Fig Leaves
1st March 2023, 16:54, London
Do you believe in dreams? I do, because I’m a dreamer. Yes, I dream about Birkins and all the finer things but beyond that my dreams (prophetic dreams) usually serve as a blueprint for my life. When I started my walk with God I didn’t dream often, but as my intimacy with Him deepened I have found that He chooses to speak to me in visions and dreams frequently.
One night, I had an interesting dream where I saw a friend (let’s call her Lola) holding a specific item. For ease, let’s imagine this item was a pair of trainers. In the dream Lola and I would have a disagreement and then soon after I would notice these trainers were always in hand whenever were trying to mend our friendship. So this was the sequence: Lola will have wronged me, I would get upset and confront her, and then boom – I’d notice she’d be holding on to her trainers for dear life.
At first it seemed insignificant, yet as I pondered on the dream I couldn’t understand why the trainers were there. As I turned gently in bed, I randomly hear “she’s hiding.” I cocked my head to the side. Hiding? From what exactly? I start thinking of stories in the bible where people had done something wrong and had gone into hiding. Then from the blue I remember the story in Genesis. I jump up and reach for my Bible and start digging.
In the beginning, God gives Adam specific instructions not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). It was the one thing He told Adam (who later replayed this command to his wife) because it will lead to death. After God unites Adam and his wife Eve, my eye catches a specific verse:
“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
Genesis 2:25 NKJV
Why weren’t they ashamed? I read that verse multiple times before proceeding to the next chapter.
Now something interesting happens: Eve disobeys God and eats of the forbidden tree. Then she offers the fruit to her husband who also eats it. Thereafter we get to this verse:
“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”
Genesis 3:7 NKJV
I stopped and contrasted those two verses. Surely they were naked initially and weren’t ashamed so why were they suddenly ashamed of their nakedness? Let’s break it down slowly.
The dictionary defines the word ‘shame’ as feeling humiliated or distressed by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behaviour. With this we can infer that one way a person feels ashamed is because they acknowledge that something they’ve done is wrong. The word ’distressed’ can be substituted with anxiety, sorrow, pain, disappointment and sadness.
In Genesis 2:25, they hadn’t sinned so there was no need for them to feel ashamed. A few verses later, Eve is tricked into sin and Adam sins consciously when he agrees to eat the fruit his wife gave him. Immediately he sins, they suffer spiritual and physical death. The spiritual is instantaneous whereas the physical doesn’t happen immediately.
Scholars argue that prior to sin, Adam and Eve looked different. To keep things very simple let’s imagine that before sin God put a glowing invisible robe of light on them designating man as creatures who were in union with Him. The only way to keep this robe on was to stay clear of sin and remain obedient. Well, immediately they disobeyed Him they died spiritually and this shiny robe was snatched off them 🙁
As His presence (God’s glorious light) left them, they could feel that something had shifted and the only thing they knew how to do was to cover themselves (hide) because they now felt exposed. Adam and Eve reached for fig leaves to cover their body parts during this vulnerable moment. I really hope you caught the depth of that line. But if you didn’t fret not, I’ll explain.
They knew they had done something wrong and as a consequence of this wrong their relationship with God had changed. How they looked before Him was different. They felt exposed, humiliated and were conscious of their nakedness. The use of fig leaves was an attempt to cover their shame and hide from what they had done. Fig leaves are things we hide behind when we don’t want to confront something.
Which brings me back to the dream I was explaining. In real life, whenever my friend offended me she rarely addressed the offence head on. Instead she would lose herself in the gym, sign up for tournaments, picks up new sports – all sorts – but will avoid talking about the issue between us. In the dream, the sports activities were represented by the trainers and Lola hid behind them when she felt ashamed by something she had done. The trainers were her fig leaves. As the revelation came, my mouth opened. It made sense.
Someone commits an offence —> They feel naked and exposed —> They become afraid —> They clutch their fig leaves
What do you hide behind when you feel ashamed?
Adam and Eve knew God will eventually find out the mess that had occurred. If you’re not familiar with the story I’ll explain what happens next. God walks into the garden looking for His children and starts calling for them. Adam, knowing that God probably already knew what had happened said he was afraid because he was naked. God asks Him how he knew he was naked and then the blame game (between Adam and Eve) starts. Eventually, God judges them and that’s how they got kicked out of Eden.
For the first time ever, I read this story with a softer heart. He was afraid. They were afraid. The fear and shame drove Adam and Eve to clutch the fig leaves. In a similar manner my friend was afraid so she clutched her trainers. It’s understandable to cling to what’s familiar and what makes us feel safe when we are in a vulnerable position.
Which brings me to my question: what is your fig leaf? What do you hold on to in vulnerable moments? What do you hide behind when you’re caught doing something you’re not so proud of? We all have fig leaves. Some hide behind their career, others use their designer clothes, some use sports activities – the list is endless.
I’m not here to shame anyone, certainly not, but instead to bring us to a state of empathy and awareness. When I read the story and reflected on the dream my heart softened. A bible scholar said the very fact that they sewed the fig leaves means they felt guilt and recognised that they had done something wrong.
Let’s go back to the Bible story. As I read the chapter, another verse jumped out at me:
“Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.”
Genesis 3:21 NKJV
Why did God replace their original makeshift clothing with tunics of skin? That very line is one of the reasons I’m deeply in love with my Father. How is it possible that we sin against Him yet He’s the one that offers up a sacrifice to save us? Huh? Well the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and since sin takes life, life must be used to atone for sin (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22). In the Old Testament whenever someone sinned they sacrificed an innocent animal and used the blood to atone for the sins of people. In the New Testament however, we have the blood of Jesus which atones for all our sins hence there’s no need to kill any cute lambs.
In Genesis 3:21 it says “the Lord God made tunics of skin.” I remember reading the verse thinking “Daddy they offended You! Why are You the one covering them? Surely You should let them rot? LET THEM HAVE IT *insert TikTok meme of “come on, lets have it!*”
But nope, instead He offers the sacrifice on their behalf and clothes them properly. Adam and Eve had betrayed Him yet He still displayed love and ensured that a proper sacrifice was made to atone for the sin before sending them out of Eden. What an act of love!
I sighed. Nobody says what they did wasn’t wrong – it was very wrong and there were consequences for their actions which God delivered. In a similar fashion whenever someone offends us, confront the offence, bring it out into the open however, let God be the one to serve the judgement. The Bible says:
“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
Romans 12:19 NKJV
God will certainly serve judgement. But beyond confronting the offence I believe we are supposed to approach with a tender heart and show mercy. Fig leaves shows that a person may feel afraid, scared, ashamed or humiliated. Their use of the leaves should usher us into a state of mercy. It’s not easy, because some wounds can be extremely deep but if God can show mercy, you can too.
In summary:
- The coverings we hide behind when we are in the wrong isn’t enough to make us feel whole.
- We need a real covering which atones for our wrongs and is able to make us feel whole again: this is Jesus.
- Show mercy, especially when you see fig leaves.
Love always,
Tumi
