24

The Garmentof Adam in Jewish,

Muslim, and ChristianTradition
Stephen D. Ricks

Although rarely occurring in any detail, the motif of

Adam's garment appears with surprising frequency in
ancient Jewish and Christian literature. (I am using the
term "Adam's garment" as a cover term to include any
garment bestowed by a divine being to one of the patri-
archs that is preserved and passed on, in many instances,
from one generation to another. I will thus also consider
garments divinely granted to other patriarchal figures,
including Noah, Abraham, and Joseph.) Although attested
less often than in the Jewish and Christian sources, the
motif also occurs in the literature of early Islam, espe-
cially in the Isra'iliyyiit literature in the Muslim authors al-
ThaclabI and al-Kisa'I as well as in the Rasii'il Ikhwiin al-
~afa (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). Particularly when
discussing the garment of Adam in the Jewish tradition, I
will shatter chronological boundaries, ranging from the
biblical, pseudepigraphic, and midrashic references to the
garment of Adam to its medieval attestations. 1 In what fol-
lows, I wish to consider (1) the garment of Adam as a pri-
mordial creation; (2) the garment as a locus of power, a
symbol of authority, and a high priestly garb; and (3) the
garment of Adam and heavenly robes. 2

705
706 STEPHEN D. RICKS

1. The Garment of Adam as a Primordial Creation

The traditions of Adam's garment in the Hebrew Bible
begin quite sparely, with a single verse in Genesis 3:21,
where we are informed that "God made garments of skins
for Adam and for his wife and clothed them." Probably the
oldest rabbinic traditions include the view that God gave
garments to Adam and Eve before the Fall but that these
were not garments of skin (Hebrew 'or) but instead gar-
ments of light (Hebrew 'or). 3 Rabbi Jacob of Kefar J:Ianan
surmises that the section describing the investiture actually
belongs after Genesis 2:25, which reads, "And they were
both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed,"
but was moved to 3:21 in order that the section "conclude
not with the serpent but with a note of God's care." 4 Genesis
Rabbah 3:21 runs as follows:
In R. Meir's Torah it was found written, "Garments
of light ... refer to Adam's garments, which were like a
torch [shedding radiance], broad at the bottom and nar-
row at the top. Isaac the Elder said: "They were as
smooth as a finger-nail and as beautiful as a Jewel."
R. Johanan said: "They were like the fine linen garments
which come from Bethshean, garment of skin meaning
those that are nearest to the skin."'

This passage continues with the names of other rabbis

who said that the garments were made of goat's skin or
wool. But divinely provided garb was not restricted to
Adam at the time of creation. According to several rabbis,
when God made woman (Genesis 2:22) he adorned her
and decked her out with twenty-four pieces of finery
(Isaiah 3:18-24). Muslim tradition, as seen in the Rasa'il
Ikhwtin al-$afti, takes a different view-Adam was covered
with hair until the expulsion from Paradise, at which time
he lost it:
THEGARMENTOF ADAM 707

When God created Adam, first father of mankind,

and his mate, He compensated for all their deficiencies by
providing them with all they needed to survive and
maintain their existence as individuals-provender,
nourishment, cover, clothing, just as He did for all the
other animals who were in that garden on top of that
mountain in the East on the equator. For, since He had
created them naked, He caused to grow, from the head of
each, long hair which fell down along their bodies on all
sides in thick profusion to their feet, black and soft as the
most beautiful that graced any virgin maid. He raised
them both as two beardless, adolescent youths of the
finest form of any of the animals there. This hair, a gar-
ment to them both, covering their nakedness, served as
their coat, carpet, cloak, and defense against cold and
heat. They used to walk in that garden, plucking the var-
ious fruits, eating of them and living on them, strolling
innocently in the lush meads and greenery, among the
blooming flowers, peacefully, pleasantly, happy, content,
and full of joy, without toil to the body or trouble to the
soul. They were forbidden to overstep their station and
take what was not theirs before the proper time, but they
ignored the command of their Lord and were seduced by
the words of their Foe. They took what had been forbid-
den, so they fell from their high rank, and their hair
parted, revealing their nakedness. They were expelled
thence, naked, banished, objects of contempt, punished
by the imposition of new necessities for the sustenance of
their lives in this world and new modes by which they
must seek to secure their welfare."

There is also a tradition that Adam's garment was made

from the serpent or Leviathan. Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer notes
that "from the skin [of Leviathan] the Holy One, blessed be
He, made garments of glory for Adam and for his help-
mate. "7 According to Ginzberg, this tradition is intended to
O
retain the sense of brightness for both 6r "light" and 'or
"skin," since Leviathan's skin was believed to have a shin-
708 STEPHEN D. RICKS

ing luster. 8 In another tradition in 3 Baruch, Samael "took the

serpent as a garment" in order to deceive Adam. 9 When
God cursed the serpent, he caused it to lose its skin every
year, just as Adam had lost the garment of light when he
had transgressed. 10 Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer also says that the
garment of the first man was a "skin of nail" and he was
covered with a "cloud of glory." 11 After he sinned Adam
was deprived of both the skin of nail and the cloud of glory
and saw that he was naked. In another version, after Adam
and Eve sinned, the garment of light fell from them. When
they repented, God made for them another garment. The
first garment that Adam and Eve had worn fled to heaven,
where it is now in the treasury of the heavens. 12 Thus, the
writer of the Odes of Solomon exclaims, "I was covered with
the covering of your spirit, and I removed from me my gar-
ments of skin." 13
Erik Peterson observes that, according to the early
Christian tradition, "Adam and Eve were stripped by the
Fall, in such a way that they saw that they were naked. This
means that formerly they were clothed." 14 Adam and Eve
wore the "robe of light" or the "robe of sanctity" before
their fall; thereafter, they assumed a "garment of humility." 15
Thus, the white robes 16 received by early Christians at the
time of baptism-a practice that may go back to New Testa-
ment times and may be alluded to in Galatians 3:27: "For as
many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ (Gk. Christon enedusasthe) 17-represents the garment
worn by Adam before his fall, a return to that pre-trans-
gression state of glory and grace. 18 Gregory of Nyssa places
in sharp focus the contrast between skin vestments from the
fallen world and garments of light from paradise: "As if
Adam were still living in each of us, we see our nature cov-
ered with garments of skin and the fallen leaves of this
THEGARMENTOF ADAM 709

earthly life, garments which we made for ourselves when

we had been stripped of our robes of light, and we put on
the vanities, the honors, the passing satisfactions of the flesh
instead of our divine robes." 19 In a statement about baptism,
Gregory explicitly connects the vestment given at the time
of baptism and the paradisiacal garments of Adam and Eve:
"Thou hast driven us out of Paradise and called us back.
Thou hast taken away the fig-leaves,2° that garment of our
misery, and clad us once more with a robe of glory." 21 The
nakedness that generally accompanied baptism during this
period was widely understood to be a symbol of the return
to Paradise. 22 Concerning the receipt of the garment at the
time of baptism, Jerome states that "when ready for the gar-
ment of Christ, we have taken off the tunics of skin, then we
shall be clothed with a garment of linen which has nothing
of death in it, 23 but is wholly white so that, rising from bap-
tism, we may gird our loins in truth and the entire shame of
our past sins may be covered." 24 In other words, at the
moment of baptism one removes clothes that represent
death in the fallen world ("garments of skin"), and puts on
white garments that symbolize life in Christ. 25 Roger
Adams, in his study on iconographic evidence for baptism
for the dead in antiquity, notes that a "parallel is made
between the situation of Adam in the garden and that of the
catechumen in the baptistry, and the candidate is to think of
himself as if he were Adam in the garden." 26
According to the Genesis Rabbah, when their eyes were
opened after their disobedience later in the afternoon of that
first Friday, 27 Adam and Eve began to sew, with great diffi-
culty, the leaves of the fig tree, whose fruit had brought the
occasion for death into the world, in order to make girdles,
shirts, robes, and linen cloaks. 28 Muslim tradition portrays a
somewhat similar scenario to that given in the Jewish
710 STEPHEN D. RICKS

sources: whereas, previous to his disobedience, Adam was

covered with hair, afterwards this hair was taken away and
he found himself naked. In the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-~afa 1t states
that angels taught Adam how to clothe himself from plant
matter. 29 According to al-Tha'labI, on the other hand, the
first thing that Adam received following his disobedience
was a makeshift apron, a garment of leaves that provided
him covering against his nakedness. 30 Similarly, Jewish tra-
dition stresses that the garments were for the purpose of
hiding their nakedness, "covering their shame." Thus,
Jubilees states that God clothed Adam and Eve "and sent
them from the garden of Eden. And on that day when
Adam went out from the garden of Eden, he offered a
sweet-smelling sacrifice ... in the morning with the rising
of the sun from the day he covered his shame .... Therefore
it is commanded in the heavenly tablets to all who will
know the judgment of the Law that they should cover their
shame and they should not be uncovered as the gentiles are
uncovered." 31 There was a belief among the Jews that "the
Patriarchs advanced to the spiritual stage where they
assumed the garment of light," an idea depicted in the
third-century A.D. synagogue at Dura. 32
2. The Garment of Adam as a Locus of Power,
a Symbol of Authority, and as Priestly Robes
The garment given by God to Adam represents not
merely protection and repentance, but authority as well. 33
Of extraordinary brilliance and splendor and possessed of
supernatural qualities, 34 Adam's garment was passed down
from Adam to his descendants, who wore it as priestly
robes. Thus the Numbers Rabbah states that "as Adam was
about to sacrifice, he donned high priestly garments; as it
says: 'God made for Adam and his wife coats of skin'
THEGARMENTOF ADAM 711

