What does the Coat of Skins Represent?
(ref Gen. 3:21, Moses 4:27)
What does the coat of skins represent?
The garment, obviously, although it would be more accurate to say that the garment represents the coat of skins instead of vice versa.
The Lovely One asked me today. I had never thought of it before. She suggested that the coat of skins may have in some way represented Christ’s skin. Putting it on being a way of assuming his identity.
There is some support for this idea from this last General Conference.
The garment of the holy priesthood is deeply symbolic and also points to the Savior. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit and had to leave the Garden of Eden, they were given coats of skins as a covering for them. It is likely that an animal was sacrificed to make those coats of skins—symbolic of the Savior’s own sacrifice for us. Kaphar is the basic Hebrew word for atonement, and one of its meanings is “to cover.” Our temple garment reminds us that the Savior and the blessings of His Atonement cover us throughout our lives. As we put on the garment of the holy priesthood each day, that beautiful symbol becomes a part of us.
–Sister Dennis, from the last General Conference
So what does the coat of skins represent?
Given that its animal skins, not woven plant matter, and that animals had to be slaughtered for it, the coat likely represents dominion, mortality, and entering a world of struggle and pain.
Given that Adam and Eve’s outward appearance is now largely another being’s outside, the coat of skins likely also represents identity. Whereas the Garden would have been a primal state of unified being, post-Garden is a state of becoming, which means change. The fact that your outer self is different from your inner self suggests sin, discomfort, seeking for a new synthesis of who you are, and deception and illusion.
The old unchanging Paradise gave way to dominion, mortality, struggle, identity, change, and uncertainty.
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It’s curious that we now wear the coat of skins underneath other clothing.
Sute
September 29, 2024
Couple random thoughts
The first death after the fall, was possibly the savior killing an animal to make this coat of skins.
The new temple format makes the garment/savior connection more directly.
If you think about it, on consequence of their disobedience, all manner of suffering has occured and necessitated a Savior to stone. Their entrance into the fallen world was essentially covered by the Savior, hence the garment that covers their vulnerabilities is represented by the Savior who covers ours.
At the same time, I’ve, always thought it was a bit odd how much we verge on making an idol of the garment. Adam and Eve wore this as their primary clothing. Surely it got dirty, damaged replaced just as our under clothing.
But did they seek to cover it up and hide it? It seems to me our hiding of the garment under outer clothes isn’t connected to it being holy, but merely a matter of social custom as a consequence of replacing underwear with the garment.
I occasional think to myself, “make coats of skins to cover them, now make more coats of skins to cover their coats of skins”.
JimD
October 5, 2024
Given that fig leaves naturally contain a toxin that causes itching, Adam and Eve must have found the garment to be a significant improvement over their own half-baked efforts.