By Life has so much of turmoils, of being difficult to direct or control by reason of complexity, great disturbances, confusions or uncertainties. With these things building up in man’s journey, he needs a cover up of the finiteness to endure life. In facing mostly the wills of the enemy, can his body covering enough to protect him? Haven’t you wonder why God has made a garments for Adam and Eve in the garden? What’s on it why Adam’s descendants were eager to own the garments?
It all started in the Garden of Eden when Satan had a direct challenge to God’s Word. Genesis 3:4-5 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan can only effectively work when he has established a foothold. A foundation has been laid. This is why we are called to never give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27). This shows how remarkable it is that Jesus could say, “Satan has nothing in Me” (John 14:30). It was true your eyes will be opened, and this was fulfilled (Genesis 3:7). But their eyes were instantly opened to their own sin and rebellion. Their eyes were opened, they did know now good and evil, but not as gods.
THE NAKEDNESS OF MAN:
After they (Eve and Adam) ate the fruit, something happened to their bodies. The First Book of Adam and Eve picks up where the Genesis account ends. It tells how Adam and Eve became distraught when they left the garden and saw the “broad earth spread before them.” Adam wept bitterly when he “looked at his flesh, that was altered.” (Ch IV: 2 “And, indeed, when Adam looked at his flesh, that was altered, he wept bitterly, he and Eve, over what they had done.” He laments that their “eyes have become of flesh; they cannot see in like manner as they saw before.” (Ch IV:9 “But now we do not see as we did: our eyes have become of flesh; they cannot see in like manner as they saw before.” God explains that their “bright nature was withdrawn” (Ch. VIII: 2 “Then God the Lord said unto Adam, “When thou wast under subjection to Me, thou hadst a bright nature within thee, and for that reason couldst thou see things afar off. But after thy transgression thy bright nature was withdrawn from thee; and it was not left to thee to see things afar off, but only near at hand; after the ability of the flesh; for it is brutish.”Adam confirms, “thou madest us both with bodies of a bright nature.” (Ch.XXXIV: 16 “And of Thy goodwill, O Lord, Thou madest us both with bodies of a bright nature, and Thou madest us two, one; and Thou gavest us Thy grace, and didst fill us with praises of the Holy Spirit; that we should be neither hungry nor thirsty, nor know what sorrow is, nor yet faintness of heart; neither suffering, fasting, nor weariness.”
They knew they were naked, in the sense of having their shame exposed to all creation. Both in Psalm 104:2 and Matthew 17:2 suggest that LIGHT can be a GARMENT for the RIGHTEOUS. It may be that Adam and Eve were previously CLOTHED in GOD’S GLORIOUS LIGHT and the immediate loss of this covering of light left them feeling EXPOSED and NAKED. “It is more than probable that they were clothed in light before the fall, and when they sinned the light went out.” (Barnhouse). The eyes of both of them were opened: The way they saw themselves changed, but also the way they saw the entire world was now different. After the fall, everything looked worse. They sewed fig leaves together: Their own attempt to cover themselves took much ingenuity, but not much wisdom. Fig leaves have something of a prickly quality, which would make for some pretty itchy coverings. Obviously, they covered their genital areas. This is not because there is something intrinsically unclean in your sexuality, but because the egocentric, sinful nature urges one to fulfill fleshly desires, all have both received the fallenness and pass it on genetically through sexual reproduction. Because of this, God has implanted it in the minds of men that more modesty is appropriate for these areas of our body.
“(Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.)” Revelation 16:15 ASV
THE GARMENTS GOD MADE:
“And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21
After making their coverings, Adam and Eve waited. It would not be until the cool of the day when God would normally come to them. With anxiety and perhaps a bit of agony they waited until God patiently came to them. “Their hearts must have been sorely perplexed within them while they were waiting to see what God would do to them as a punishment for the great sin they had committed.” (Spurgeon). Genesis 3:8-9 Adam and Eve hide from God; God calls out to them. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the “cool of the day”: Adam and Eve knew that when they heard the LORD coming, He would want to be with them. This was how the LORD had fellowship with Adam and Eve, in a very natural, close, intimate way. The almost casual way in which this is remarked indicates that this did not occur for the first time just then… (David Guzik) “We can assume this is God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, appearing to Adam and Eve before His incarnation and birth at Bethlehem, because of God the Father it is said, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18); and no man has ever seen God in the Person of the Father (1 Timothy 6:16).”