(Genesis 3:21). They were robes of honor which subsequent

firstborn used." 3' The firstborn sons sacrificed while wear-
ing the garment before priests took over the role of sacrific-
ing the offerings. 3" Similarly, according to the Midrash
Tan~ urna, "the liturgy was performed by the firstborn in
[Adam's garment]." 37 It was this garment, passed through
the generations from Seth to Noah, 38 that was worn by
Noah when he sacrificed on an altar. 39 It was one of the
items that Noah saved and carried with him in the ark.
But the garment was also seen as having power that
might be misused by those into whose hands the garment
fell. It was stolen by Ham, who handed it down to his son
Cush, who later gave it to Nimrod. Nimrod used this gar-
ment to obtain power and glory among men, and as a
means to deceive man and to gain unconquerable strength. 40
Nimrod would also use the garment while hunting, which
caused all the birds and other animals to fall down in honor
and respect before him. As a result, the people made him
king over them. 41 He first became king of Babylon, and "was
soon able through skillful and subtle speeches to bring the
whole of mankind to the point of accepting him as the
absolute ruler of the earth." 42 Appropriately, it was the gar-
ment that finally cost Nimrod his life. Nimrod, according to
one account, went forth with his people on a great hunt; at
that time he was jealous of the great hunter Esau. As
Nimrod approached with two attendants, Esau hid, cut off
Nimrod's head, and killed the two attendants. 43
Having obtained the garment, Esau either buried it 44 or
sold it to Jacob along with his birthright. Numbers Rabbah
relates that Jacob desired to offer sacrifice but could not
because he was not the firstborn and did not have the
birthright, part of which consisted of Adam's garment. It
was for this reason that Jacob bought the birthright from
712 STEPHEN D. RICKS

Esau, who said, "There is no afterlife, death ends every-

thing, and the inheritance will do me no good," and will-
ingly let Jacob have the garment, along with his birthright.
Immediately Jacob built an altar and offered sacrifice. 45
Here, again, Muslim and Jewish traditions overlap. In the
Rasa'il Ikhwan al-$afa, Esau's sale of the birthright to Jacob
was symbolized by the transfer of the sacred garment.
Again, according to bin Gorion, "Esau's garment in which
Rebekah clothed him, namely those made by God for Adam
and Eve, had now rightfully become Jacob's, and Isaac rec-
ognized their paradisiacal fragrance." 40 In a parallel tradi-
tion, the early Church Father Hippolytus s&ys that when
Isaac laid his hands on Jacob, at the same time feeling
Esau's skin garment, he knew that it was the legitimate heir
to the blessing-the garment proved that, for Esau would
hardly have parted with the garment if he had been worthy
of it.47Similarly, according to al-Tha'labI, Jacob recognized
the same fragrance in the garment of Joseph when it was
brought to him by Joseph's brothers, and at the same time
knew by the marks in it that it was the identical garment
that he had received from his father and that Adam had
received from God in the Garden. 48 When the jealous broth-
ers took the garment away and lowered Joseph into the cis-
tern, immediately Gabriel appeared and brought him a gar-
ment to protect him, so that he was never without
protection. 49 The Testament of Zebulon says that Joseph's
brothers took from Joseph his garment of honor and put on
him the garment of the slave, a reminder of traditions-also
found in al-ThaclabI-of two portions of Joseph's garment,
one that decayed and the other which was miraculously
preserved. 50 It is Joseph's preserved garment that is men-
tioned by Moroni in Alma 46:24: "Jacob ... saw that a part
of the remnant of the coat of Joseph was preserved anJ had
THEGARMENTOF ADAM 713

not decayed. And he said-Even as this remnant of gar-

ment of my son hath been preserved, so shall a remnant of
the seed of my son be preserved by the hand of God, and be
taken unto himself, while the remainder of the seed of
Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of his garment."
The Talmudic tractate Arakhin explains the various parts
of the priestly garments:
R. 'Anani b. Sason said: Why is the portion about the
priestly garments placed next to the portion about the
sacrifices? It is to tell you that just as sacrifices procure
atonement, so do the priestly garments. The tunic pro-
cures atonement for bloodshed, as it is written: And they
dipped the coat in the blood. The breeches procure atone-
ment for incest, as it is written: And thou shalt make
them linen breeches to cover the flesh of their nakedness.
The mitre procures atonement for those of arrogant mind,
in accord with what R. Hanina taught; for he said: Let
that which is [placed] high procure atonement for acts of
haughtiness. The girdle procures atonement for sinful
thoughts of the heart, [for it atones] where it is [worn].
The breastplate procures atonement for [error in] legal
decisions, as it is written: And thou shalt make a breast-
plate of judgment. The ephod procures atonement for
idolatry, as it is written: And without ephod or teraphim.
The robe procures atonement for slander, for the Holy
One, blessed be He, said: Let that which emits a sound
procure atonement for an act of sound [the voice]. The
[golden] plate procures atonement for impudent deeds,
for there it is written: And it shall be upon Aaron's fore-
head.5'

In Ezekiel 28:13, we have what may be the only canoni-

cal mention of Adam's garment outside of Genesis. 52 Ezekiel
says that in the Garden of Eden, the sardius, topaz, dia-
mond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, carbuncle,
and gold were the covering that was to be found on those
714 STEPHEN D. RICKS

who dwelled there. These stones are also found on the high
priest's garment, as we see in Exodus 28:17-20. This pas-
sage in Ezekiel may be seen as an early attempt to connect
Adam's clothing with that of the high priest. As in
Revelation 4:3, precious gems are used as an indication of
the glory of the divine presence. 53 The Ezekiel Targum states
that the garments were covered with various stones, and
the stones in turn were inlaid in gold. This fits the descrip-
tion of the high priest's garment found in Exodus 28 more
closely than the description given of the clothing in Ezekiel
28.54

3. Garments of Adam as Heavenly Robes

Louis Ginzberg, in his Legends of the Jews, says that "we
shall not go astray if we identify them [Adam's garments]
with the celestial robes of the pious, frequently mentioned
in pseudepigraphic literature, and in early Christian as
well as kabbalistic writings." 55 The heavenly garment is
described as a "shining garment" or "garments of light."
"Garment of light" is the same imagery that we find in the
description of Adam's garment. 56
According to Rabbi Akiba, when Michael and Gabriel
lead all the sinners up out of hell, "they will wash and anoint
them, healing them of their wounds of hell, and clothe them
with beautiful, pure garments and lead them into the pres-
ence of God." 57 Washing, anointing, and clothing are men-
tioned as a preparation for marriage in ancient Israel. "Then
washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away
thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed
thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers'
skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered
thee with silk" (Ezekiel 16:9-10). Similar ceremonies are
mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament (see Ruth 3:3)
THEGARMENTOF ADAM 715

and in other parts of the ancient Near East as well. 58 Aaron

and his sons participated in a complex ritual of washing,
anointing, and clothing in priestly garments that qualified
them for temple service. The ritual, outlined in Exodus 29,
comprised a multi part ceremony, including: (1) ritual ablu-
tions, or the washing with water (Exodus 29:4); (2) the vest-
ing rite, wherein Aaron was given eight sacred garments
(Exodus 29:5-6; the sons of Aaron were also vested); (3) the
ceremony with "the anointing oil," which was first poured
upon the recipient's head and then smeared (Exodus 29:7).
The ordination of Aaron, recorded in Leviticus 8, runs along
similar lines. First, Moses "washed [Aaron and his sons]
with water" (Leviticus 8:6); "He put upon" Aaron the
priestly garment (Leviticus 8:7-9); thereafter Moses
anointed Aaron after he "took the anointing oil, and
anointed the tabernacle" and all of its vessels and appurte-
nances, including the altar (Leviticus 8:10-11). 59
The pseudepigraphic Testamentof Levi contains an out-
standing example of washing, anointing, and clothing:
And the first man anointed me with holy oil, and
gave me a staff of judgment. The second washed me with
pure water, fed me with bread and wine, the holiest
things, and clad me with a holy and glorious robe. The
third clothed me with a linen vestment like an ephod.
The fourth put round me a girdle like unto purple ....
The sixth placed a crown on my head. The seventh placed
on my head a priestly diadem and filled my hands with
incense, that I might serve as a priest to the Lord God. 60

The process of washing, anointing, and clothing in this

and other priestly (and nonpriestly) settings is, according to
Widengren and Jensen, strongly reminiscent of coronation
ceremonies in the ancient Near East. 61
In the ancient baptismal ceremonies of the early
716 STEPHEN D. RICKS

Christian church, those baptized received an anointing, a

white robe, and a ritual meal. 62 These garments were "com-
monly worn for eight days and were metaphorically called
the garments of Christ or the mystical garments." 63
Both the heavenly robe and Adam's garment were seen,
in ancient times, to be a sign of honor and a reward for the
righteous. In the TargumOnkelosto Genesis we read, "And
the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of
honor (to be worn) upon the skin of their flesh, and He
clothed them." 64 In the Dead Sea Scrolls Community Rule, the
faithful were to receive "life everlasting, and a crown of
glory and a robe of honor, amid light perpetual." 65 In 4 Ezra,
Ezra sees in a vision the pious in heaven, and the angel
explains that "these are they who have put off mortal cloth-
ing and put on the immortal, and they have confessed the
name of God; now they are being crowned, and receive
palms." 66 In another passage in 4 Ezra, the writer calls for
the people Israel to make up their minds about who is righ-
teous and who is not, again using the imagery of the reward
of the heavenly garment: "Those who have departed from
the shadow of this age have received glorious garments
from the Lord. Take again your full number, 0 Zion, and
conclude the list of your people who are clothed in white,
who have fulfilled the law of the Lord." 67 A similar picture
is portrayed in 1 Enoch, where it also emphasizes the age-
lessness of the garments: the righteous "shall have been
clothed with garments of glory, and these shall be the gar-
ments of life from the Lord of Spirits; and your garments
shall not grow old." 68 Philo, not uncharacteristically, spiri-
tualizes the garment: "The heavenly garment of light is the
garment of the priesthood," 69 and "putting on the garment
of light is another way of saying that God reveals the Logos
by the light which radiated from it." 70
THEGARMENTOF ADAM 717

