John Tvedtnes has some interesting commentary regarding the fall of Adam (2 Nephi 2:25). He writes that according to Jewish tradition, after the fall of Adam the Lord provided garments of skin to Adam and Eve: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). However, according to the Midrash Rabbah, Rabbi Meir’s copy of the Torah or Law of Moses indicated that Adam and Eve received garments of light, not of skin. Just why some traditions have the garments of the first couple made of light, while others of skin might be related to the fact that the two Hebrew words for “light” and “skin” differ in but the initial letters, and are pronounced alike in modern Hebrew.
Tradition usually indicates that Adam and Eve were given garments of light before the fall. When they sinned, God stripped them of the garment of light. Abkir commented, “God made the high-priestly garments for Adam which were like those of the angels; but when he sinned, God took them away from him.” … The garment of light, according to some accounts, was replaced by its earthly symbol, a garment of skin, after the fall. By this reckoning, the garment of skin given to the first human couple was their own skin, not that of animals.
The Book of the Rolls informs us that when Adam was created, “his body was bright and brilliant like the well-known stars in the crystal.” When Adam and Eve were placed on earth, “God clothed them with glory and splendour. They outvied one another in the glory with which they were clothed.” At the time of the fall, “they were bereft of their glory, and their splendour was taken from them, and they were stripped of the light with which they had been clothed … They were naked of the grace which they had worn … they made to themselves aprons of fig-leaves, and covered themselves therewith.”
If one follows the reasoning of these stories, the serpent was the cause of Adam and Eve’s becoming naked, and their “nakedness” was the loss of their premortal glory. For example, in one account, Eve says: “And at that very moment my eyes were opened and I knew that I was naked of the righteousness with which I had been clothed. And I wept saying, ”Why have you done this to me, that I have been estranged from my glory with which I was clothed?“ From this account, the ”nakedness“ of Adam and Eve was spiritual in nature, that is, they lost their special covering of light (also termed ”glory“ and ”righteousness“), which was subsequently replaced by the garments of skin… . This makes sense when one considers that the Hebrew root for ”nakedness“ (’rh) may be related to the word for ”skin" (’or
This connection of “nakedness” with the absence of glory is reflected in the story of Zosimus. Arriving in a distant land to which he had been miraculously conveyed, Zosimus encounters a Rechabite [see the commentary on 1 Nephi 2:5] and asks him, “Why are you naked?” The man replies, “You are he [who is] naked, and you do not discern that your garment is corrupt, but my own garment is not corrupted.”
But we are naked not as you suppose, for we are covered with a covering of glory; and we do not show each other the private parts of our bodies. But we are covered with a stole of glory [similar to that] which clothed Adam and Eve before they sinned.
[John A. Tvedtnes, “Priestly Clothing in Bible Times,” in Temples of the Ancient World, pp. 649-654] [See the commentary on “skin of blackness” in 2 Nephi 5:21; see also the commentary on Rechabites in 1 Nephi 2:5]
2 Nephi 2:25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy ([Illustration] Adam and Eve Kneeling at an Altar. Adam and Eve carried out an important part of God’s plan. If they had remained in the Garden of Eden they would not have progressed and Heavenly Father would not have been able to send His spirit children to the earth. That is why Lehi said, “Adam fell that men might be.” Artist: Del Parson. [Thomas R. Valletta ed., The Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families, 1999, p. 76]
[2 Nephi 2:25]: Adam Fell:
According to an article by Bruce Pritchett, though the Old Testament never refers to Adam’s sin by using the word fall, it does teach or reflect the following basic elements of this doctrine in various scriptures: (1) that Adam’s sin resulted in a metamorphosis from immortality to mortality; (2) that mankind inherited its mortal state from Adam; (3) that all mankind has fallen into sin; and (4) that evil and suffering in the world could be for man’s benefit as well as his punishment. These doctrines were brought together by the Prophet Lehi in one of the most complete discourses on the fall recorded. Some authors have claimed that Lehi’s teachings on the fall of Adam are so similar to teachings prevalent in nineteenth-century America that they must be the source for 2 Nephi 2. However, evidence can be established that the bulk of well-recognized scholarly authority attributes teachings very similar to those in 2 Nephi 2 to preexilic and exilic biblical writers such as Hosea and Ezekiel. Thus, Lehi’s teachings are more consistent with a preexilic/exilic Israelite context than a nineteenth-century American context. [Bruce M. Pritchett, Jr., “Lehi’s Theology of the Fall in Its Preexilic/Exilic Context,” in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Fall 1994, F.A.R.M.S., pp. 49, 77]
2 Nephi 2:25 Adam fell that men might be ([Illustration] Adam & Eve “Adam Fell That Men Might Be” [Del Parson, Verse Markers, Book of Mormon, Vol. 1, p. 1]