[_ Old Earth _] Adam and Eve and Fig leaves?

[JohnR]

I was doing some research on how you can use Fig leaves to make clothing out of. What I discovered was a primitive tribe in Africa that uses the fiber under the bark of the Fig tree. They would beat on it and turn it into a material, and then sow it together to make clothing out of. Perhaps for us it would be more like the process that we use to make paper out of. Later on they learned how to spin the fibers and then weave them together to make clothing. If you look at the Bible it talks about the women having to work hard to provide warm clothing for her family. But it was very nice clothing. Even with synthetic material today, they still make it into a fiber, spin it together and then weave it, just like they did back then. Of course with the industrial revolution, they have machines to do all that now. So they do not have to do it all by hand.

Of course the Hebrews were known for their sheep. So it could be that they were the first to use the wool from the sheep to spin into clothing. That would have been at the beginning of the bronze age when they first had metal to cut the wool off of the sheep to make clothing out of. Anyways, that is all another story.

The thing is, I want back to the Hebrew in the Bible and I do not see any problem with this interpretation. Perhaps it was not the "leaves" of the fig tree, but it was the fiber from the Fig tree that Eve made her clothing out of. If Eden was at the Head Waters of the Tigris and Euphrates river, then they would have needed something in the way of clothing to keep warm in that part of the world. Esp back at the end of the last ice age like that.

 

[Barbarian]

Actually, it doesn't say a "fig leaf." That seems to come from the practice of placing a fig leaf over the um, "naughty parts" of statues to make them acceptable to the Victorians.

It always seems odd in Genesis, since it is perfectly natural and proper for a man and his wife to be naked together without shame.

This is an allegory. The Nakedness is their sinful and willful nature which had become apparent to them after they gained the power to know good and evil. Until then, humans were like the animals, innocent.

 

[Gabbylittleangel]

Perhaps it was not the "leaves" of the fig tree, but it was the fiber from the Fig tree....

Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Nope...it says that they sewed fig leaves together. However...
Gen 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
apparently it was inadequate. Even their very first attempts to cover themselves was not good enough.

 

[JohnR]

apparently it was inadequate. Even their very first attempts to cover themselves was not good enough.

Yes, there is no question about the lesson to be learned. I just question if some of the art we see with Adam and Eve covered with a fig leaf is accurate. Or if we should show our sunday school kids a picture of Adam and Eve with leaves covering them up.

In every other passage the word is translated "butter". There is really no reason I can see for that Hebrew word to be translated as "leaves".

The Pygmy tribe in Africa still makes a clothing out of the fig tree. They mostly use it for cermony today, but there are photos of it available on the internet. Although like you say, whatever it was they used to try and cover themselves was not adquate. We try to cover our sins, but only the Blood of Jesus can wash and cleanse us of all sin.

Hebrews 9:22
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

 

[Quath]

Actually, it doesn't say a "fig leaf." That seems to come from the practice of placing a fig leaf over the um, "naughty parts" of statues to make them acceptable to the Victorians.

It always seems odd in Genesis, since it is perfectly natural and proper for a man and his wife to be naked together without shame.

This is an allegory. The Nakedness is their sinful and willful nature which had become apparent to them after they gained the power to know good and evil. Until then, humans were like the animals, innocent.

That is funny, I took it to be the opposite of that. Gods were usually portrayed as naked and animals were assumed to be born with clothes. So when Adam and Eve cover themselves, they are showing how they realize they are not gods by clothing themselves. Yahweh also recognizes this and realizes if they also eat from the tree of life, they will become gods.

 

[JohnR]

they are showing how they realize they are not gods by clothing themselves.

Yes, that is the main point of the story. Adam and Eve no longer had the nature of God and so they had to cloth themselves. If we follow Adam, we will die, there is life in Christ.

1 Cor. 15:22
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.