God Clothed Them with Skin

God Clothed Them with Skin

In Genesis 3 we find the story of how the serpent led Eve and, in turn, Adam astray. It is the story of the Fall of the human race, and the whole of creation with them; but there is a very curious passage in this story. Note Genesis 3:21.

21. And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
NASB

A lot of people believe that this act was the first sacrifice, because they can’t think of where else the skin came from, but nothing in this story or before says anything about killing any living being, human or other animal.

Yes, Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and lost the utopia of Eden in the process; but the first one to disobey God was the serpent, and most likely it was the devil who led the serpent astray to destroy the peaceful caretaker covenant relationship that God had made with Adam on behalf of the human race.

However, nothing was said about a blood sacrifice or death being required for sin, only that all living beings would now die instead of living forever, as the original intent seems to be.

And, the only one who might have deserved death was the serpent, and all God did to him and his descendants was to have them slither on the ground; so why would God desire to kill any other animal? It just doesn’t make any sense.

So let’s think about some options that do make sense:

God could have made the garments in the same way that He made everything else in creation. He spoke it into existence.

God also could have made the garments from the shed skin of the serpent after He changed its form, just as all snakes shed their skin today.

We like this second choice because it would cause both Adam and Eve to have a constant reminder of their sin of listening to the serpent instead of God.

We also believe that this could have been a contributing factor for the man who killed the albatross in The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner to have to wear the dead bird around his neck as a reminder of his sin of killing the bird.

So, instead of jumping to conclusions by reading something into Scripture passages, just meditate on the goodness of God’s heavenly will, and seek His answers, and His answers will never change what His word says.

See other comments: http://www.all-creatures.org/discuss/ac-blog.html#god-clothed-them-with-skin

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6 thoughts on “God Clothed Them with Skin

  1. What a great and reasoned explanation – that God did not want or need to kill anything in order to provide the clothing; and that jumping to conclusions can be very misleading!.
    Thankyou.

  2. Very interesting, thank you! I’ve read other theological thoughts on this too, one stood out. It is possible that the *apple* in the bible was an animal that was killed, the *forbidden fruit*. The bible is often metaphorical. That skin could have been the skin used by God, as said above, to remind them of their sin. That same theologian also reminded his audience that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. In interpreting scripture, remembering this would be key in understanding difficult scripture. His ultimate will for us has always been peace, love, mercy.

    1. Hi Kathy: You’re welcome. We’ve heard this theory about the forbidden fruit, too, but the Hebrew doesn’t in any way mention that flesh was on the tree, though it could be that the tree was a honey tree, and the serpent offered them a honey comb which could have had a drowned bee on it. However, the real sin is in their disobeying God. You have a good understanding of the intent of God as presented in the Bible.

  3. Interesting and thought provoking!
    Also, God didn’t put a cow or hen for dairy and milk for Adam and Eve to milk or collect eggs.
    After they sinned, Adam was just told to till the ground, right?
    Jan
    God’s Creatures Ministry
    ps. Thank God for Frank and Mary’s ministry – a voice in this cold, dying world.

    1. Hi Jan: That is absolutely correct? God’s creation and heavenly will is for us to eat only plant foods.

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