Jewish sources show how the heavenly garment is held

up as a "prize" for the righteous upon their return to the
Father. In the Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah, Isaiah
receives a vision in which the Lord says to him, "He who is
to be in the corruptible world has not (yet) been revealed,
nor the robed, nor the thrones, nor the crowns which are
placed (there) for the righteous, for those who believe that
Lord who will descend in your form." 71 Isaiah is later told
by the Lord that "the holy Isaiah is permitted to come up
here, for his robe is here." 72 Strikingly, the process is re-
versed when Isaiah returns to the earth: "And you shall
return into your robe until your days are complete; then
you shall come here." 73
In the Christian tradition, the garment, besides being a
symbol of the paradisiacal robes of Adam and Eve, is con-
nected with the glory of the martyrs and the resurrection of
the body. Tertullian, commenting on Revelation 7:13-14,
writes: "We find in scripture an allusion to garments as
being the symbol of the hope of the flesh ... this symbolism
also furnishes us with an argument for bodily resurrec-
tion."74Further, the heavenly garment itself plays an impor-
tant role as a reward for the righteous upon their death: "It
was a widespread belief in Christian Antiquity that the
dead who went forth to eternal life were clothed with a
white garment." 75In his message to the church at Sardis,
John writes, "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed
in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the
book of life" (Revelation 3:5). Under the altar John also saw
the souls of those who were killed for the word of God, and
he saw that "white robes were given unto every one of
them" (Revelation 6:9, 11). In a vision of the heavens, he
saw "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all
nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," standing
718 STEPHEN D. RICKS

"before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands" (Revelation 7:9).
Describing a vision of heaven, Perpetua says in the early
Christian Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas:"And I went up,
and saw a vast expanse of garden, and in the midst a man
sitting with white hair, in the dress of a shepherd, a tall
man, milking sheep; and round about were many thousand
clad in white." 76
In both the Jewish and Christian traditions are accounts
of righteous souls borne to heaven on, or wrapped in,
sacred vestments. According to the Testament of Abraham,
immediately after Abraham's death, "Michael the archangel
stood beside him with multitudes of angels, and they bore
his precious soul in their hands in divinely woven linen." 77
In the Apocalypse of Moses, after Adam sinned he imme-
diately knew that he was deprived of the righteousness
with which he had been clothed. 78 When near death, how-
ever, Adam received the assurance that God would not for-
get him. After he died, his spirit was taken to the third
heaven, while his body was covered with three linen cloths
brought by angels from the third heaven. 79 In the early
Christian Narrative of Zosimus, the angels "rejoice at the
spotless soul coming forth, and unfold their garments to
receive it." 80 In the Coptic Life of Pachomiuswe read that at
the point of death, an angel wraps the soul in a large spiri-
tual garment and two angels bear him to heaven, one hold-
ing the ends of the garment behind, the other holding the
ends of the garment in front of the soul. 81 Strikingly, in one
of these accounts-the Encomium of Eustathius-the phrase
"garment of light" is used to describe the robe in which the
soul of the righteous departed is carried to heaven: "We saw
[Michael] standing and spreading out his garment of light
to invite the soul of that blessed woman." 82 Even the angels
THEGARMENTOF ADAM 719

are sometimes described as being clad in white. Enoch

describes the "sons of the holy angels walking upon the
flame of fire; their garments were white-and their over-
coats-and the light of their faces was like snow." 83
Just as the garment of Adam is associated with the
priestly garb, so the priest's garment can be seen as a type
of the heavenly garment that the pious are to receive as a
reward in the afterlife. 3 Enoch has possibly the best ex-
ample of the parallels between the rewards of the righteous
and the clothing of the high priest:
Out of the love which he had for me, more than for
all the denizens of the heights, the Holy One, blessed be
he, fashioned for me a majestic robe, in which all kinds of
luminaries were set, and he clothed me in it. He fash-
ioned for me a glorious cloak in which brightness, bril-
liance, splendor, and luster of every kind were fixed, and
he wrapped me in it. He fashioned for me a kingly crown
in which 49 refulgent stones were placed each like the
sun's orb, and its brilliance shone into the four quarters
of the heaven of Arabot, into the seven heavens, and into
the four quarters of the world. He set it upon my head
and he called me, "The lesser YHWH" in the presence of
his whole household of the height, as it is written, My
name is in him."4

Note here that the Lord clothes Enoch with a robe cov-
ered by precious stones, like the high priest's robe, and then
places a kingly crown upon his head and calls Enoch "The
lesser YHWH," in effect crowning him to become a vassal
king. In a previous chapter we also find:
The Holy One, blessed be he, made for me a throne
like the throne of glory, and he spread over it a coverlet
of splendor, brilliance, brightness, beauty, loveliness, and
grace, like the coverlet of the throne of glory, in which all
the varied splendor of the luminaries that are in the
720 STEPHEN D. RICKS

world is set. He placed it at the door of the seventh

heaven and sat me down upon it. 85

Just as the garments of the priest are made "after the

pattern" of the garment of God, we see here the throne
being after the pattern of the throne of the Lord. In the
Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah, for example, we find that
11
above all the heavens and their angels is placed your
throne, and also your robes and your crown which you are
to see." 86
At the same time, the high priest's garment is "after the
pattern of the holy garment of the Lord." The garment of
the high priest was seen as being identical to those of the
Lord. Exodus Rabbah says, "For this reason did God give
unto him [the high priest] a garment after the pattern of the
holy garment [of the Lord]." 87 The History of the Rechabites
holds that the primary duty of angels who come to meet the
soul immediately after death is to tell the soul that the Lord
wants the soul to come to him immediately, after which
they give the soul its garment.
As the bride rejoices over her betrothed bridegroom,
so the soul rejoices at the good news of holy angels. For
they (the angels) say to it nothing except this alone: "O
pure soul, your Lord is calling you to come to him." Then
the soul with great rejoicing leaves the body to meet the
angel. And seeing that pure soul, which has (just) left the
body, all the holy angels unfold (for it) their shining
stoles. And they receive it with joy, saying, "Blessed are
you, 0 pure soul, the blest; for you have thoroughly done
the will of God your Lord."""

Conclusion
In summary, the source of our knowledge of the gar-
ment of Adam is Genesis. But where the account in Genesis
THE GARMENT OF ADAM 721

is strikingly spare, later Jewish and Muslim traditions are

unswerving in describing its sacredness: it was divinely
bestowed; it was originally a garment of skin; the skin itself
may have been of some extraordinary origin such as
Leviathan; it was a primordial creation, created on Friday
evening; its celestial origins justify its use as priestly garb;
its sacred nature and force as a symbol of authority was rec-
ognized by others who could either use or abuse them
(Nimrod is a prime example of this); and the garment of
Adam is seen as the type of the heavenly garb that would
be acquired by the righteous.
These traditions show Adam, the first man, "in commu-
nion with God and clothed with righteousness, glory, and
honor." 89 But Adam-and, by extension, all mankind-had
"sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23,
NIV). 90 The vestments given to Adam symbolize the dignity
of fallen man and the possibility of restoring to him the
glory of God that he had originally enjoyed. 91 Just as the old
spiritual says, "All God's chillun got robes" as a sign of
reward and honor, those who fear God will receive a share
of his glory. 92
Notes
1. I wish to thank F. V. Greifenhagen, Hugh W. Nibley, Arthur
Pollard, and Darell D. Thorpe for sharing with me unpublished work
they have done on the subject of the garment of Adam. It has proven
immensely useful to me in the preparation of this paper.
2. While in the text of this essay I shall focus on the Jewish,
Christian, and Islamic traditions, in the footnotes I shall allow myself
to range somewhat more widely, exploring the motif of sacred gar-
ments in other ancient traditions as well.
3. Philo, in Quaestiones in Genesim I, 53, says that "the coat of skin
simply means the human body," an idea shared by some rabbis since
the Hebrew word 'or may either have the sense "skin of an animal"
or "human skin"; cf. J. Harris, Odes of Solomon (Cambridge:
University Press, 1911), 66-70, and J.M. Evans, Paradise Lost and the
GenesisTradition (Oxford: Clarendon, 1968), 70, 84-85, where he refers
722 STEPHEN D. RICKS

