Who Ate the Apple? Adam or Eve?

The answer to this age-old question may never be known for sure, but we can take a look at the evidence and make our best guess.

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Introduction

The story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge is a well-known one. But who actually ate the apple? Adam or Eve?

The Bible doesn’t actually say who ate the fruit, but it does give us a few clues. First, we know that Eve was created after Adam. So, it’s possible that Adam ate the fruit first and then gave it to Eve.

Another clue comes from the fact that God only punished Eve for eating the fruit, not Adam. This could be because Adam was not deceived by the serpent like Eve was. In other words, he knew what he was doing when he ate the fruit, but Eve did not.

So, there are a few things we can infer from the story about who actually ate the apple. But ultimately, we may never know for sure!

The Bible’s Account

There are two main characters in the Bible’s account of creation- Adam and Eve. Adam was the first man created by God and Eve was the first woman. Both were created in God’s image and were given the task of populating the earth. So, who ate the apple?

Genesis 2:16-17

In Genesis 2:16-17, God tells Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, saying that if he does, he will die. But in Genesis 3:6, we see that Eve ate from the tree and then gave some to Adam. So, who ate the apple? Adam or Eve?

The answer is both. In Genesis 3:6, we see that Eve ate from the tree and then gave some to Adam. So, both Adam and Eve ate from the tree and sinned. This is why all of us are sinful and have to receive forgiveness from God.

Genesis 3:1-7

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from one another.

And God made the firmament, and divided between water which is below Firmament from water which is above Firmament: and it was so.

Interpretations

When one looks at the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible, there are many ways that it can be interpreted. Some people see it as a story about the first humans sinning and being punished by God. Others see it as a story about free will and the choices that humans make.

Augustine

Augustine, in the City of God, Book XII, uses the story of Adam and Eve’s fall to discuss the nature of sexual desire. He argues that sexual desire is not evil in and of itself, but is rather a natural part of human sexuality. However, he also argues that sexual desire can lead to sin if it is not controlled.

John Milton

John Milton was an English poet, who wrote the epic poem Paradise Lost. He was born on December 9th, 1608, in London and died on November 8th, 1674.

Milton’s work portrays a very negative view of woman. In Paradise Lost, Milton argues that it was Eve’s fault that Adam ate the apple and thus caused the fall of man. He writes: “She first seduced him with her fair looks/Strained all her wiles, he knew not to resist/Far weaker man when warning given he disobeyed/And yielded installed by her in sin” (Milton, 1667-1674). In other words, Milton believed that Eve was responsible for tempting Adam and causing him to sin. This view was very common at the time Milton lived.

However, some people interpret Milton’s work differently. They argue that Adam is just as responsible as Eve for eating the apple. They believe that Milton is trying to show that both men and women are equally culpable for their actions. This interpretation is supported by the fact that Adam does not try to stop Eve from eating the apple, even though he knows it is wrong. Instead, he eat it himself because he “wanted not Virtue [Eve], but her [Eve]” (Milton, 1667-1674). Thus, equal responsibility could be seen as a theme in Paradise Lost.

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. What follows is a compendium of some of his most famous works.

“The Tyger”

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare splay the wire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?

Conclusion

It is still not known who ate the apple, Adam or Eve.