A Look Behind the Fig Leaves
by Sam Dilbeck
In recent years, many have claimed that society dictates what is modest. Their arguments go something like this: “During the Victorian Age, it was considered immodest for a woman to reveal her ankle or wrists in the presence of a man. Moreover, in many Middle Eastern countries, women are required to wear full-length dresses, veils, and shawls that only reveal their eyes. In such countries and times, it would be wrong for Christians not to wear veils or to show their ankles.” Thus, society dictates modesty.
The folly of this argument can be shown by its conclusion. For example, if an African tribal custom dictated that women be unclothed, then the Christian woman living and working with that tribe would be compelled to be modestly naked as well.
In the Garden, after the sin was committed, Adam and Eve constituted the whole of society on every scale: local, regional, continental, and even worldwide. Thus, if society dictates what is modest, God should have allowed Adam and Eve to keep their aprons. However, God saw a need to change their clothes; He replaced their foliage vesture with “coats of skin” (Genesis 3:21).
Many Christians have succumbed to the notion that if the clothes cover just the right area, then everything else can be uncovered. For men, it is considered enough to have only their lower body covered. He can remove his shirt in public with little or no repercussion from society and even from many Christians. The woman is expected to cover the same area and also cover part, or all, of her upper body. What has not helped the matter is how artists of the ages past have placed the fig leaves on their images of Adam and Eve. According to most conceptions, Adam only needed one strategically placed leaf, and Eve only needed three. Contrary to these artistic impressions, Adam and Eve both covered only the area below their waists (an apron refers to clothes that hang from the waist). What is more, the text said they “sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Genesis 3:7). This means a collection of leaves was sewn together as a bunch. However, many modern people only consider the artists’ renditions and conclude that since Adam and Eve only needed to cover a few small sections, then that is all they have to do as well. The leaves leave us a lesson—a few properly placed scraps of material are not enough to escape immodesty.
Adam’s and Eve’s clothes, though modest by today’s societal standards, did not cover enough to please God. After He rebuked them for their transgression, God made them both coats of skin (Genesis 3:21). This shows that they simply did not have enough covered. After God was finished, Adam had more than shorts and a bare chest, and Eve had more than a bikini. God had them wearing full coats. Placement is not the end-all of modesty; it also includes quantity—a rule God instituted and taught when He replaced the fig leaves.