to this notion as "semi-Gnostic." According to Jonathan Z. Smith,

"The Garments of Shame," in Map TsNot Territory (Leiden: Brill,
1978), 16-17, "before their expulsion from Eden, Adam and Eve had
bodies or garments of light, but that after the expulsion, they received
bodies of flesh or a covering of skin." On this there is a "similar tra-
dition regarding the bodies of light and skin in Samaritan, Christian,
and Gnostic sources"; Irenaeus, Refutatio Omnium Heresium, I, 5, 5, in
PG, 7:500-501; according to Tertullian, Adversus Valentinianos 24, in
PL, 2:614, this is a Valentinian idea (the same is suggested in
Tertullian, De Resurrectione Carnis 7, in PL, 2:849, where he also
explains that this cannot be correct since, from the creation of Eve
from himself, Adam had been aware of his flesh). Perhaps basing his
statement on Philo, Origen, in Contra Celsum IV, 40, in PG, 11:1093,
says that "They received garments of skin at the time of the fall,"
which Louis Ginzberg, in LJ, 5:103, understands to be "bodies, since
before the fall they were spiritual beings." The notion of the garment
as a "splendid robe" is also to be found in early Christianity, The Pearl
9: "And they took off from me the spendid robe/Which in their love
they had wrought for me," in Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schnee-
melcher, New Testament Apocrypha, tr. R. M. Wilson, 2 vols. (Phila-
delphia: Westminster, 1965), 2:498.
4. Genesis Rabbah 18:6 on Genesis 2:25; cf. S. David Garber, "Sym-
bolism of Heavenly Robes in the New Testament in Comparison with
Gnostic Thought," Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1974, 48.
5. Genesis Rabbah 20:12 on Genesis 3:21; cf. Smith, "The Garments
of Shame," 16-17. According to Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer 14 and Genesis
Rabbah 196, when Eve partook of the fruit, "her glorious outer skin, a
sheet of light smooth as a fingernail, had fallen away." Similarly,
Samael, according to 3 Baruch 9:7, took the form of a serpent "as a
garment" in order to deceive Adam. When God cursed the serpent,
he caused it to lose its skin every year, even as Adam lost his skin of
light when he became naked; cf. Micha Joseph bin Gorion, Die Sagen
der Juden, 5 vols. (Frankfurt: Rutten & Loening, 1913-27), 1:96.
6. This section of the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-~afa can be found in
Friedrich Dieterici, Thier und Mensch var dem Konig der Genien
(Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1879), 97; English translation in The Case of the
Animals versus Man Before the King of the Jinn, tr. Lenn E. Goodman
(Boston: Twayne, 1978), 161.
7. Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer 20 on Genesis 3:21.
8. See LJ, 5:103.
9. 3 Baruch (Greek) 9:7; in the Slavonic version of the same verse, it
reads "he covered himself with the serpent."
THE GARMENT OF ADAM 723

10. See bin Gorion, Sagen der Juden, 1:96.

11. Pirqede Rabbi Eliezer 10 on Genesis 3:10.
12. See bin Gorion, Sagen der Juden, 1:290-91.
13. Odes of Solomon25:8; cf. 11:9-10, 13:2, 20:7, 21:2, 33:10; Gospelof
Truth 20:30-34.
14. Cited in Danielou, Bibleand Liturgy, 51.
15. Gregory of Nyssa, De Oratione Dominica, Oratio 5, in PG,
44:1184 B.C.; Refutatio Omnium Heresium III, 23, 5, in PG, 7:963-64.
In the Armenian Book of Adam 28-29, in Erwin Preuschen, Die
apokryphischen gnostischen Adamschriften (Giessen: Ricker, 1900),
52-53, cited in Robert Graves and Raphael Patai, The HebrewMyths:
The Book of Genesis (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964), 77-78, Adam
responded to Eve's transformation by saying, '"Eve, I would rather
die than outlive you. If Death were to claim your spirit, God could
never console me with another woman equaling your loveliness!' So
saying, he tasted the fruit, and the outer skin of light fell away from
him also." The same tradition is also to be found among the
Samaritans; cf. John MacDonald, The Theology of the Samaritans
(London: SCM, 1964), 138.
16. Garments of white linen are already prescribed for the priests
in ancient Israel (see Exodus 39:27); the twenty-four elders in the
Revelation of John who celebrate the heavenly rites are clothed in
white (see Revelation 4:1) as are the martyrs who have triumphed
over Satan (see Revelation 3:5, 18). Hugh Nibley points out in The
Message of the JosephSmith Papyri:An Egyptian Endowment (Salt Lake
City: Deseret Book, 1975), 247, that "the classic robe of the initiate
throughout the East has always been and still is the pure white
(Plutarch, de Isid., 77) wrap thrown over the shoulder, which also rep-
resents an embrace; ... everything should be white." The white color
of the garment is also mentioned by Gregory of Nyssa, De Vita
Moysis, in PG, 44:409B; In Canticum Canticorum, Homilia 1, in PG,
44:764D, Homilia 11, in PG, 44:1005B-D; De Oratione Dominica,
Orationes 2 and 5, in PG, 46:600; Theodore of Mopsuestia, On Baptism
4, A. Mingana, ed. (Cambridge: University Press, 1933), 68, 202;
Paulus Warnfridus, De Gestis Lungobardorum VI, 15; Venantius
Fortunatus, sixth-century bishop of Poi tiers, in one of his poems,
cited in Cote, Archaeology of Baptism, 54; see also Proclus, Codex
Sinaiticus Graecus 491, f. 138 v-139, cited in Thomas M. Finn, The
Liturgy of Baptism in the Baptismal Instructions of St. John Chrysostom
(Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1967), 189,
191, where the phrase is lampr6n t6 estheta, "the shining garment"; W.
Burghardt, "Cyril of Alexandria on 'Wool and Linen,'" Traditio 2
724 STEPHEN D. RICKS

(1944): 484-86; Jean Danielou, The Bibleand the Liturgy (South Bend:
University of Notre Dame Press, 1956), 50-51; John Edward Farrell,
"The Garment of Immortality: A Concept and Symbol in Christian
Baptism," S.T.D. thesis, Catholic University of America, 1974, 227-81;
Finn, The Liturgy of Baptism, 191-97; Leonel Mitchell, Baptismal
Anointing (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966), 41,
75, 98, 127, 129, 178; J. Ohleyer, The PaulineFormula'InduereChristum':
With SpecialReferenceto the Worksof St. John Chrysostom(Washington,
D.C.: Catholic University of America, 1921), 33-52; Johannes
Quasten, "A Pythagorean Idea in St. Jerome," American Journal of
Philology63 (1942): 206-15; Leo Spitzer, "Additional Note on 'Wool
and Linen' in Jerome," American Journalof Philology64 (1943): 98-99,
who cites a passage from Augustine to further corroborate Quasten' s
point and stresses the contrast between the interior and exterior.
White garments were also regularly employed in the worship of
the heavenly deities-indeed, on ceremonial occasions generally-
among the Romans; cf. Cicero, De LegibusII, 45; Horace, SatiraeII, 2,
60-61; Ovid, Amores II, 13, 23; Fasti II, 654; IV, 619-20; Metamorphoses
X, 431-35; Tristia III, 13, 13-14; V, 5, 7-8; Persius II, 39-40; Servius,
Commentariusin Aeneidem X, 539; Tibullus II, 1, 16; Propertius IV, 6,
71. Similarly, white garments are used in ancient Greece; see
Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon 77; Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historia
Alexandri IV, 15, 27; and in the cult of the Syrian goddess; cf. Lucian,
De Syria Dea 42; Apuleius, MetamorphosesVIII, 27. For modern dis-
cussions, see Mary Emma Armstrong, The Significance of Certain
Colors in Roman Ritual (Menasha, WI: Banta, 1917), 35; Hans
Berkusky, "Zur Symbolik der Farben," Zeitschrift des Vereins fur
Volkskunde 23 (1913): 153-63; Karl Mayer, Die Bedeutung der weissen
Farbeim Kultus der Griechenund Romer (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1927),
19-28; Julius von Negelein, "Die volkstiimliche Bedeutung der weis-
sen Farbe," Zeitschriftfar Ethnologie33 (1901): 53-85; Gerhard Radke,
Die Bedeutung der weiflen und der schwarzen Farbein Kult und Brauch
der Griechenund Romer (Jena: Neuenhahn, 1936), 58-63. There is also
substantial archaeological evidence for white baptismal robes; cf.
Marion Ireland, TextileArt in the Church (Nashville: Abingdon, 1971),
73.
17. As Richard N. Longenecker, Galatians (Waco: Word Books,
1990), 156, notes, the Greek verb endui5"with a personal object means
to take on the characteristics, virtues, and/ or intentions of the one
referred to, and so to become like that person." Thus, in this instance,
the phrase means "you took on yourselves Christ's characteristics,
virtues, and intentions, and so became like him," a phrase that may
THE GARMENT OF ADAM 725

have been "suggested to early Christian by baptismal candidates

divesting themselves of clothing before baptism and then being
reclothed afterwards"; cf. G. R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New
Testament (London: Macmillan, 1963), 148-49; James D. G. Dunn,
Baptism in the Holy Spirit (London: SCM, 1970), 110; C. F. D. Moule,
Worship in the New Testament (London: Lutterworth, 1961), 52-53.
E. C. Ratcliff, "The Relation of Confirmation to Baptism in the Early
Roman and Byzantine Liturgies-I," Theology49 (1946): 263, states
further that Galatians 3:27 probably "refers to the clothing of the
company of the baptized with white robes"; see also Tertullian, De
Baptismo13, in PL, 1:1323.
18. See Erik Peterson, Pour une theologiedu vetement, trans. M.-J.
Congar (Lyon: Edition de I'Abeille, 1943), 6-13. Various iconographic
sources of the baptismal garment are to be found in Hanns
Swarzenski, Monuments of RomanesqueArt (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1967), pl. 20, fig. 45; pl. 173, figs. 380 and 381. Roger
Adams, "The Iconography of Early Christian Initiation: Evidence for
Baptism for the Dead," unpublished Final Project Report, Third
Annual Commissioner's Research Fellowship, Church Educational
System, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1977, 51, is
not reflecting the full range of the early Christian tradition when he
states that "the garment that will be placed upon the catechumen at
baptism is equated to the garment of skin placed upon Adam at the
time of the fall." The range of symbolic and mystagogical meanings
given to the garment is very wide, including "a symbol of union with
the risen Christ," "a symbol for purity of life," "a symbol of forgive-
ness of sins"; see Hugh M. Riley, Christian Initiation: A Comparative
Study of the Interpretation of the Baptismal Liturgy in the Mystagogical
Writings of Cyril of Jerusalem,John Chrysostom,Theodoreof Mopsuestia,
and Ambrose of Milan (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of
America Press, 1974), 413-55, esp. 413-15.
19. De OrationeDominica,Oratio 5, in PG, 44:1184 B-C.
20. In Jewish tradition, the fig tree is frequently associated with the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Genesis Rabbah 15:7, cf. TB
Berakhot40a; TB Sanhedrin70a-b; Rashi, On GenesisIII, 7, and see J. M.
Evans, Paradise Lost and the Genesis Tradition (Oxford: Clarendon,
1968), 45-46. In The Book of the Bee, tr. E. A. Wallis Budge (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1886), 23, the garments that Adam and Eve were clothed
in after their transgression was neither the skin of animals (since they
only came in pairs), nor their own flesh, but the "skin of trees," i.e.,
their bark. In the view of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Fragmenta in
Genesim 3:22, in PG, 66:641, however, the garments of skin given to
 726 STEPHEN D. RICKS