We could tell that God was saddened by what happened to Adam and Eve. Their fall to satan’s traps and disobedience never erases His unconditional love to them. This even caused Him to provide a covering for them. This shows that Adam and Eve knew that their attempt to cover themselves failed. They didn’t proudly show off their fig-leaf outfits; they knew their own covering was completely inadequate, and they were embarrassed before God. Where are you? This was not the interrogation of an angry commanding officer, but the heartfelt cry of an anguished father. God obviously knew where they were but He also knew a gulf had been made between Him and man, a gulf that He Himself would have to bridge. (Genesis 3:21) God clothes Adam and Eve in the skins of animals. “The LORD GOD made tunics of skin, and clothed them”: God wanted Adam and Eve clothed, not naked. If nudity represented a higher, freer life, then God would have let Adam and Eve remain naked — but He clothed them. “God gave His approval of the sense of shame which had led our first parents to cover their nakedness.” (Leupold)
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GARMENTS WHEN ADAM DIED?:
The GARMENTS made in the garden of Eden by God which was intended to cover the nakedness of Adam became a symbol of power and strength of Adam’s descendants. After his death it was given to Enoch was handed down to his son Methuselah upon his ascension to heaven. Before the flood on his lengthy life on earth and on his death he has given it to his son Noah. The GARMENTS was kept in side the ARK during the great flood. It is in the book of Jasher 7 that we read that the linage of Ham stole a special set of garments that belonged to Noah; the very same garments that had been given to Adam and Eve by God Himself.
The Book of Genesis records post-flood civilization began where Noah’s ark landed atop Mount Ararat. Within several decades, most of Ham’s family moved southward into the Mesopotamian Valley. This move likely occurred following the time when Ham saw his father, Noah, lying drunk and naked in his tent (Genesis 9:21-27). The Book of Jasher (extra-Biblical document of ancient history) indicates Ham stole the garment Noah had worn prior to his being found naked and intoxicated in his tent. The Book of “Jasher” also claims this was the original garment God made for Adam shortly before he was banished from the Garden of Eden. Other extra-Biblical sources make this claim too. They also agree Ham took the garment God had made for Adam, in order to steal the spiritual inheritance from his father. When Noah awoke he cursed Ham’s youngest son, Canaan, who also allegedly participated in the theft. Ham later gave this garment to his oldest son, Cush, who ultimately passed it on to his oldest son, Nimrod. Nimrod’s hunting success resulted from wearing the coat of animal skin God made for Adam. Nimrod grew up, and when he was twenty years old he put on those garments. And Nimrod became strong when he put on the garments.
The Book of Jasher chapter 27 Book of Jasher, Chapter 27 , has recorded how Esau had taken the Garment from Nimrod:
1.And Esau at that time, after the death of Abraham, frequently went in the field to hunt. 2. And Nimrod king of Babel, the same was Amraphel, also frequently went with his mighty men to hunt in the field, and to walk about with his men in the cool of the day. 3. And Nimrod was observing Esau all the days, for a jealousy was formed in the heart of Nimrod against Esau all the days. 4. And on a certain day Esau went in the field to hunt, and he found Nimrod walking in the wilderness with his two men. 5. And all his mighty men and his people were with him in the wilderness, but they removed at a distance from him, and they went from him in different directions to hunt, and Esau concealed himself for Nimrod, and he lurked for him in the wilderness. 6. And Nimrod and his men that were with him did not know him, and Nimrod and his men frequently walked about in the field at the cool of the day, and to know where his men were hunting in the field. 7. And Nimrod and two of his men that were with him came to the place where they were, when Esau started suddenly from his lurking place, and drew his sword, and hastened and ran to Nimrod and cut off his head. 8 . And Esau fought a desperate fight with the two men that were with Nimrod, and when they called out to him, Esau turned to them and smote them to death with his sword. 9. And all the mighty men of Nimrod, who had left him to go to the wilderness, heard the cry at a distance, and they knew the voices of those two men, and they ran to know the cause of it, when they found their king and the two men that were with him lying dead in the wilderness. 10. And when Esau saw the mighty men of Nimrod coming at a distance, he fled, and thereby escaped; and Esau took the valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod’s father had bequeathed to Nimrod, and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land, and he ran and concealed them in his house. 11. And Esau took those garments and ran into the city on account of Nimrod’s men, and he came unto his father’s house wearied and exhausted from fight, and he was ready to die through grief when he approached his brother Jacob and sat before him. 12. And he said unto his brother Jacob, Behold I shall die this day, and wherefore then do I want the birthright? And Jacob acted wisely with Esau in this matter, and Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, for it was so brought about by the Lord. 13. And Esau’s portion in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham had bought from the children of Heth for the possession of a burial ground, Esau also sold to Jacob, and Jacob bought all this from his brother Esau for value given. 14. And Jacob wrote the whole of this in a book, and he testified the same with witnesses, and he sealed it, and the book remained in the hands of Jacob. 15 . And when Nimrod the son of Cush died, his men lifted him up and brought him in consternation, and buried him in his city, and all the days that Nimrod lived were two hundred and fifteen years and he died. 16. And the days that Nimrod reigned upon the people of the land were one hundred and eighty-five years; and Nimrod died by the sword of Esau in shame and contempt, and the seed of Abraham caused his death as he had seen in his dream. 17. And at the death of Nimrod his kingdom became divided into many divisions, and all those parts that Nimrod reigned over were restored to the respective kings of the land, who recovered them after the death of Nimrod, and all the people of the house of Nimrod were for a long time enslaved to all the other kings of the land.
