What kind of forbidden fruit did Adam and Eve eat?

EDITOR: Over and over you may hear someone say, “Eve picked the APPLE …” Was the forbidden fruit really the APPLE? Being a jw.org fan, I love to research Scriptural topics there. At Genesis 2:17, God told Adam that he must NOT eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. This verse did NOT say what kind of tree or fruit it was. In replying to the serpent, Eve simply said, as Genesis 3:3 records, “the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden”. Eve did NOT identify the type of fruit.

Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:2 prove that the serpent represented Satan; so it was Satan who used the serpent to speak to Eve and deceive her. Genesis 3:6 describes the forbidden tree simply as “the tree was good for food” and “a tree to be desired”. Also, it says that Eve “took of the fruit thereof, and did eat…” Again, we see no mention of what type of tree or fruit it was. In fact, NOWHERE in the Scriptures does it tell us what kind of fruit the forbidden fruit was. All we know is that it was a FRUIT. Therefore, we should NOT be saying that Adam and Eve ate the APPLE.

We should not be adding to God’s Word by saying things it does not say, as Proverbs 30:5, 6 warns. In concluding, we ask again: What kind of fruit did Adam and Eve eat? The answer is: We do NOT know!

Kenneth Kayman