The apple, while a common fruit in modern times, holds a place of symbolic significance in biblical literature and Christian tradition. Although the specific term "apple" is not frequently mentioned in the Bible, its cultural and theological implications have been widely discussed throughout Christian history.

Biblical References:

1. Song of Solomon 2:3 : "Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste." In this poetic and allegorical book, the apple tree is used as a metaphor for beauty, love, and desire. The apple here symbolizes the sweetness and delight found in the beloved, often interpreted as a representation of Christ's love for the Church.

2. Proverbs 25:11 : "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." This proverb uses the imagery of apples to convey the value and beauty of well-chosen words. The "apples of gold" suggest something precious and aesthetically pleasing, emphasizing the importance of wisdom and eloquence.

3. Song of Solomon 8:5 : "Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth." The apple tree here is a place of awakening and life, symbolizing love and fertility.

Cultural and Theological Significance:

In Christian tradition, the apple has often been associated with the account of the Fall of Man in Genesis 3, although the Bible does not specify the fruit as an apple. The Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible used the word "malum," which can mean both "evil" and "apple," leading to the popular association of the apple with the forbidden fruit. This connection has permeated Western art and literature, symbolizing temptation and sin.

The apple's symbolism extends beyond sin to represent knowledge, immortality, and the fallibility of humanity. In this context, the apple serves as a reminder of the consequences of disobedience to God and the need for redemption through Christ.

Symbolism in Christian Art:

In Christian iconography, the apple is often depicted in scenes of the Fall, held by Adam or Eve, or in the hand of the serpent. It may also appear in depictions of the Madonna and Child, symbolizing the redemption brought by Jesus Christ, the "second Adam," who overcomes the sin introduced by the first Adam.

Conclusion:

While the apple is not explicitly detailed in the biblical text as the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, its symbolic presence in Christian thought and art underscores its role as a powerful metaphor for themes of temptation, sin, and redemption. Through its various appearances in Scripture and tradition, the apple continues to serve as a poignant reminder of humanity's need for divine grace and salvation.(Hebrews tappuah, meaning "fragrance"). Probably the apricot or quince is intended by the word, as Palestine was too hot for the growth of apples proper. It is enumerated among the most valuable trees of Palestine (Joel 1:12), and frequently referred to in Canticles, and noted for its beauty (2:3, 5; 8:5). There is nothing to show that it was the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Dr. Tristram has suggested that the apricot has better claims than any other fruit-tree to be the apple of Scripture. It grows to a height of 30 feet, has a roundish mass of glossy leaves, and bears an orange coloured fruit that gives out a delicious perfume. The "apple of the eye" is the Hebrews ishon, meaning manikin, i.e., the pupil of the eye (Proverbs 7:2). (Comp. the promise, Zechariah 2:8; the prayer, Psalm 17:8; and its fulfilment, Deuteronomy 32:10.)

The so-called "apple of Sodom" some have supposed to be the Solanum sanctum (Hebrews hedek), rendered "brier" (q.v.) in Micah 7:4, a thorny plant bearing fruit like the potato-apple. This shrub abounds in the Jordan valley. (see ENGEDI.)

1. (n.) The fleshy pome or fruit of a rosaceous tree (Pyrus malus) cultivated in numberless varieties in the temperate zones.

2. (n.) Any tree genus Pyrus which has the stalk sunken into the base of the fruit; an apple tree.

3. (n.) Any fruit or other vegetable production resembling, or supposed to resemble, the apple; as, apple of love, or love apple (a tomato), balsam apple, egg apple, oak apple.

4. (n.) Anything round like an apple; as, an apple of gold.

5. (v. i.) To grow like an apple; to bear apples.

APPLE, OF THE EYE

ap'-'-l: The eyeball, or globe of the eye, with pupil in center, called "apple" from its round shape. Its great value and careful protection by the eyelids automatically closing when there is the least possibility of danger made it the emblem of that which was most precious and jealously protected. The Hebrew terms for it were, 'ishon, diminutive of 'ish, "man," little man or mannikin, referring perhaps specially to the pupil, probably from "the little image one sees of himself when looking into another's pupil" (Davies' Lexicon). "He kept him (Israel) as the apple of his eye" (Deuteronomy 32:10); "Keep me as the apple of the eye," literally, "as the apple, the daughter of the eye" (Psalm 17:8). "Keep my law (the Revised Version, margin "teaching") as the apple of thine eye" (Proverbs 7:2). Compare Proverbs 7:9 where it is used to denote what is the center (American Revised Version, "in the middle of the night"; the English Revised Version "in, the blackness of night"; margin "Hebrew pupil (of the eye)"); babhah perhaps an "opening," "gate"; others regard it as a mimetic word akin to Latin pupa, papilla ("He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye," i.e. Yahweh's; Zechariah 2:8); bath-`ayin, "daughter of the eye"; "Give thyself no respite, let not the apple of thine eye cease" (Lamentations 2:18), which means, either "sleep not," or "cease not to weep." kore, "young girl," "pupil of the eye": "He (the Lord) will keep the good deeds (the Revised Version (British and American) "bounty") of a man as the apple of the eye" (Ecclesiasticus 17:22); the Septuagint also has kore in all instances except Lamentations 2:18, where it has thugater, "daughter."

