p. 136 | Coats of Skin

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 26, 1865

"Coats of Skin."

Of the phrase, "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin," Gen. iii, 21, Mr. Bush in his Notes gives the following explanation:

"Of skins. That the beasts whose skins were allotted for a covering to our first parents on this occasion had been slain, it is natural to suppose; and there were no purposes for which they could have been slain, except those of food, of sacrifice, or of clothing. That they were not slain for food is evident from the fact that the grant of animal food was not made till the days of Noah. Chap. ix, 3. Neither can it be admitted that they were slain merely for clothing; since it cannot be supposed that Adam would immediately after the sentence of the divine displeasure, have dared to kill God's creatures without his permission. Nor is it likely that God should order them to be slain solely for their skins, when man could have been supplied with garments made of other materials. It follows then that they must have been slain with a view to sacrifice."