Adam and Eve were not the skins of animals, since there was no sac-
rifice at that time, nor were they created ex nihilo, hence "they must
have been made of the skin or inner bark of trees."
21. Gregory of Nyssa, In Baptismum Christi, in PG, 46:600A; cf.
Gregory's statement about the father of the Prodigal Son clothing
him with a robe: "not with some other garment, but with the first,
that of which he was stripped by his disobedience" (De Oratione
Dominica, in PG, 44:1144 B; In Canticum Canticorum, Homilia 11, in
PG, 44:1005 D); see also Danielou, Bibleand Liturgy, 50-51.
22. See Finn, Liturgy of Baptism, 147-49; Danielou, Bible and Lit-
urgy, 39-40, who cites Cyril of Jerusalem, in PG, 33:1080A: "How
wonderful! You were naked before the eyes of all without feeling any
shame. This is because you truly carry within you the image of the
first Adam, who was naked in Paradise without feeling any shame";
cf. Theodore of Mopsuestia, On Baptism XIV, 8, in Mingana,
ed., Commentary of Theodoreof Mopsuestia, 54; Gregory of Nyssa, De
Virginitate 12, in PG, 46:374D; In Baptismum Christi, in PG, 46:600A;
John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions XI, 28-29; Hippolytus,
Apostolic Tradition XXI, 3; DidascaliaApostolorum 16; Germanus, Ora-
tio 2 in Dominici Corporis Sepulturam, in PG, 98:289. Margaret R.
Miles, Carnal Knowing: FemaleNakedness and Religious Meaning in the
Christian West (Boston: Beacon, 1989), 24-52, esp. 35-36, provides a
number of other meanings for baptismal nakedness in the ortho-
dox and heterodox traditions, including "stripping off the 'old
man with his deeds,'" "imitation of Christ," "leaving the world,''
"death and rebirth,'' "new life," "quasi-martyrdom," and "bridal
chamber." Cultic nakedness is well attested in the ancient world
(cf. Smith, "Garments of Shame," 2-6). Eckstein, "nackt, Nacktheit,''
in E. Hoffmann-Krayer and Hanns Bachtold-Staubli, ed., Hand-
worterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, 10 vols. (Berlin: De Gruyter,
1927), 5:823-916, provides an excellent introduction to the topic of
nakedness in religion and folklore; see also Gustav Anrich, Das an-
tike Mysterienwesen in seinem Einfluss auf das Christentum (Gi:it-
tingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1894), 200-205; E. A. S. But-
terworth, The Tree at the Navel of the Earth (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1970),
71-78; Farrell, "Garment of Immortality," 60-127; J. Heckenbach, De
Nuditate Sacra Sacrisque Vinculis (Giefsen: Topelmann, 1911), 8-34;
Heuser, "Nacktheit," F. X. Kraus, ed., Real-Encyklopiidie der christ-
lichen Altertilmer, 2 vols. (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1886),
2:465-67; Hans Leisegang, "The Mystery of the Serpent," in The
Mysteries, ed. Joseph Campbell (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1978), 236-41; Walter A Muller, Nacktheit und Entblofiung in der
THE GARMENT OF ADAM 727

altorientalischenund iilterengriechischenKunst (Leipzig: Teubner, 1906);

Peter Nagel, Die Motivierung der Askese in der a/ten Kirche und der
Ursprung des Monchtums (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1966), 91-94;
Friedrich Pfister, "Nacktheit," in Paulys Realencyclopiidieder classischen
Altertumswissenschaft, ed. Georg Wissowa (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1935),
16:1541-49; Karl Weinhold, Zur Geschichte des heidnischen Ritus, in
Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin
(1896), 1:1-50.
23. Cf. Quasten, "A Pythagorean Idea in St. Jerome," 212, who
observes that "the garment of linen is the garment of immortality
according to religious and philosophic considerations of antiquity.
There is one line going from Jerome to Apuleius, Plutarch, and
Herodotus." Burghardt, "Cyril of Alexandria on 'Wool and Linen,'"
485, sees in Cyril of Alexandria's De Adoratione et Cultu in Spiritu et
Veritate XI, 390, in PG, 68:749, a melding of an ancient Pythagorean
principle with a Neo-Platonist, spiritualizing one: "With the Pythago-
reans Cyril enunciates the general principle that wool is the symbol
of death, since its origin is an animal destined to die. The implication
is, of course, that the contrasted linen is a symbol of life and immor-
tality. With the Neo-Platonists he refines the general principle, so as
to see in the garments of wool dead works, that is, the works of pas-
sion and sin that bring spiritual death. To don garments of linen,
therefore, is to renounce the works that lead to spiritual death, and
by implication, to embrace those that lead to life and immortality.
The new element is the interpretation that sees in the coolness of
linen the chilling of passion"; see also Philip Oppenheim, Das
Monchskleid im christlichen Altertum (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder,
1931), 57-65, on linen and wool garments.
24. Jerome, Epistle LXIV, 19, in PL, 22:613.
25. In the Christian tradition, the white garment of the baptizand,
besides being a symbol of the paradisiacal robes of Adam and Eve, is
connected with the glory of the martyrs and the resurrection of the
body; see below.
26. See Finn, Liturgy of Baptism, 146--49;Danielou, Bibleand Liturgy,
39--40, who cites Cyril of Jerusalem, CatechesisXX. MystagogicaII. De
Baptismi Caeremoniis, in PG, 33:1080A: "How wonderful! You were
naked before the eyes of all without feeling any shame. This is
because you truly carry within you the image of the first Adam, who
was naked in Paradise without feeling any shame"; cf. Thedore of
Mopsuestia, On Baptism XIV, 8, in Commentary of Theodore of
Mopsuestia, ed. Mingana, 54; Gregory of Nyssa, De Virginitate 12, in
PG, 46:374D; In Baptismum Christi, in PG, 46:600A; Adams, "Icon-
728 STEPHEN D. RICKS

ography of Early Christian Initiation," 51, where he cites Jean

Danielou, Bible and Liturgy, 13, on Theodore's commentary on bap-
tism. In a ritual described in the Gnostic 2 Jeu 47, Christ performs a
ritual in which "all his disciples were clothed in linen garment and
crowned with myrtle."
27. See Genesis Rabbah 18:6 on Genesis 2:25.
28. See Genesis Rabbah 19:6 on Genesis 3:7. The fourth-century
Church Father Hilary gave an allegorizing turn to the story of Jesus
cursing the fig tree, which he said was the same tree as that from
which Adam made his clothes, "for which reason the branch of the
fig tree is the Antichrist, while its blossoms that blossom in the sum-
mertime signify sin" (Commentarius in Matthaeum 26, in PL, 9:
1056-57).
29. Cf. Yves Marquet, La philosophic des [~wan al-f:jafa' (Algiers:
Etudes et Documents, 1973), 217.
30. See Al-ThaclabI, Qi~af?al-Anbiya (Cairo: Mustafa al-Babr al-
I:JalabI wa-Awladuhu, A.H. 1345), 21.
31. Jubilees3:26-27, 31; cf. 7:20.
32. Erwin Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period,
13 vols. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1953-68), 1:28.
33. The garment as a sign of authority is found in the Gnostic
Gospel of Philip 57, which says, "In this world those who put on the
garment are better than the garment. In the kingdom of heaven the
garments are better than those who have put them on." This may
mean that the garment of the person in heaven have more power
than the person alone. We find an even more convincing passage in
Pistis Sophia 1:9, where Jesus is given authority immediately after (or
through) his putting on his garment after his death: "It happened
now when Jesus finished these words to his disciples, He continued
again with the discourse, and he said to them, 'Behold, I have put on
my garment and all authority is given to me through the first mys-
tery.'"
34. See LJ, 5:103. During the Middle Ages the traditions of Adam's
garments of light and his priestly garments were combined in the
Yalqut 1:34 in ibid., 5:104: "God made high-priestly garments for
Adam which were like those of the angels; but when he sinned, God
took them away from him." According to Garber, "Symbolism of
Heavenly Robes," 50, "This was an attempt to retain 'skin' ('or) in
Genesis 3:21 without losing the sense of "light" ('or)." Similarly, Zahar
1:36b starts, "at first they had coats of light, which procured them in
the service of the highest of the high, for the celestial angels used to
come to enjoy that light. ... After their sins they had only coats of
THE GARMENT OF ADAM 729

