“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21
Genesis 3 tells us about the fall of man. It starts with Satan tempting Eve, who disobeyed the one command God had given and ate the fruit, giving some to Adam to eat too. After this we read, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves” (Gen. 3:7). Then God comes walking through the garden, Adam and Eve hide themselves from Him, only to be confronted with what they had done. God curses the serpent (Gen. 3:14-15), the woman (Gen. 3:16), and the man (Gen. 3:17-19). But then He does something that might seem a bit strange: He makes garments of animal skins for Adam and Eve.
Why did God do this? It wasn’t because animal skins were more durable or warmer than the fig leaves they had used. Rather, it was to show them something. Up until this point, the world had not seen any death. But God took an animal and killed it in order to provide the skins that would clothe Adam and Eve. This animal had done nothing wrong – it was innocent. God was showing them that it was only by the shedding of innocent blood that they would be covered. This is a beautiful picture of the substitutionary death of Jesus, who would come to make atonement for the sin of the world.
This reminds me of Cain and Able where Cain's offering of vegetation like the leaves sewn of Adam and Eve...was not acceptable. Only a covering or offering which cost life was accepted. God's covering of Adam and Eve with skin and Able's offering of the fat of his flocks.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous, thanks for your comment. I wrote an entry about Cain and Abel and their offerings here: http://verses10.blogspot.com/2011/10/cain-and-abel.html
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm less convinced than I used to be that the reason God was displeased with Cain was because of the nature of his offering... Chuck Smith teaches it was more to do with his attitude. Offering vegetation was acceptable under the codified law later (i.e. the grain offering, Lev. 2). Food for thought if you're interested (http://www.twft.com/?page=c2000 - c2004) but certainly not worth breaking fellowship over!
Blessings
Bridget