game over. Adam and Eve confess their sin. Sort of. Adam points his finger at Eve, God, and the serpent, but not himself. Adam blames every other person on earth, but himself. Eve is far more contrite.
So what is this? The First Confession in human history.
We've now had the First Sin and the First Confession - what comes next?
The First Penance in human history.
Let me ask you a question. A Louisiana boy like myself takes fig trees and summer fig-picking for granted, but have you ever felt a fig leaf or fig sap? It's probably the itchiest substance known to mankind.
Now imagine making clothes with fig leaves and covering your private areas with these extremely itchy leaves. Bad idea!
Here's that COMIC I promised:
Those fig leaf clothes were the First Penance! I would even argue they were the first "hair shirts."
This isn't my joke. The credit belongs to my Scripture professor, the eminently amazing Dr. Brant Pitre. Please go read all of his books:



So the Apple's Not an Apple - What If the Serpent's Not a Serpent?
Now, what if I told you the serpent wasn't really a serpent?? What if the little garter snake in Dürer's 1504 engraving, above, isn't at all what is depicted in the Bible? Check out that article here:
Also, what happened after the Fall and Original Sin? What was God's plan to fix what Adam and Eve messed up? Read about the Protoevangelium here - this is where God lays out his plan of redemption with three prophesies.
[1] Read more about the Latin pun here.
42 Comments
If they would have been truly contrite maybe things would have been different.
Ezekiel 28:12-14
12 "You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
Isis is the virgin serpent goddess of double wisdom in Assur's(Osiris) garden.
The same or daughter of Isis, the Great Mother Goddess. The first of our kind i.e., H. SapienS SapienS.
The first kingdoms were grain based economies. Ergot was the fruit in the midst of the garden. It didn't kill them, it gave them 'Hawk Eye' vision.
How could the lowly serpent overrule God? She knew the antidote.
The Soma Sacrament in Egypt was imbibed in the form of bread and beer. They ate the "bread of eternity," and drank the "beer of everlastingness." The Eye of Heru was in the bread. The antidote was in the beer. The bread without the beer was poison. The beer without the bread was poison.
The line of kings that sprang from the womb of Isis ruled the world for 3,000 years. Including the Isis~Sons the Essenes. That's right; J+Isis aka Iesous(Iesus) his original name. Before Isis and the invention of weaving most of the world was naked or wore animal skins. Isis' original name was aSt. The name of the throne Isis creates is called the Ass. The story of the king;
King James Version
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
SoLoMoN, a Pagan king. Known as a Sun King. The sun kings from the womb of Isis.
"Clement of Alexandria and St. Cyril of Jerusalem considered the Greek form Iesous to be the original, even going so far as to interpret it as a true Greek name and not simply a transliteration of Hebrew." just scratching the surface.
Once you've tasted its juice, your knowledge surpasses anything earned or deserved; your hunger is no longer satiable, and even the warmest sunlight brings a chill, as well as darkness. Your thirst will never be quenched, and your mouth always dry. The only real desire that you have left is that you will one day die, and for those who watch you wither, that day comes much too soon, like watching a speeding train suddenly crash in slow motion as it flies off and to its end. But for the addict this brilliant crash can never come soon enough. All for just a little taste... The ultimate rush, for all it gives, it takes far too much.
- The Anti-Hero~in Recovery
Also the snake in the garden was never referenced as the devil in original text. Translated versions may have taken some artistic liberties and placed him in the story, but like I said the serpent was never called the devil. It was only called a serpent, not even a snake. And not once called Lucifer, the true name of the devil.
Evil Evolved out of the Vulva of Eve. So say monotheists
Wisdom Evolved out of the Womb of Isis. So say Pagans of the Isis bloodline.
Now how long do you think Homo sapiens sapiens have been on this planet? How long has writing been around. Just check the mtDNA study linked. Homo sapiens sapiens become the UNiVeRSuS i.e., the world, all people.
Literally; "Turned into One"
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=universe
The universal race of twice wise humans. You don't believe what the words mean? You'd rather hold on to that silly belief you have? Your old time Cancel Culture will bite you in the Ass. As will Evemerism, once used against the Pagans. I am an Evemerist.
