And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
The eyes of them both were opened. LeClerc considers the meaning of this statement to be that, from internal pain, they felt the fruit was unwholesome or poisonous, that they had committed a fatal mistake, and would, to their bitter disappointment, reap none of the great benefits they had been led to anticipate. The words have a far deeper significance, since they intimate that amid the raptures of enjoyment, reflection was drowned, and Adam and his wife were lulled into dreamy oblivion of all but the present moment; but when that delirium had subsided, the time for reflection came, and then a train of new and painful feelings and emotions, to which they had hitherto been entire strangers, rushed like a torrent into their minds-a sense of their helplessness, grief, shame, remorse, and all the concomitants of guilt, distracted and agonized their bosoms.
And they knew that they were naked. The following clause shows that this is to be taken in a literal sense. But nakedness frequently signifies in Scripture sin or folly, shame or misery (cf. Exodus 32:15; Ezekiel 16:36; 2 Chronicles 28:19); and it includes that meaning here also.
And they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. These English words, "sewed" and "aprons," referring to the artificial accommodations of civilized life, convey ideas altogether unsuitable, as Adam and his partner had no implements, nor did the fig leaves present the appearance of manufactured aprons. [The Hebrew verb taapar (H8609), rendered to sew, signifies simply to connect, to plait (cf. Job 16:15, where the same word is used in the original chªnorot, girdles; cf. 2 Samuel 18:11. `ªleeh (H5929) tª'eenaah (H8384)]. Gesenius and Tuch think that the ficus Indica, or Musa paradisiaca, English plantain tree, is meant. But the leaves of that tree, besides being not of the fig type, are so large and spacious that they would not require to be strung together. Milton long ago enlisted the leaves of the banyan tree in this service. 'The leaf of the common fig tree,' says Dr. Royle, 'is not well adapted, from its lobed nature for this purpose; but the practice of sewing or pinning leaves together is very common in the East even in the present day; and baskets, dishes, and umbrellas are made of leaves so pinned together.' It is somewhat a doubtful view given of this act of our first parents by Jewish writers and several Christian fathers, that the leaves of this tree were chosen in preference to those of every other tree, as, from the prickliness of the upper side of the leaf, it would be a natural sackcloth, which they assumed as emblematic of their contrition.