Comments on: Eve and the Forbidden Pomegranate

By: Happy Repeal Day! » First Thoughts | A First Things Blog

Happy Repeal Day! » First Thoughts | A First Things Blog — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:59:36 +0000

[...] Katherine noted yesterday, the pomegranate is “the ideal symbol of everything from Persephone’s temptation in Greek [...]

By: David Alexander

David Alexander — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:04:43 +0000

There is also Lorenzo Lippi’s Woman with Mask and Pomegranate, one of the paintings woven into Roger Scruton’s reflective Gifford Lectures, The Face of God:

http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_258000/Lorenzo-Lippi/Woman-with-a-Mask-2

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 05:13:02 +0000

One notes that the name “apple” is merely a pun — and a late one, too, since it springs from the Latin name, “malus”.

By: DennisM

DennisM — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 05:01:15 +0000

Why should the Scripture mention his horse when it doesn’t mention his faithful dog?

By: Adam Baum

Adam Baum — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:59:11 +0000

Of course, what has been done to some varieties of apples (in particular, Red Delicious) has turned them back into something nearly inedible again, although they look great.

I concur, mealy and fragile flesh makes this variety something I avoid. Give me a nice tart Granny Smith or a big Honey Crisp any day.

I suppose red delicious can be made into a passable apple sauce, given a little citrus to prevent degradation and plenty of cinnamon for flavor.

By: peg

peg — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:43:06 +0000

I always thought that pomegranates symbolized the resurrection.

Artists have much to answer for. The idea that St. Paul was knocked off a horse on the road to Damascus is an artist’s convention—there is no horse mentioned in Scriptures. Likewise, Scripture does not say that there were three magi (three gifts, yes, but who said it took three to bring them?).

By: TXW

TXW — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 22:12:00 +0000

They do not offer any more health benefits than most other citrus. They just cost more at the grocery store. And if indeed the forbidden fruit, there were lots of hidden costs.

By: David Nickol

David Nickol — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:32:26 +0000

Wouldn’t apples be in the Garden, since it included every fruit that was good to eat? Modern apples are the product of thousands of years of domestication. Original wild apples were no doubt scarcely edible. Of course, what has been done to some varieties of apples (in particular, Red Delicious) has turned them back into something nearly inedible again, although they look great. Of course, I suppose one could speculate that the fruits in the Garden of Eden were all even better than our modern, domesticated, hybridized varieties today, and "the Fall" caused them to deteriorate.

By: Nathan Northup

Nathan Northup — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:25:56 +0000

The pomegranate fruit being the fruit eaten in the garden view made sense to me as it must’ve been truly willful disobedience as well as the fact that the high priest’s garment had bells of pomegranates hanging by his feet to remind him how he walks in the presence of The LORD. Why that particular fruit if not a reminder of the original scene?

By: Paul Hughes

Paul Hughes — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:24:35 +0000

Wouldn’t apples be in the Garden, since it included every fruit that was good to eat?