W. L. Walker

APPLE; APPLE-TREE

ap'-l ap'-l tre, (tappuach): A fruit tree and fruit mentioned chiefly in Cant, concerning the true nature of which there has been much dispute.

Songs 2:3 says: "As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight"; Songs 8:5: "Under the apple-tree I awakened thee: there thy mother was in travail with thee, there was she in travail that brought thee forth." Of the fruit it is said, Songs 2:3: "His fruit was sweet to my taste"; Songs 2:5: "Stay ye me with raisins, refresh me with apples"; Songs 7:8: "the smell of thy breath (Hebrew "nose") like apples."

In all the above references the true apple, Pyrus malus, suits the conditions satisfactorily. The apple tree affords good shade, the fruit is sweet, the perfume is a very special favorite with the people of the East. Sick persons in Palestine delight to hold an apple in their hands, simply for the smell. (Compare Arabian Nights, "Prince Hassan and the Paribanou.") Further the Arabic for apple tuffah is without doubt identical with the Hebrew tappuach. The apple was well known, too, in ancient times; it was, for example, extensively cultivated by the Romans.

The one serious objection is that apples do not easily reach perfection in Palestine; the climate is too dry and hot; farther north in the Lebanon they flourish. At the same time it is possible to exaggerate this objection, for with careful grafting and cultivation exceedingly good apples may be produced in the mountain regions. Apple trees there need special care and renewal of the grafts, but there is no impossibility that at the time of the writing of Canticles skilled gardeners should have been able to produce sweet and perfumed apples in Palestine. Small but very sweet and fragrant apples are now grown at Gaza. Good apples are now plentiful in the market at Jerusalem, but they are chiefly importations from the North.

On account of the above difficulty three other fruits have been suggested by various writers. Two doubtless have been brought forward with a view to Proverbs 25:11: "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in network of silver," but the reference would certainly seem to be to some silver filigree work ornamented with gold modeled to look like fruit rather than to any actual fruit. The citron and the apricot (Tristram) have both been suggested as the true tappuach. The former, which is a native of Persia, does not appear to have been introduced into Palestine until well into the Christian era and the apricot, though an attractive substitute for the apple and today one of the most beautiful and productive of fruit trees, can hardly have been established in Palestine at the time of the scriptural references. It is a native of China and is said to have first begun to find its way westward at the time of Alexander the Great.

The third of the fruits is the quince, Cydonia vulgaris (Natural Order Rosaceae), and this had more serious claims. It flourishes in Palestine and has been long indigenous there. Indeed it is probable that even if tappuach was a name for apple, it originally included also the closely allied quince. The greatest difficulty is its harsh and bitter taste. Further the Mishna distinguishes the tappuach from the quince, which is called parish, and from the crab apple or chazor (Kohler in Jewish Encyclopedia, II, 23). The quince along with the apple was sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of love.

On the whole there does not appear to be any sufficient reason for rejecting the translation of the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American); the Biblical references suit it; the identity of the Hebrew and Arabic words favor it and there is no insuperable objection on scientific grounds. The word tappuach appears in two place names, BETH-TAPPUAH and TAPPUAH (which see).

E. W. G. Masterman

8598. tappuach -- apple tree, apple
... 8597, 8598. tappuach. 8599 . apple tree, apple. Transliteration: tappuach
Phonetic Spelling: (tap-poo'-akh) Short Definition: tree. ...
/hebrew/8598.htm - 6k

892. babah -- the apple (of the eye)
... 891, 892. babah. 893 . the apple (of the eye). Transliteration: babah
Phonetic Spelling: (baw-baw') Short Definition: apple. Word ...
/hebrew/892.htm - 6k

5887. En Tappuach -- "place of an apple tree," a city in Ephraim
... En Tappuach. 5888 . "place of an apple tree," a city in Ephraim. Transliteration:
En Tappuach Phonetic Spelling: (ane tap-poo'-akh) Short Definition: En-tappuah ...
/hebrew/5887.htm - 6k

380. ishon -- the pupil (of the eye)
... 379, 380. ishon. 381 . the pupil (of the eye). Transliteration: ishon Phonetic
Spelling: (ee-shone') Short Definition: apple. ... apple of the eye, black, obscure ...
/hebrew/380.htm - 6k

1323. bath -- daughter
... villages (17), woman (1), women (1). apple of the eye, branch, company, daughter,
first, old, owl, town,. From banah (as feminine of ...
/hebrew/1323.htm - 6k

8599. Tappuach -- A city in Judah, also a city on the border ...
... 8598, 8599. Tappuach. 8600 . "apple," a city in Judah, also a city on the
border between Ephraim and Manasseh. Transliteration: Tappuach ...
/hebrew/8599.htm - 6k