THE GARMENT’S LEGACY:
A Garment as covering of the body brought pride as a blessed inheritance. Nimrod felt a strength or power when putting on these stolen garments. It gave him authority, and so much pride which made him the most evil king who reigned. In same way Joseph had a coat of many colors. And, this coat made him feel special and prideful above his brothers. It was not until Joseph was humbled, having no special garments, only lots of time in a slave’s cage to get to know God, that God could begin His powerful work in Joseph’s life. The picture of Nimrod’s garment is the picture of the serpents systems. It is a picture of pride, arrogance, greed, lust, murder, theft, lies… and the list goes on….whatever you wear on can make or define you.
The garments front the garden of God last known recorded was in Esau’s possession. Esau who was also known as “Edom,” and his brother Jacob who was renamed “Israel”. He’s the ancestor of the Edomites. Esau was red and hairy, and he became a wandering hunter, while Jacob was a shepherd. With the Garments in his hands he knew he has the bestowed power and strength of his ancestors. This made him trade his birthright for Stew to Jacob.
God’s care is abundant concerning our first parents, notwithstanding of their sin. Though He corrects His disobedient children, and put them under the marks of His displeasure, yet He does not disinherit them, but, like a tender father, provides the herb of the field for their food and coats of skins for their clothing. When God made clothes for our first parents He made them warm and strong, but coarse and very plain: not robes of scarlet, but coats of skin. Their clothes were made, not of silk and satin, but plain skins; not trimmed, nor embroidered, none of the ornaments which the daughters of Sion afterwards invented, and prided themselves in.
These coats of skin had a significancy. The beasts whose skins they must be slain, to be used as garments will show them what death is. It is supposed that they were slain, not for food, but for sacrifice, to represent the great sacrifice, which, in the latter end of the world, should be offered once for all. Thus the first thing who died was a sacrifice, or Jesus Christ in a figure, who is therefore said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This sacrifice in token of reconciliation: the flesh was offered to God, a whole burnt-offering; the skins were given to man for clothing, signifying that, Jesus Christ having offered himself to God a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour, we are to clothe ourselves with His righteousness as with a GARMENT, that the shame of our nakedness may not appear.
Adam and Eve made for themselves aprons of fig-leaves, a covering too narrow for them to wrap themselves in, Isa. 28:20. Such are all the rags of our own righteousness. But God made them coats of skins; large, and strong, and durable, and fit for them; such is the RIGHTEOUSNESS of CHRIST. Therefore put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve were clothed with a garment that was purchased with the life of another. We are clothed with a garment of righteousness that was purchased with the life of our Savior Jesus Christ. And GOD clothed them: This indicates that Adam and Eve were rescued from their sinful condition. God promise of a Savior, and God provided a covering for all through a sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son Jesus. Do you want to be clothed by this GARMENT?
Revelation 3:18 “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest BE CLOTHED and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”
References:
Bible Search and Study Tools – Blue Letter Bible… David Guzik Commentary and Matthew Henry Commentary on Genesis 3:21.
Signs: Intro summary – God in a Nutshel. And https://youtu.be/_3CQtIWnx7c
Finding Hope Ministries » Nimrod’s Robe
https://ldsblogs.com/38398/nimrod-got-adam-garment
Watch the: Garments from the garden of God by Trey Smith here:
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