Study Biblical Hebrew Online
The description of tree of "the knowledge of good and evil" leaves no trace to the exact species of the tree. For many years, this fruit was thought to be an apple. In the original Hebrew, however, at no point is mentioned the apple (tapuach, תפוח). The myth of the apple developed due to a mistake made by St. Jerome when he created the Latin version of the Bible, known as Vulgate in the year 382.
So what fruit was it then? Jewish sources offer several answers: nut, אגוז, egoz; citron, etrog, אתרוג; vine, gefen, גפן; wheat, חיטה, chitah; and fig, tenah, תאנה. The two most widespread interpretations are those of the vine and the fig, prevailing the one of the fig as it is the first tree that appears in Genesis. Moreover, the text recounts that when the first couple realized that they were naked, they sewed a loincloth using a leaf of the fig tree.
The Hebrew Bible often omits certain details, and it is our job to go and look for the connections. Would you like to learn more about how to decipher the biblical stories? Fill in the form and an academic advisor from the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies will contact you. Join our study program of Biblical Hebrew and you will begin to shed light on the most popular myths and translations.
