Genesis 3:20-24
20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate what was forbidden to them. They were no longer allowed to stay in paradise and were forced to leave their home and settle in the wild.
What I find most striking is the way that God treats them. He does not revel in their punishment, nakedness and shame but instead, he creates leather garments for them. Adam and Eve have already tried to cover themselves with leaves that they found on a fig tree. God provides them proper clothes that they can use as they reestablish themselves East of Eden. Lots of us, when people let us down are hard in our response, “they deserve it!” But following his creation’s deepest betrayal God shows incredible grace and kindness without minimising the cost of their sin. He graciously covers their shame and sends them out dressed in his love and provision. The world will be hard but they are not to face it alone.
The fact that these clothes were made of skin is the first hint that something has shifted in creation. Blood was shed and a life was taken so that they could hide their shame. On seeing the cost of life, this would be Adam and Eve’s first experience of the cost of sin. Andrius Valevicius explains, “[A] revolution has occurred: life used to be the fundamental principle of human existence but now it has been clothed by mortality. Death has gained the advance, and life which used to unfold unthreatened, has been transformed into a fight for survival.”
The world has now become a more dangerous place for them to live and so leather clothes provide physical protection from the elements and any animals that may decide to attack them. It is impossible for us to know the contrast between Eden and the world that they now found themselves inhabiting. However, God provides protection, honour and dignity for he beloved creation, even in their lowest moment.
What does this tell us about the cost of sin?
How do we react when people around us mess up?
