RAGS OR ROBES
12
`If I covered (kasah) my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom ... (then) let thistles grow
instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley' (Job 31:33,40).
In contrast with Adam, the Psalmist says after a period of silence:
`I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid (kasah). I said, I will confess my
transgressions unto the LORD; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin' (Psa. 32:5).
Here, `hiding' or `covering' sin, is placed over against acknowledgment and confession, resulting in forgiveness.
On the other hand we read:
`Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of Thy people, Thou hast covered (kasah) all their sin' (Psa. 85:2).
This twofold aspect of the idea of covering sin, can be further set forth by two or three passages in Proverbs.
`Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins' (Prov. 10:12) .
`He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth friends' (Prov. 17:9).
How true and how sad! Yet in the same book of Proverbs we read:
`He that covereth his sins shall not prosper' (Prov. 28:13).
It is one thing for sin to be righteously covered; it is another for sin to be `covered up'. The feeling that
prompted Adam and Eve to make a covering was right; the wrong was the kind of covering they provided. Without
shedding of blood is no remission, and this truth was again re-enacted in Genesis 4, where the two offerings, the one
by Cain and the other by Abel, repeat the lesson of the girdle of fig-leaves as over against the coats of skins, so
tragically. Girdles or aprons simply covered nakedness, and are connected with the loins (Ezek. 23:15). The coats
were a covering, not for nakedness, but for sin, and were full length, large enough for a man to use as a bed cover
(Exod. 22:27). Both coat and girdle or apron form a part of the symbolic garments of the High Priest (Exod. 28:4).
Here the shame of guilt and the wages of sin are both represented. Skins dyed red were a part of the covering of the
Tabernacle (Exod. 25:5). The skin of the sacrificial bull was included in the sin offering (Lev. 4:11). While there is
no etymological connexion between the words `hide' the verb, and `hide' meaning the skin of an animal, it is
suggestive that they are interchangeable in English (Lev 8:17). Let it be noticed too that before the coats were put
upon Adam and Eve, the fig-leaf girdles were taken away. There can be no confusing of the two. This is clearly set
forth in Zechariah 3:3,4:
`Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto
those that stood before him, saying, TAKE AWAY the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I
have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will CLOTHE thee with change of raiment'.
There can be no `covering up', the covering is of another character which we must consider presently. Let us
consider what that tested Patriarch Job said concerning Adam's attempt to cover up his sin.
`If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom' (Job 31:33).
The whole of this chapter is taken up by Job's indignant repudiation of the conclusion reached by his baffled friends
that somehow he must prove to be a secret sinner, to have suffered as he had done at the hands of the Almighty.
Sixteen times, at least, he says `If I have', with the conclusion at last `then'
`Let thistles grow instead of wheat' (Job 31:40).
We now turn away from the futile attempt of man to cover his sin, to the provision made by God, exemplified for
the first time by the provision of the coats of skins, set forth in a long line of typical sacrifices, and at length fully
accomplished by the Son of God whose sacrificial death is set forth as a propitiation, with the twofold object that (1)
God might be just, (2) and the Justifier of the believer. We must consider why the A.V. reads `atonement' in
Romans 5:11. We must give heed to the meaning and usage of the Hebrew word kaphar. We must seek the
Scriptural intention in the references to cover sin by sacrifice. We must consider the bearing of type, figure, shadow
and pattern.