skin good for the body but not for the soul." Here we see that the gar-
ment of skin (temporal) mirrors the garment of light (spiritual).
According to Smith, "Garments of Shame," 16, "before their expul-
sion from Eden, Adam and Eve had bodies or garments of light, but
that after the expulsion, they received bodies of flesh or a covering of
skin"; cf. Sverre Aalen, Die Begriffe "Licht" und "Finsternis" im a/ten
Testament, im Spiitjudentum und Rabbinismus (Oslo: Dwybad, 1951),
198-99,265-66,282-85.
35. Numbers Rabbah 4:8 on Numbers 3:45.
36. See Genesis Rabbah20:12.
37. Midrash Tantzuma 1:24.
38. In the Mandaean religion, there is a similar belief that the
garment of Adam was inherited by Noah, Das Johannesbuchder Man-
diier,ed. and trans. Mark Lidzbarski (Giessen: Topelmann, 1905-15),
83; see Hans Schoeps, Urgemeinde, Judenchristentum, Gnosis
(Tu.bingen: Mohr, 1956), 53. Cain, it appears, may have had this gar-
ment before Seth, but cast it off when he chose to follow evil, Ginza:
Der Schatz oder das grojJe Buch der Mandiier, trans. Mark Lidzbarski
(Gi_)ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1925), 128.
39. See bin Gorion, Sagen der Juden, 2:370.
40. See LJ, 1:177; bin Gorion, Sagen der Juden, 2:19. The supernat-
ural power of the garment can be seen in the Testament of Job
46:7-53:8. The garment protects Job, and enables his daughters to
speak in tongues and to proclaim the glory of God when they put it
on.
41. See Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer 24; cf. LJ, 1:177; M. Sel, "Nimrod," in
The Jewish Encyclopedia, 12 vols. (New York: Funk and Wagnalls,
1905), 9:309. According to another source, recounted in bin Gorion,
Sagen der Juden, 2:19-20, Cush loved Nimrod, the child, "and gave
him a skin garment, which God had made for Adam as he went out
of the Garden of Eden." From Adam the garment passed by descent
to Enoch, Methusaleh, and Noah, from whom Ham stole it as they
were coming out of the Ark. Ham gave it to his firstborn Cush, who
gave it to Nimrod. Interestingly, according to Jacob of Serug, nimrah
means "tiger, "crown," and "striped garment," B. Vandenhoff, "Die
Gotterliste des Mar Jakob von Sarug in seiner Homilie uber den Fall
der Gotzenbilder,"Oriens Clzristianus 5 (1915): 240-41. According to
Jasher7:29, "Cush was concealed then from his sons and brothers and
when Cush had begotten Nimrod, he gave him those garments
through his love for him, and Nimrod grew up, and when he was
twenty years old he put on those garments, and Nimrod became
730 STEPHEN D. RICKS

strong when he put on the garments ... and he hunted the animals
and he built altars, and he offered the animals before the Lord."
42. Bernhard Beer, Das Leben Abraham's nach Auffassung der Jiidis-
chen Sage (Leipzig: Leiner, 1859), 7.
43. See bin Gorion, Sagen der Juden, 2:365-66; cf. Pirqe de Rabbi
Eliezer 24; /asher 27:7. In the Apocalypse of Abraham 13, the garment is
passed on to Abraham: when Satan was rebuked for taunting Adam
and Eve after their transgression, God tells him that the garment that
had belonged to him in heaven would be given to Abraham.
44. See Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer 24.
45. Numbers Rabbah 4:8; cf. bin Gorion, Sagen der Juden, 2:371. In
other sources, Jacob is said to have stolen the garment from Esau,
Pirqe de Rabbi Eliezer 24. However, as ]asher 26:17 indicates, Esau
deserved to lose the garment: "Esau was a designing and a deceitful
man, and an expert hunter in the field, and Jacob was a man perfect
and wise." When Nimrod, king of Babel "went to hunt in the field
... Nimrod was watching Esau all the days, for a jealousy was
formed in the heart of Nimrod against Esau" (lasher27:2-3). But Esau
lay in ambush, cut off Nimrod's head, and "took the garments of
Nimrod ... with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land, and
he ran and concealed them in his house," and this was the birthright
he sold to Jacob (lasher 27:7, 10).
46. Bin Gorion, Sagen der Juden, 2:371.
47. See Hippolytus, Fragmenta in Genesin 3, in PG, 10:604.
48. See al-Tha'labr, Qi?a?al-Anbiya, 79.
49. See ibid; according to Marc Philonenko, "Les interpolations
chretiennes des Testaments des Douze Patriarches et Jes manuscrits
de Qoumran," Revue d'Histoire et PhilosophieRcligieuse 39 (1959): 30,
the author of the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs "places peculiar
emphasis on the stealing of Joseph's garment by his brothers .... They
envied him because of it-apparently it was the mark of singular
superiority."
50. See Testament of Zebulon 4:11; al-Tha'labI, Qi?a~al-Anbiya, 80.
51. TB Arakhin 16a.
52. There is considerable discussion on the meaning of this pas-
sage, as well as its proper referents. See Leslie C. Allen, Ezekiel 20-48
(Dallas: Word Books, 1990), 89-95; P.-M. Bogaert, "Montaigne sainte,
jardin d'Eden et sanctuaire (hierosolymitain) clans un oracle
d'Ezechiel contre le prince de Tyre (Ez. 28:11-19)," Homo Religiosus 9
(1983): 131-53; N. C. Habel, "Ezekiel 28 and the Fall of the First Man,"
Concordia TheologicalMonthly 38 (1967): 516-24; Herbert May, "The
King in the Garden of Eden: A Study of Ezekiel 28:12-19," in Israel's
THE GARMENT OF ADAM 731

PropheticHeritage, ed. B. W. Anderson and W. Harrelson (New York:

Harper and Row, 1962), 166-76; J. L. McKenzie, "Mythological
Allusion in Ezekiel 28:12-28," Journal of Biblical Literature 75 (1956):
322-27; A. J. Williams, "The Mythological Background of Ezekiel
28:12-19?" Biblical Theology Bulletin 6 (1976): 49-61; Kalman Yaron,
"The Dirge over the King of Tyre," Annual of the Swedish Theological
Institute 3 (1964): 28-57; Frederick L. Moriarty, "The Lament over
Tyre (Ez. 27)," Gregorianum46 (1965): 83-88.
53. The High Priest's robe as a cosmic garment (Weltenmantel)may
be seen in the Wisdom of Solomon 18:24: "On Aaron's long high-
priestly robe was the whole world pictured, and the glories of the
fathers were upon the graving of the four rows of precious stones
and thy Majesty was upon the diadem of his head." In Ben Sirach
45:6-8, God permitted Aaron to be garbed in the robes of his majesty
and glory, since Aaron was "one holy like unto him"; cf. Philo De
Vita Mosis II, 117, 122, and see F. H. Colson, "Appendix to De Vita
Mosis II," in Philo, 10 vols. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1966), 6:609; Philo, De Somniis I, 215, 251; Josephus, Jewish Antiquities
III, 7, 7 (184-85). On the cosmic garment in the ancient and medieval
world, see Robert Eisler, Weltenmantel und Himmelszelt: Religions-
geschichtliche Untersuchungen zur Urgesclzichtedes antiken Weltbildes,
2 vols. (Munich: Beck, 1910), esp. 1:19, 25.
54. Targum Ezekiel 28:13. According to Jerome, Epistola 64 (ad
Fabiolam) in PL, 22:613-15, the garment of the Christian priest is
copied after that of the High Priest. Gregory the Great, EpistolaeI, 9,
25, in PL, 77:470-71, makes a somewhat similar observation, though
he gives it an allegorical interpretation. Eisler, Weltenmantel und
Himnzelszelt, 1:19, citing Durandus, notes that the "cappa" of the pope
was an imitation of the high priest's tunic.
55. LJ, 5:103. The tradition of celestial garments is also present in
Mandaeism and Manichaeism. In the Mandaean The Canonical
Prayerbookof the Mandaeans, trans. E. S. Drower (Leiden: Brill, 1959),
30, n. 31, instructions are given concerning Adam: "Let him come and
go down to the jordan [sic], be baptised, receive the pure sign, put on
robes of radiant light and set a fresh wreath on his head," which
Garber, in "Symbolism of the Heavenly Garments," 217, suggests
may indicate that the baptismal ritual "included being clothed in a
baptismal robe to signify the present imperishable soul and the cloth-
ing in glory after death" and that "there was investiture with a spe-
cial white robe after one's first baptism," although he also notes Kurt
Rudolph's judgment that "the symbolic style of the liturgical
speeches probably means primarily that the baptism itself is the
732 STEPHEN D. RICKS