1054. Beth-tappuach -- "place of apples," a place in Judah
... Beth-tappuah. From bayith and tappuwach; house of (the) apple; Beth-Tappuach, a
place in Palestine -- Beth-tappuah. see HEBREW bayith. see HEBREW tappuwach. ...
/hebrew/1054.htm - 6k

The Apple Trees
... CHAPTER XIX THE APPLE TREES. BUT there was a warning the Master had to give,
when he had spoken of the joy and gladness of the men ...
/.../bevan/three friends of god/chapter xix the apple trees.htm

Wesley Lives on Apple-Tea
... Chapter 7. Severe Weather; Ireland; Wesley's Protest against Lawlessness
cWesley and Faith-healing Wesley Lives on Apple-tea. Sunday ...
/.../wesley/the journal of john wesley/wesley lives on apple-tea.htm

Under the Apple Tree. "I Sat Down under his Shadow with Great ...
... UNDER THE APPLE TREE."I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit
was sweet to my taste.""Song of Solomon ii. 3. UNDER THE APPLE TREE. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/till he come/under the apple tree i sat.htm

Through Her Bosom, we are Told, Nana Conceived a Son by an Apple. ...
... Book V. 13 Through her bosom, we are told, Nana conceived a son by an apple.? Through
her bosom, we are told, [4356] Nana conceived a son by an apple. ...
/.../the seven books of arnobius against the heathen/13 through her bosom we.htm

A Look into the Hebrew Bible.
... The old apple-tree growing in my garden is the witness to me of some transcendent
truths, the shrine of mysteries that I cannot unravel. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/gladden/who wrote the bible/chapter i a look into.htm

On the Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences.
... When Newton saw the apple fall, he concluded at once that the act of falling was
not the result of any power inherent in the apple, but that it was the result ...
/.../huxley/lay sermons addresses and reviews/v on the educational value.htm

"Ye are the Branches"
... If I want good apples, I must have a good apple tree; and if I care for the health
of the apple tree, the apple tree will give me good apples. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/murray/absolute surrender/ye are the branches.htm

Blighted Blossoms
... TALK FIVE. BLIGHTED BLOSSOMS. In our yard, a few feet from the door, stands an
apple-tree. In the early spring I watched its swelling buds from day to day. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/naylor/heart talks/talk five blighted blossoms.htm

The Myths are not to be Taken Literally.
... nor that Eris on her part, thus dishonoured, contrived an occasion of quarrelling
and discord among the feasters; nor that she took a golden apple from the ...
/.../unknown/the clementine homilies/chapter ii the myths are not.htm

Events During the War
... He gets them out of your orchard.". One day while my brother Harvey was passing
through the orchard, he saw an apple caught in the fork of two limbs. ...
/.../cole/trials and triumphs of faith/chapter iv events during the.htm

Apple (8 Occurrences)
... tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Dr. Tristram has suggested that the apricot
has better claims than any other fruit-tree to be the apple of Scripture. ...
/a/apple.htm - 17k

Apple-tree (3 Occurrences)
Apple-tree. Appletree, Apple-tree. Application . Int. Standard Bible
Encyclopedia APPLE; APPLE-TREE. ap'-l ap'-l tre, (tappuach ...
/a/apple-tree.htm - 11k

Appletree
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia APPLE; APPLE-TREE. ... Songs 2:3 says: "As the
apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. ...
/a/appletree.htm - 10k

Mandrakes (4 Occurrences)
... The weight of authority is in favour of its being regarded as the Mandragora
officinalis of botanists, "a near relative of the night-shades, the `apple of Sodom ...
/m/mandrakes.htm - 9k

Pomegranate (11 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Ie, "grained apple" (pomum granatum), Hebrews
rimmon. Common in Egypt (Numbers 20:5) and Palestine (13 ...
/p/pomegranate.htm - 15k

Tappuah (8 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Apple-region. ... (3.) En-tappuah, the well of the apple,
probably one of the springs near Yassuf (Joshua 17:7). Int. ...
/t/tappuah.htm - 11k

Engedi (6 Occurrences)
... fluid. The fruit resembles an apple, and hangs in clusters of two or three. ...
etc. (see APPLE.). Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. EN-GEDI. ...
/e/engedi.htm - 11k

Apples (11 Occurrences)
... Tristram describes the fruit as being "as large as an apple of average size, of
a bright yellow color, hanging three or four together close to the stem"; or as ...
/a/apples.htm - 11k

Pupil (4 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) The aperture in the iris; the sight, apple, or
black of the eye. ... He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye. ...
/p/pupil.htm - 7k

Core (1 Occurrence)
... a thing, as of a column, wall, rope, of a boil, etc.; especially, the central part
of fruit, containing the kernels or seeds; as, the core of an apple or quince ...
/c/core.htm - 8k

What does it mean to be the apple of God's eye? | GotQuestions.org

Was the forbidden fruit an apple? | GotQuestions.org

What is the lily of the valley (Song of Solomon 2:1)? | GotQuestions.org

Apple: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

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