This is how old the universe is. We are the universe, All People.
"Using this faster mutation rate as a new clock speed, Eve can be calculated as living a mere 6500 or 6000 years ago."
That coincides with; The Birth of Isis and Re-SuR-ReX-tion of her primeval King, the Green-God-of-Agriculture. Assur(El) the first father God we have any record.
http://www.mhrc.net/mitochondria.htm
Quit swallowing the Herupean' fiction of the Christian era. That's what's wild and wacky and doesn't make a shred of SeNSe. The Pagan foundation legend is the best preserved pre-history we have. I'll stick to what's humanly possible and leave the BS mainstream religions to the fools. All that's left of Isis' religion is embedded within Christianity. The Entire IESOUS(Greek original) legend is derived from Isis' religion. Every significant feature. Iesus becomes the Beard-of-Isis i.e., J+Isis~Jesus. The Temple of Isis was sacrificed.
Ergot would have killed the ancients by merely touching it. Again, How could the lowly serpent goddess of double wisdom overrule Assur(El/God)? She knew the antidote.
Gangrene~ from Ergot. Grain fungus fruit.
from medical Greek gangraina "an eating or gnawing sore," literally "that which eats away,"
This is death for an ancient.
God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’ “You will not surely die,” the serpent told her.
The Homo sapiens sapiens will now rule the world. Assur(El/Osiris) was once wise, Homo sapiens. He created the first hereditary kingdoms in the world. Our new economy following the great deluge post the collapse of the ice age 10,000BC. Assur the God of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry built an Archonship, a Ship-of-State, a Monarch.
"Noah becomes a husbandman."
I've written a full exegesis article on why the Nahash-serpent-Satan of Eden is actually a dragon here:
https://www.thescottsmithblog.com/2018/04/did-you-know-serpent-of-genesis-is-not.html
You're writing some weird, wild stuff, man. It's like the real Keith Richards, high on whatever, is typing your replies. Sorry, nothing you wrote is true.
After presenting other scholars' research I then present my own research, which like theirs, is based on pre-biblical Mesopotamian myths about man's origins in a location called EDIN in the Sumerian language.
Eden's god warns Adam: "Don't eat, you will die!" in the garden of Eden.
Mesopotamian myth has this warning being given by the Sumerian god En-Ki/E-A at Eridu to his servant Adaba (Babylonian Adapa).
When Adaba/Adapa is presented the forbidden food, contra Adam, he REFUSES to eat, obeying his god's warning, thereby he loses out on immortality for himself and mankind. Man has been conned by his trickster god, En-Ki (E-A).
The forbidden food offered Adaba was by two gate guards in heaven, Dumuzi and Ningishzida, on Anu's behalf. Other myths reveal Dumuzi became a serpent to escape his captors. While Ningishzida is portrayed as a bearded male god with serpent-dragon heads erupting from his shoulders, he also appears as a four-legged winged and horned serpent-dragon in Mesopotamian art and he is addressed as USHUM-GAL, meaning "great Serpent-dragon." Dumuzi also has this same title, USHUMGAL. So, in Mesopotamian myth, man (Adaba/Adapa) was offered forbidden food of death by two gods who were associated with serpents. They could assume human and animal (serpent dragon) forms in myths. Man's Creator, En-Ki/E-A of Eridu was also called an Ushumgal, or great serpent-Dragon. So, according to this myth EDIN'S serpent-dragon or Ushumgal, Enki/EA, was man's Creator, and the owner of the garden in EDIN at Eridu. Genesis refutes all of this of course. Man disobeyed and lost out on immortality, whilst Adapa obeyed and lost out. This is called an inversion of the Mesopotamian myth of why man is not immortal.
For the Mesopotamians man is a sinner, rebel and murdered because he was made in the image of Sinner-gods who engaged in these activities BEFORE man's creation. So, it is not man's fault he is a sinner and rebel, its the god's fault, in whos image he was made. Of course, Genesis denies this, for Genesis' God is not a sinner god, he is holy and righteous and he expects man, made in his image, to be righteous too.
