Forbidden Fruit
So, just to show I suck at New Years Resolutions, I switched from the Book of Mormon to the OT around the beginning of this month, and am currently in Leviticus.
Anyway, in Leviticus 19, we read the following:
23 ¶ And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.
24 But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal.
25 And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the Lord your God.
Looking at other translations of the Bible, we see another word alternatively used for uncircumcised is forbidden.
So this got me thinking. A lot of the stories in the book of Genesis call on the law of Moses to illustrate part of the story. An example is Judah sleeping with Tamar, which requires Judah knowing and understanding Mosaic Law for it to make sense.
Is Eve’s story like this? Is the Forbidden Fruit she partook fruit of a tree that was under three years old?
(It’s interesting to note that the above mosaic ruling on uncircumcised fruit is put forth without a punishment attached, and thus could be considered only a transgression, rather than a sin out right.)
Any thoughts or feed back from you scholarly types?
Perhaps this is to remind us (teach us) that Adam and Eve would be free to eat the forbidden fruit (fruit from the Tree of Life) eventually. But the Lord has his own timeline. The transgression (at least in part) would be partaking of the fruit before the time set by the Lord.
Comment by Steve — May 15, 2008 @ 1:03 pm
Interesting Point Steve. I have heard before that Eve’s forcing things forward was in this situation.
I also wanted to add that I think the creation story is mostly about it’s symbolic significance.
Does understanding why the fruit was forbidden in this way add to the symbolic significance of it?
Comment by Matt W. — May 16, 2008 @ 6:45 am
Of course, many trees that fruit too much in the first three years have a diminished fruiting life after those three years. The remedy is often to deflower the tree before fruit sets in order to put all the growing strength into the trunk and limbs (or cane and branches if planting grapevines)
This could merely be Heavenly Father’s divine way of letting them learn good fruit farming.
Comment by NJensen — May 16, 2008 @ 7:52 am