"Then God made Adam and Women leather clothes and clothed them "

In episode expulsion of Adam from Paradise there is a puzzling and difficult moment expounded . After falling into the sin of disobedience s God made ​​the first men leather clothing . " Then the LORD God made Adam and Women leather clothes and clothed them " (Genesis 3 , 21). In what follows we intend to talk about the significance of leather clothes .

To better understand this point , we propose to present briefly the events related by Moses right in Chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Genesis, events related to the meaning of " garments of skin " Adam and Eve were both naked and were not ashamed (Genesis. 2, 25 ) Adam and Eve disobey God and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis. 3, 6 ) , Adam and Eve covered their bodies with clothes leaf ( Genesis. 3, 7 ) , Adam and Eve hide from God because of shame for their nakedness ( Genesis. 3 , 8-10 ) , God announces sin for people ( Genesis. 3 , 16-19 ) God makes coats of skins , and it takes the first people , thus ceasing to be naked ( Genesis. 3 , 21).

From this sequence of events is a time when we see that Adam and Eve were naked , but not ashamed , then comes the sin of disobedience , then the bodies of Adam and Eve 's nakedness is unbearable . They are ashamed and try to cover with leaves. God himself working with " his hand " made leather jackets for men and women . What were these leather coats ? If you go to the right meaning of the text , they are a kind of rudimentary coverings or garments made ​​from the skin of an animal. Kathoneth Hebrew word that designates leather jackets , refers to a garment , like a tunic , which extends from the shoulders to the knees. And elsewhere is mentioned such a garment .

" And Israel loved Joseph more than all his children , because he was the child of his old age and chose to give him a long coat " ( Genesis. 37, 3). "And Rebecca took the most beautiful clothes of Esau , her elder son , who was in her house, and dressed Jacob, the younger son , and wrapped his hands bare arms and parts of his neck " ( Genesis. 27 , 15-16 ) . In these two places in the Old Testament , from Genesis Kathoneth is mentioned. God made garments of skin that matched the coat Rebecca put on the shoulders of Jacob that Jacob later gave to Joseph.

Clothes as a blessing and inheritance

We note that the jacket was not just a fashion accessory , but it signifies a legacy of father to son . We see in the case of Esau and Jacob that coat is a equated blessing that Isaac sends his sons . The leather jackets that God gave them was the first blessing of the Creator, and a legacy that early humans , in turn, will transmit to their children . As God clothed people not to be naked, and thus vulnerable to weathering and nature that was hostile - " cursed is the ground for you! ... thorns and thistles will it bring forth and you will eat the plants of the field " ( Genesis. 3 , 17-18) - to turn the patriarchs chosen people gave their children priceless clothes as a heritage and blessing. Clothes is in this context meaning a good start, a good start in life , aid in its infancy . God is the first to help people and then the image is reproduced by individual man within his family.

Pogoramant from the Creator

Besides this positive ecclesiastical tradition that has been preserved.There is a negative aspect of leather clothes . They appear after the Fall of the first people and are a pogoramant from the Creator . Leather jackets are made ​​by God , but because of it an animal had to die. It Appears to be this world's first sacrifice , only that in this aspect , it is God who sacrificed one of his creatures to man. In this episode we see that first bloody sacrifice was made by God for the first people to have something to cover their bodies. In Leviticus 7, 8 it states: " When the priest brings the burnt offering one's skin is the sacrifice of the priest ," showing that the skin of the animal sacrifice has a special role. It was given to the priest to manufacture garments to be used in various other ways in the temple.

In Exodus 26 , 14 it states that in covering the holy tabernacle sacrifices of skins were used : "make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather" . Leather jackets were here when people first lost their primordial innocence , the loss of grace and wisdom , and a specific way of living in Eden. Leather garments shows loss of true life , and thus the appearance of a human existence compromise , compromise , or second nature , that man is dressed to survive in the world God created . " The garment God made for my nakedness caused by following the advice of the enemy , disobeying the divine command of thee , O Lord . And now I'm wearing fig leaves and a leather jacket , because I disobeyed God and the earth was cursed to bring forth thorns and thistles for me . But you , who you incarnate of the Virgin in the people then calling me again Bring Me to Heaven ( song from the Sunday Vespers expulsion of Adam from Paradise ) .

Nakedness was hidden with " dead skin "

In the interpretation of the Fathers , leather jackets expresses human biological life and death nature altered by sin. Greek theologian Panayotis Nellas paid attention to " leather jackets " in his " Man deified animal ." He pointed out that leather jackets are biological mortality ( nekrotes ) who became second nature to man after the fall . The idea that mortality " clothe " the fall human nature is expressed by St. Gregory of Nyssa , who says , quoted by Greek theologian , Adam " concealed nakedness with skins around dying " ( nekron dermates ) . This new status changes for fallen man to survive life , and the main value of his life there is communion , but individual salvation . Mystery " leather clothes " can not be understood without the person of Jesus Christ . Son of God incarnate, assumed " leather jackets " of human nature , that mortality and corruption of fallen man , but made ​​them subject to God's will . Natural will of man has undergone a divine will , and " leather jackets " are the means by which man is transformed. Using the dead , Christ changes " leather jackets " of his human nature into a new reality, a reality that deified . In Christ we see that destiny " garments of skin " is not death but resurrection .