In this week’s Torah Portion, Breisheet, in Gen 3:7 & 21 we are introduced to the first garments in Scripture.
The Hebrew words for these two garments in Breisheet differ. The ones made of fig leaves are (H2290) chagor (חֲגֹר), translated as armour, a belt or apron. These are the garments Adam and Eve sewed with fig leaves after they sinned. Verse 21 mentions the coats of skin Elohim made for them.
My first question is why fig leaves? Secondly, why did the leaves need replacement?
In the Bible fig trees and grape vines, the two plants most mentioned by Yeshua in the Gospels, are symbols of joy and peace, times of safety and rejoicing within Israel (1 Kings 4:20,25). Under a fig tree a blessing from Elohim is found, associated with prayer and the studying of Scripture (John 1:48).
Adam and Eve felt exposed and distanced from Father. After their disobedience they longed for the peace they had lost. They longed for conversation (prayer) with Father without guilt. The fig tree symbolized a place of safety – the sense of safety which they lost when they realised that they had sinned. If you are disobedient to our Creator, you will not experience His peace. Under the banner of His loving, protective guidance, safety is found. However, instead of running to Father in repentance, instead of returning to the fig tree of peace and security, Adam and Eve armed themselves with manmade peace. They sewed together the leaves and hid from Him.
A prophetic picture of the manmade peace and security is found in 1 Thes 5:3. It tells of peace and security ripped from the living source and sewed together by man. False peace and security will be found when lawlessness will flourish.
The decision is ours. On His return, will Father find us under the fig tree, wrapped in His Word and in conversation with Him? Or will we be hiding ourselves from Him because we will realize that we are naked?
This recalls the verse in Prov 27:18 He who tends the fig tree eats its fruit; and he who guards his master is esteemed.
The garments Father gave Adam and Eve are (H3801) kethoneth (כְּתֹנֶת), a coat, shirt, garment, or robe. Why did they need to replace their loincloths with garments of skin? The text suggests that their effort was not sufficient to cover their nakedness.
The garments Father provided are the same Hebrew word we later find when we read about the coat of the beloved son Joseph and the garments of the High Priest, as well as the garment that Tamar tore and later so David’s garment. The garments Father provided were made of skin (H5783) ‘or (עוֹר).
The first word Father spoke into creation is His light (H216). In Hebrew it sounds the same as skin, ‘or (אוֹר). We need to be clothed with the light of Father’s presence, like Yeshua on the mountain of transfiguration, when He was found without sin.
Elohim comforted Adam and Eve with the promise of hope, filled with the wells of revelation.
What the first Adam lost, was restored in the second Adam
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