Grapes, Citron, or Fig and the Tree That Took Him In

(They exchanged their words.) Rabbi Yehudah says: they were grapes, as it is said, "Their grapes are grapes of gall" (Deuteronomy 32:32) and so on; those clusters brought bitterness into the world. Rabbi Abba of Akko said: it was a citron (etrog), as it is written, "And the woman saw that the tree was good for food" (Genesis 3:6) and so on. You may ask: which is the tree whose wood is eaten like its fruit? You find none but the citron. Rabbi Yose says: they were figs. He learns it from its own matter, by way of a parable of a prince who corrupted himself with one of his father's maidservants. When the king heard, he banished him and put him outside the palace. The prince went around to the doors of the maidservants, and they would not receive him; but the one with whom he had sinned opened her door and took him in. So when the first man ate from that tree, the Holy One, blessed be He, banished him and put him outside the Garden of Eden, and he went around to all the trees and they would not receive him. What did they say to him? "Here is the thief who stole the mind of his Creator." This is what is written, "Let not the foot of pride come against me" (Psalms 36:12), the foot that grew proud against its Creator, "and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away," do not strip leaves from me. But the fig tree, because he had eaten of its fruit, opened its door and received him, as it is written, "And they sewed fig leaves" (Genesis 3:7). What kind of fig was it? The variety called "daughter of seven," for it brought seven days of mourning into the world. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: God forbid, He did not reveal that tree and is not destined to reveal it. See what is written, "And a woman who draws near to any beast to mate with it" (Leviticus 20:16) and so on. If the human sinned, what did the beast sin? Only that the beast should not pass through the marketplace and people say, "This is the beast on whose account so-and-so was stoned." And if the Holy One, blessed be He, spared the honor of His creatures, how much more does He spare His own honor.