clothing with light and eschatological existence, without any definite

indication of an investment following the rite (as in the early
Christian Church)." References to garments-the garment of Adam,
garments for obedience and protection, heavenly garments, and
baptismal robes-are frequent in Mandaean literature (cf. Lidz-
barski, Ginzii, 13, 96, 128-29, 131, 191-92, 194, 243, 252-53, 259, 263,
348-49, 363, 430-31, 435, 488, 576-77; Lidzbarski, Johannesbuch der
Mandiier,83, 206). E. S. Drower, "AD AMAS-Humankind: ADAM-
Mankind," TheologischeLiteraturzeitung 86 (1961): 177, notes that the
Semitic miiniiis "garment, vessel, robe," i.e., the secrecy of the teach-
ing, and that "it is the head of the Cosmos from which manas origi-
nate" for the initiate.
In Manichaeism, Garber notes in "Symbolism of Heavenly Robes,"
223, "the believer longed to put on a shining robe of light." The
Manichaean Psalm of Thomas concerning the Coming of the Soul states
that "I await my robe until it comes and clothes him that shall wear it.
... When therefore my shining robe comes and clothes him that shall
wear it; when my pleasant fragrance strips itself of their stink and
returns to its place ... then I will sink their Darkness, ... uproot their
Darkness." The robe is the enlightening Light, the redemption of the
Soul" (ibid., 225). The section "On the Five Elements" in the
Manichaean Bookof the Giants (from the Bookof Enoch),mentions "The
crown, the diadem, [the garland, and] the garment (of Light)"
(Walter B. Henning, "The Book of the Giants," Bulletin of the Schoolof
Oriental and African Studies 11 [1943-46]: 62). The term nalbas same
(Himmelskleid)is widely attested with reference to the gods in the lit-
erature of the Mesopotamians (Ernst F. Weidner, "Das
Himmelskleid," Archiv fiir Orientforschung 7 [1931-32]: 115-16). On
the use of "golden garments" as sacred vestments for the gods and,
in Assyria, as royal vestments, see A. Leo Oppenheim, "The Golden
Garments of the Gods," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 8 (1949):
172-93.
56. In an interesting tum on the motif of the heavenly garment,
Severus of Antioch, who frequently mentions the garment, believes
that clothes will be unnecessary in the celestial realms: "If we crave
for and need sensual food in the future painless life, it is then time to
desire also clothes made of wool, ... but it is very certain that the
expected life is free from all such things," Epistle (to Solon) 96, in
E. W. Brooks, "A Collection of Letters of Severus of Antioch," in
PatrologiaOrientalis, ed. Frarn;ois Graffin (Paris: Firmin-didot, 1920),
14:188. Then he quotes Basil as teaching that when Adam sinned "it
was not fitting that he should have clothes; but there were others
THEGARMENTOF ADAM 733

prepared for man if he displayed virtues, clothes such as by God's

grace glistened ... shining garments, as of the angels also" (Epistle[to
Solon] 96, in ibid., 14:190). He notes the garments of Jesus left behind
in the tomb as proof that when we are beyond the need for food and
drink we will also be beyond need of clothing (Homily 77, in ibid.,
16:820). That the Lord left his clothes behind demonstrates, in his
view, that he was like Adam in the Garden, "and that as God, even
though clothed upon, it could only be with a most glorious garment
of light" (Epistle [to Solon] 96, in ibid., 14:190).
57. Rabbi Akiba and Samuel Aba Horodezky, "Michael und
Gabriel," Monatsschrift fur die Geschichte und Wissenschaft des
Judentums 72 (1928): 505.
58. Cf. Ruth 3:3, and see Jack M. Sasson, Ruth: A New Translation
with a PhilologicalCommentary and a Formalist-FolkloristInterpretation
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979), 67-68; cf. Joseph
and Aseneth 2:4, 3:6, 4:1, 14:12-14, 15:10, 18:5-6; The Assumption:
Narrative by Joseph of Arimathaea 5, in ANT, 216; Acts of Andrew
(Flamion Text) 121, in ANT, 418. Samuel Greengus, "Old Babylonian
Marriage Ceremonies and Rites," Journal of Cuneiform Studies 20
(1966): 55-72, includes details from cuneiform sources that parallel
the biblical passages. Other ceremonies that include washing, anoint-
ing, and clothing are unconnected with marriage; cf. the Epic of
GilgameshII, 3, 14-27, where Enkidu eats breads, drinks wine, anoints
himself with oil, and puts on a garment "and is like a man" in Heidel,
Gilgamesh, Geo Widengren, "Heavenly Enthronement and Baptism:
Studies in Mandaean Baptism," in Religions in Antiquity: Essays in
Memory of Ramsdell Goodenough, ed. Jacob Neusner (Leiden: Brill,
1970), 578, who cites the passage in CT XV, 47:47-48: "Tammuz, the
husband of her youth, bathe with pure water, anoint with fine oil,
clothe him in a bright red garment!" These three actions, according
to Widengren, are "precisely three of the central actions" in the
Mandaean massiqtii (baptism) ceremony; see also Kurt Rudolph, Die
Mandiier, 2 vols. (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1961),
2:105-12, 155-74, 181-88, 262-63, 264-81, for extended discussion of
the massiqtii and of washing, anointing, and clothing. Washing,
anointing, and clothing is also mentioned in the Odyssey, where new
guests at the house of a great lord are washed, anointed, and clothed
before joining the banquet table, III, 464-69; IV, 47-51; see John Gee
and Daniel C. Peterson, "Graft and Corruption: On Olives and Olive
Culture in Pre-Modern Mediterranean," in The Allegory of the Olive
Tree:The Olive, the Bible,and Jacob5, ed. Stephen D. Ricks and John W.
734 STEPHEN D. RICKS

Welch (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and F.A.R.M.S., 1994), 244, n.
252.
59. For an important discussion of this topic, see Donald W. Parry,
"Ritual Anointing with Olive Oil in Ancient Israelite Religion," in The
Allegory of the Olive Tree, esp. 268-71; Ernst Kutsch, Sa/bung als
Rechtsakt im Alten Testament und im alten Orient (Berlin: Topelmann,
1963), 22-27.
60. Testament of Levi 8:6-12; cf. 2 Enoch 69:8, 70:4, 70:13, 71:16,
71:21-22. Geo Widengren, "Royal Ideology and the Testaments of the
Twelve Patriarchs," in Promise and Fulfillment, ed. F. F. Bruce
(Edinburgh: Clark, 1965), 204-5; Ludin Jensen, "The Consecration in
the Eighth Chapter of Testament Levi," in La regalita/The Sacral
Kingship (Leiden: Brill, 1959), 358-62.
61. See Jensen, "Consecration," 359; Widengren, "Royal Ideology,"
202-3, 205-12; see also Stephen D. Ricks and John J. Sroka, "King,
Coronation, and Temple: Enthronement Ceremonies in History," in
this volume, for an overview of characteristic features of royal coro-
nations. In the view of many in the ancient Near East, it is the receipt
of the royal garment (and other insignia of the king) that is both sym-
bol and substance of becoming a king, as Herodotus VII, 15, implies;
see also A. Szabo, "Herodotea," Acta Antiqua l (1951): 85.
62. See Edwin 0. James, Christian Myth and Ritual (London:
Murray, 1937), 103. Baptismal anointings occurred either before or
after the baptism; according to Mitchell, BaptismalAnointing, 10-11,
the earliest unambiguous witness to baptismal anointing, Tertullian,
mentions both pre- and postbaptismal anointing (De Baptismo7-8, in
PL, 1:13; De Corona 3, in PL, 2:98-99); Bernhard Welte, Die postbap-
tismale Salbung: Ihr symbolischer Gehalt und Ihre sakramentale
Zugehorigkeit nach den Zeugnissen der a/ten Kirche (Freiburg im
Breisgau: Herder, 1939), 22-41.
63. Cote, Archaeologyof Baptism, also states:
That Sunday folowing [the baptismal day] was called
dominicain albis depositis,because those who had been bap-
tized took off their white robes, which were laid by in the
church as evidence against them if they broke their bap-
tismal vows. Whitsunday (White Sunday), the English name
for Pentecost, is supposed to have been so called from the
white garments worn by the newly-baptized catechumens
when it was the custom to administer that ordinance on the
Vigil of Pentecost. The white garment was made to fit
the body rightly, and was bound round the middle with a
THE GARMENT OF ADAM 735

girdle sash. The sleeves were either plain, like those of a cas-
sock, or else full, and gathered close on the wrists, like the
sleeve of a shirt, resembling the tunic worn by the ancients.
With this may be compared Geoffrey Wainwright, "Images of
Baptism," Reformed Liturgy & Music 19 (1985): 173, who also observes
that "christening gowns" may represent a Protestant relic of the old
practice of receiving garments at the time of baptism; cf. also Henry
John Feasey, Old English Holy Week Ceremonial(London: Baker, 1897),
239-40; Hugh W. Nibley, "Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum: The
Forty-day Mission of Christ-The Forgotten Legacy," in Mormonism
and Early Christianity, in CWHN, 4:17, 37-39.
64. Targum Onkelos to Genesis 3:21; cf. Apocalypse of Elijah 5:6;
Testament of Levi 18:14; Vision of Isaiah 9:17, 24-26; Book of John the
Evangelist, in ANT, 189, 193; Acts of Andrew (Flamion Text) 142-44,
in ANT, 450.
65. See Community Rule (lQS) 4:9; cf. 4Q161: "God will uphold him
with [the spirit of might, and will give him] a throne of glory and a
crown of [holiness] and many-colored garments." Josephus, in Jewish
Wars II, 123, states that the Essenes (probably to be connected with
the Dead Sea Scrolls, or at least some of them) make a point of always
being dressed in white. In Jewish Wars II, 137, Josephus observes that
a white garment is one of three items (along with a hatchet and loin-
cloth) given to the candidate upon entering the community at
Qumran. Todd S. Beall, Josephus' Description of the Essenes Illustrated
by the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988),
46, suggests that lQM (War Scroll) 7:9-10 may indicate a preference
for white at Qumran: "seven priests of the sons of Aaron, clothed in
garments of fine white linen: a linen tunic and linen trousers, and
girded with a linen girdle"; cf. Yigael Yadin, The Scroll of the War of
the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1962), 219; Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 9:168-69.
Perhaps on the basis of the latter statement by Josephus that Jean
Danielou observes, in The Dead Sea Scrolls and Primitive Christianity
(Baltimore: Helicon, 1958), 42, that "the practice of dressing the newly
baptized in a white robe inevitably recalls the description in Josephus
of the white garments worn by those who were newly admitted to
the Essenian community"; cf. Beall, Josephus'Descriptionof the Essenes,
155.
66. 4 Ezra 2:44-45.
67. Ibid., 2:39-40.
68. 1 Enoch 62:16.
736 STEPHEN D. RICKS

