The Inventor of Clothes

Recently my son has been interested in knowing who invented things, an interest probably spurred from the Thomas Edison animated movie that he watched.  He asked me in particular about who invented clothes and whether it was Adam and Eve.  It’s an interesting question and one that we, well, sort of have an answer in the scriptures.  Adam and Eve were of course without clothing when first place in a state of innocence in the garden, but after partaking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, “the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7).  That was then, the first attempt at clothing: fig leaves sewn together.  Surely it was quite uncomfortable and performed little of the functions that we expect clothes to perform today (such as keeping out the cold), but it was apparently the best they could do with what they had.  The story of clothes, though, didn’t end there.  The Lord came and spoke to them and instructed them about what was going to take place as they fell from the presence of the Lord.  And then He gave them real clothes.  We read, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).  It is as if the Lord said, “I see you have tried to clothe yourselves; let me do it for real and give you something, animal skin, that will actually last.”  So who invented clothes?  Adam and Eve tried with leaves, but the Lord gets the credit as the real creator of the first clothes. 

             Perhaps there is a gospel principle in this story for us.  Adam and Even did their best, but it was far from the ideal solution.  Then the Lord came and provided a solution far better and offered it to them as a gift as they departed His presence.  Often we too seek for solutions to our problems, only to come up with ideas equivalent to fig leaves sewn together.  But as we strive our best anyway despite our weakness and inadequacies, the Lord will come and bless us and help provide us with what we really need.  This is what happened to the brother of Jared—he tried his best by bringing the rocks to the Lord, but it was the Lord who touched them and made them shine.  Paul taught a similar principle: “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).  We do our best to plant and to water, but it is God that gives true growth; it is the Lord’s solution that really makes the difference.  Ultimately in life we have to do our best to solve our own problems with the figurative fig leaves that we have available; and then we plead with the Lord to work His miracles to provide us far better solutions just as He did for Adam and Eve.