First Fashion Clothing

(This is #1 of the presentations for the series “Fashion Statements: Lessons from Garments in the Bible.”)

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Good morning. In this series we will talk about fashion. Not New York or Paris fashion, but fashion or clothings mentioned in the Bible. I really hope you would benefit from this short series of presentations.

What is your favorite clothing item to wear? Is it made of cotton? Linen? Denim? Wool? Leather?

Maybe we wear different types of clothes depending on the occasion. If it’s summer and hot, we like to wear cotton and linen. If it’s winter and cold, like in other cold countries, people wear wool or even leather. I know some people wear leather even in the Philippines. Hindi po pahuhuli ang mga Pinoy.

Why do people wear clothes anyway? Is it to look good? To be a fashionista? Maybe its more basic than that. To be warm? Or to cover our nakedness.

In the beginning at the time of creation, in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve don’t even need to wear any clothing. They were perfect the way they were created. They are comfortable in their own skin. I am not saying that we should do the same. Don’t get the wrong idea here. That’s not what I am suggesting!

But when Adam and Eve fell into sin, when they disobeyed God, something happened. Let’s read:

Genesis 3:7 –Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

We may ask why not banana leaves or gabi leaves, that’s bigger and broader leaves, right? Are you familiar with fig leaves?

The fig tree is a deciduous tree that means it shed its leaves annually. It is indigenous to the Mediterranean Sea and eastward into Afghanistan. Fig trees grow tall as 25-30 feet and develop a spreading canopy of branches and leaves. Usually when fig trees are full of leaves, it should have fruits already. That’s why in a story in the Bible, Jesus was disappointed in a particular fig tree that He cursed it, because it was pretending to be fruitful, as it has lots of leaves already, and yet no fruits. Fig leaves are plentiful and typically 5-10 inches longs and 4-7 inches wide. Given the size of fig leaves, Adam and Eve would have used multiple fig leaves together to create their clothing.

Did they sew an apron design? Or 2-piece or 3-piece suit? Or perhaps a gown? Well, we don’t know.

But is men’s first attempt to create the very first line of clothing successful? Did Adam and Eve have a career to become fashion designers, like Vera Wang, or Versace, or Monique Lhuillier?

According to God’s standards, the clothing that Adam and Eve made was not good enough. First of all, leaves are not sturdy material, they wither and crumble. Second, they are cheap and substandard for covering. Third, God has a better plan for that purpose. Human’s attempt to cover their nakedness was not sufficient. Instead, God had to fashioned clothes for them. Let’s read:

Genesis 3:21 – Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

God made clothing out of animal skin. An animal, most likely a sheep, was killed, which was the very first blood sacrifice in history of our Earth, and made Adam and Eve coverings out of the skins of that animal. The clothing was not cheap, it cost a life to make coverings for them.

That animal sacrifice was the foreshadow of the future Messiah that has to come to this Earth, and shed his precious blood, so that our sins will be covered and that fallen men will be redeemed. Our cheap attempt to cover our nakedness is not enough. Our own attempt to cover our guilt is doomed to fail. Trying to make ourselves good or thinking that we’re not too bad at all will be fatal. We need God to provide a way for our salvation. We need the priceless sacrifice of our Savior to cover our nakedness and our sins.

Jesus’ righteousness is the only righteousness acceptable to God.

(*image from the web)