69. Philo, De Fuga 110. On the spiritualization of religious values,

see Robert J. Daly, The Origins of the Christian Doctrine of Sacrifice
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978), 6-8, who notes that the word spiritual-
ization needs to be understood in a larger sense than simply "anti-
materialistic," including "those movements and tendencies within
Judaism and Christianity" that attempted to emphasize "the inner,
spiritual, or ethical significance of the cult over against the merely
material" aspects of it; see also David Dawson, Allegorical Readersand
Cultural Revision in Ancient ,'llexandria (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1992); Han-Jurgen Hermisson, Sprache und Ritus im
altisraelitischen Kult: "7,ur 'Spiritualisierung' der Kultbegriffe im Alten
Testament" {Neukirchen-Vluyn; Neukirchener-Verlag, 1965); Daniel
R. Schwartz, "Priesthoood, Temple, Sacrifices: Opposition and Spiri-
tualization in the Late Second Temple Period," Ph.D. dissertation,
Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1979, 191-92; H. Wenschkewitz, "Die
Spiritualisierung der Kultusbegriffe: Tempel, Priester, und Opfer irn
Neuen Testament," Angelos 4 (1932): 70-230.
70. Alexander Altmann," A Note on the Rabbinic Doctrine of
Creation," Journal of!ewish Studies 7 (1956): 201-2.
71. Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah 8:26; cf. 1:6; 4:16-17; 8:14; 9:2,
9-11, 17-18, 24-26; 11:40; in 3:25 we read: "And many will exchange
the glory of the robes of the saints for the robes of those who love
money," where Michael A. Knibb, translator and editor of the
Martyrdom in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols., ed. James H.
Charlesworth (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), 2:161, says that
this is "perhaps an indication that Christians adopted a special form
of dress."
72. Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah 9:2; cf. 9:17, 24-26; 11:40. In
other instances, the garment of glory is given to one on a heavenly
journey; cf. 2 Enoch 22:8: "And the LORD said to Michael, 'Go, and
extract Enoch from [his] earthly clothing. And anoint him with my
delightful oil, and put him into the clothes of my glory"'; cf. Geo
Widengren, "Royal Ideology," 210-11. The exchange of earthly for
heavenly garments may be reflected in Paul's belief that the body of
the resurrection is a glorified body that is put on, see 2 Corinthians
5:1-5; 1 Corinthians 15:35-44; see also Acts of Thomas 6-7, 146, in ANT,
367-68, 428-29.
73. Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah 11:35.
74. Tertullian, De Resurrectione Carnis 27, in PL, 2:834A-B; cf.
Apocalypse of Peter (Ethiopic Text), in ANT, 520; Papyrus Bodmer X,
55:8, where the resurrection is compared with being clothed again;
see also Danielou, Bible and Liturgy, 52-53. Carl Clemen, Primitive
THE GARMENT OF ADAM 737

Christianity and Its Non-JewishSources(Edinburgh: Clark, 1912), 173-74,

suggests Zoroastrian beliefs in the afterlife, including the righteous
receiving heavenly garments (see Bundahishn 30:28), as a possible
source for Christian and Jewish beliefs. James Moulton, Early
Zoroastrianism(London: Williams and Norgate, 1913), 315, is more cau-
tious on this point. On the other hand, there is no question of a bodily
resurrection and the receipt of a heavenly robe in Zoroastrian tradition
(see Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices
[London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985], 27-28; Jal Cersetji Pavry, The
ZoroastrianDoctrineof a Future Lifefrom Death to the Individual Judgment
[New York: Columbia University Press, 1929]). There is also an impor-
tant Zoroastrian tradition of the sudra, the sacred garment (a muslin
shirt with sleeves reaching to the hips), with a small pocket ("the
pocket of good deeds"), and a sacred cord, the kustf, first assumed by
Zoroastrian men and women no later than their fifteenth year and
thereaf•er worn at all times. A man or woman who, "being more than
fifteen years of age, walks without wearing the sacred girdle and the
sacred shirt" was deemed the greatest of sinners. Those who did not
wear the sacred shirt and cord were to be refused water and bread by
other community members (see James Darmsteter, The Zend-Avesta:
The Vendfddd[Oxford: Clarendon, 1895], 195,204; Boyce, Zoroastrianism,
31-33; Jivani J. Modi, The ReligiousCeremoniesand Customs of the Parsees
[New York: Garland, 1979], 178-96).
75. Alfred C. Rush, Death and Burial in Christian Antiquity
(Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America, 1941), 217; see
also Emil Freistedt, Altchristliche Totengediichtnistage und Ihre Be-
zielzunx zum Jenseitsglauben und Totcnkultus der Antike (Munster:
Aschendorff, 1928), 64-65. Rudolf Bultmann, "Die Bedeutung der
neuerschlossenen mandaischen und manichaischen Quellen fiir das
Verstandnis des Johannesevangeliums," Zcitschrift fUr die neutesta-
mentlichen Wissenschaft 24 (1925): 120, stresses the notion of earthly
and heavenly garments in the early Christian tradition.
76. The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas IV, 8; see Rush, Death and
Burial, 217.
77. Testament of Abraham 20:10 (Rescension A); cf. Kaufmann
Kohler, "The Pre-Talmudic Haggada II," Jewish Quarterly Review 7
(1895): 589-91; Apocalypse of Moses 37:4; Life of Adam and Eve 48:1-4;
Apocalypse of Tlwmas, in ANT, 561.
78. See Apocalypr;cof Moses 20:1.
79. Ibid., 31:4, 37:1-6, 40:1-3; cf. Testamcntum Domini Nostri Jcsu
Christi I, 28.
80. Narrative of Zosimus 13, cited in Wilhelm Lueken, Michael: Eine
738 STEPHEN D. RICKS

Darstellung und Vergleichung der jiidischen und der morgenlandisch-

christlichen Tradition vom Erzengel Michael (Gottingen: Yandenhoeck
und Ruprecht, 1898), 123.
81. See Monument pour servir al'histoire de l'Egypte chretienneau !Ve
siecle: Historie de Saint Pakhome et de ses communautes, ed. and tr.
E. Amelineau (Paris: Leroux, 1889), 122-23; cf. Apocalypse of Thomas,
in ANT, 561.
82. E. A. Wallis Budge, St. Michael the Archangel: Three Encomiums
by Theodosius, Archbishop of Alexandria, Severus, Patriarch of Antioch,
and Eustathius, Bishop of Trake (London: Trench, Paul, and Triibner,
1894), 128 (Coptic Text), 102 (translation). A similar account is given
in E. Amelineau, Contes et romans de l' Egypte chretienne (Paris: Leroux,
1888), 1:6, where Michael appeared to an entire multitude and
showed them the royal garment in which he received "the two pure
souls"; cf. The Book of the Resurrection of Christ by Bartholomew the
Apostle, in ANT, 185; History of Joseph the Carpenter 23, where, how-
ever, the soul is placed in a "silken napkin." In a sepulchral monu-
ment in Ely Cathedral is a depiction of Michael bearing a soul toward
heaven in the fold of his garments, depicted in J. Romilly Allen, Early
Christian Symbolism in Great Britain and Ireland before the Thirteenth
Century (London: Whiting, 1887), 272, fig. 96; cf. also the twelfth-
century Shaftesbury Psalter, in F. E. Halliday, An Illustrated History of
England (New York: Viking, 1967), where there is a depiction of souls
riding up towards heaven on a garment in the hands of the archangel
Michael.
83. 1 Enoch 71:1; cf. 71:10; 2 Enoch [J] 37:1; Apocalypse of Zephaniah
8:3; Severus of Antioch, Epistle (to Solon) 96, in Patrologia Orientalis,
14:190; Report of Pilate (Anaphora), in ANT, 154; The Assumption: Latin
Narrative of Pseudo-Melito 3, in ANT, 210; in Apocalypse of Peter
(Akhmim Text), in ANT, 518; in 3 Enoch 28:7, the "Holy One" is
described as having a garment "white like snow"; The Vercelli Acts of
Peter 16, in ANT, 318, "Peter ... beheld Jesus clad in a vesture of
brightness"; Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 9:169.
84. 3 Enoch 12:13.
85. Ibid., 10:1-2.
86. Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah 7:22.
87. Exodus Rabbah38:8.
88. History of the Rechabites14:3-5.
89. Garber, "Symbolism of Heavenly Robe," 51; cf. Edgar
Haulotte, Symbolique du vetement selon la Bible (Lyon: Aubier, 1966),
186.
90. Cf. Robin Scroggs, The Last Adam (Oxford: Blackwell, 1966), 26,
THE GARMENTOF ADAM 739

48--49, for a discussion of this verse. In the Apocalypseof Moses 21:6,

Adam accuses Eve, "You have deprived me of the glory of God."
91. Cf. Apocalypse of Moses 39:2; 1 Enoch 50:1; 4 Ezra 7:122-25; 2
Apocalypseof Baruch51:1, 3; 54:15, 21; lQS 4:23; CD 3:20; 17:15; see also
Scroggs, Last Adam, 26-27, 54-56, and Haulotte, Symbolique,188.
92. See Garber, "Symbolism of Heavenly Robe," 51-52.