Why did En-Ki/E-A "con" Adapa/Adaba?
He made man to be his gardening slave at Eridu. If man is allowed to be a god, who then will bear the back-breaking toil in Eridu's garden? The gods will have to do this and lose their eternal rest from physical toil. They created EDIN'S gardens to provide food for themselves, but tiring of the labor, they make man to be their gardening slave.
The entire evidence-based exegesis is included in the preceding four sentences. But why was this confusing allegory, whatever its meaning, constructed in the first place, as the original literal story most certainly came first, a story that confused absolutely no one, unlike the allegory into which it evolved? The widely held belief that the forbidden fruit in the Bible story is an apple illustrates among other things how confirmation bias serves as a terrible mechanism that cripples our critical thinking as it prevents discussion, criticism, and evaluation of the validity of the proposed exegesis that begins with Genesis 1:28, continues through Genesis 2 and 3, and concludes with Genesis 4:1. So the struggle continues in an effort to protect the self-esteem of so many who have held lifelong beliefs they are unable to change.
",..why was this confusing allegory...constructed in the first place, as the original literal story most certainly came first, a story that confused absolutely no one, unlike the allegory into which it evolved?"
My research (1990-2024) has found the answer to the above insightful query by Anonymous.
Anonymous is to be commended for the query!
My research understands that some PhD scholars are correct in their proposal that Genesis 1-11 is a POLEMAIC, challenging Mesopotamian accounts of Mankinds' origins.
To properly understand this POLEMAIC one must first study the Mesopotamian accounts of Mankind's origins to see just what it is Genesis 1-11 is challenging.
Some Mesopotamian accounts have man being created by the gods to be a gardening slave, in order to end the tiresome agricultural toil of the lesser gods (the Igigi) in the Annunaki gods' gardens in the Sumerian EDIN (cf. the Atrahasis account for details).
Mesopotamian accounts understand the gods of the Sumerian EDIN have fleshly bodies, they are able to slay each other in some accounts.
Fleshly bodies need to consume water and food to avoid thirst and hunger, if not consuming these items the gods will die and end up after death in the Underworld (this underworld in some texts is called the EDIN).
EDIN is a Sumerian word, translated by some scholars to mean "wilderness" an apt description of the semi-arid steppe-land that is today's Irq, through which flow the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
So, man's purpose in life is multifold:
(1) As a gardening slave in the EDIN he relieves the Igigi of back-breaking gardening toil (making irrigation canals and reservoirs).
(2) Man's duty is to keep the gods alive, seeing to their being fed drink (water, beer) and garden produce from date palm trees and vegetables, so the gods do not starve to death due to thirst or hunger.
(3) Man the gardening slave is to provide daily in Temple rituals, produce from EDIN'S city GARDENS next to Ziggurats, drink and food.
(4) Sumerian art shows man the gardening slave as baldhead and NAKED, while pouring out drinks to clothed, seated gods and goddesses.
(5) Sumerian art shows NAKED women pouring out drinks to seated gods and goddesses.
(6) See the famous Uruk vase for a line of bald, NAKED MEN bringing baskets of garden produce, to feed Inanna, the Sumerian Queen of Heaven, who's epithet in Sumerian was NIN-EDIN. "THE LADY OF EDIN."
(7) Genesis, is then, a polemaic, challenging the Sumerian notions of man's origins.
(8) All this suggests to me Genesis was composed circa 562 BC in the Babylonian Exile by an unknown Jewish scholar who wanted to explain to his people WHY JUDAH AND ISRAEL ARE IN EXILE:
They, like Adam and Eve, were removed from their land for disobedience to God!
Genesis REFUTES the Sumerian notion man is to be a gardening slave, endin the toil of the Igigi.
Genesis REFUTES the Sumerian notion that the gods NEED MAN TO FEED THEM, THAT THEY DO NOT DIE OF STARVATION OR THIRST.
Genesis REFUTES the Sumerian notion that the gods of Edin made the gardens to provide food and drink for themselves BEFORE MAN WAS EVER CREATED.
For further details google Mattfeld, UrukNaked MenVase.
Regards,
Walter R. Mattfeld