CLOTHES AND JEWELS

A Biblical Survey
 Introduction
There is no secret that within our small Adventist
world we live in. Some realities sometimes generate
frictions that affect relationships and that make
coexistence and working together difficult.
Waves of migration that have made contact people
from different continents and coexist for long periods
of time, have produced cultural clashes that has
generated the existence of separate churches: Latino,
Spanish, Romanian, etc.
Intergenerational differences make young people
leave the church in search of a better place.
One of the issues that is divided into, is the topic of
clothes and ornaments. Some see normal for a
person wears in a certain way but others see the
problem from a different point of view. This often
causes arguments and disputes.
Can we reach a common point in our
understanding?
Is it the adorning sin?
It can reach a common position that goes beyond the
imposition of the majority, so that everyone feels
good, like at home?
How does God see this issue?
To find answers, I intend to go to the Bible, and
study this controversial issue from an
anthropological perspective.
My purpose is to understand why people need to
dress and adorn, and what the Word of God says
about it.
Finally, we want to find a harmonized position that
represents a satisfactory solution to the current
situation.
In this sense, we will start from Genesis making a
survey by the texts that refer to clothes and
ornaments, both the Old and New Testament.
1. Why we use clothes and jewels?
• We cannot establish a position without first
understanding the reason that generates it. In
this respect, before condemning someone for
wearing a certain attire or adornment, it is very
important to understand their reasons for such
actions.
• Firstly, there is a physical reason: we wear
clothing to maintain body heat, but it isn´t the
only one reason.
• According to the Bible, the first human beings
had no fears about appearing as they were
created, nor needed to hide from each other,
since they were innocent and did not have low
self-esteem problems.
• when they chose the way of the serpent, and
the desire to be like God; the situation
dramatically changed and the result was that
“… the eyes of both of them were opened, and
they realized they were naked; so they sewed
fig leaves together and made coverings for
themselves.” (Gen 3:7 NIV)
• The couple needed to cover their nakedness
and deal with the shame and low self-esteem
feeling that in turn came into the lives of
human beings with sin and guilt.
• However, God decided to provide the solution:
tunics of skin. In context, the tunics are related
to the attempt to solve the problem of physical
shame. From this moment, being naked has
been synonymous with vulnerability, and has
not changed despite the passing of generations.
• Paul used the metaphor of the body to
illustrate the necessary harmony in the church
and addressed the issue of embellishments
tangentially: “Those parts of the body that
seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the
parts that we think are less honorable we treat
with special honor.” (1Cor 12:22-23 NIV)
• Without giving details, Paul mentions as
natural obviousness, which hardly give
importance: the man needs to feel "good",
balanced viewpoint their external image.
• Without giving details, Paul mentions as
natural obviousness, which hardly give
importance: the man needs to feel "good",
balanced viewpoint their external image.
• As in the beginning, we see in the Bible man
seeking ways to cover his "nakedness", or his
emptiness with clothes and jewelry; material
things.
2. The use of ornaments and jewelry in the
Old Testament
• In the Old Testament we find examples of the
worshipers of the true God making use of
gems and jewelry without there being a
problem.
• Abraham's family respected the customs
related to marriage, and when his servant had
to found a wife for Isaac he fulfilled his task in
the best way he knew how. In this time, the
servant was taking with him”…all kinds of
good things from his master.” (Gen 24:10 NIV)
• On his first encounter with the future wife of
his young master, he gave her “…a gold nose
ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets
weighing ten shekels.” (Gen 24:22 NIV)
• Today, it may seem strange but this family
called by God to be a light in the world was
well integrated into the culture of its time.
• Judah, son of Jacob gave his ring to Tamar, his
daughter in law, when he mistook her for a
prostitute (Gen 38:18-19).
• When Judah´s brother, Joseph became
governor of Egypt “…Pharaoh took his signet
ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's
finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen
and put a gold chain around his neck.” (Gen
41:42 NIV)
• We have never thought that Joseph should
have rejected the jewels which represented the
authority that was being granted. To accept
and carry these objects was normal in those
times, even for a prophet of the Lord.
• Thousand years later, in Babylon, other
prophet - Daniel - received the insignia from
authority of the Chaldean kingdom: “Then at
Belshazzar's command, Daniel was clothed in
purple, a gold chain was placed around his
neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest
ruler in the kingdom.” (Dan 5:29 NIV)
• At the time when the children of Israel left
Egypt, they received an order from God. It
was not that the jewels be removed but quite
the contrary: “Every woman is to ask her
neighbor and any woman living in her house
for articles of silver and gold and for clothing,
which you will put on your sons and
daughters.” (Ex 3:22 NIV)
• However, we must realize that God had no
qualms that the people have in their possession
gold and silver from the Egyptians.
• When God announced that due to apostasy
was leaving the people and “the people heard
these distressing words, they began to mourn
and no one put on any ornaments.“ (Ex 33:4 NIV)
• Apparently there had been an intrinsic
relationship between grief / mourning and
failure to adorn themselves, which can also be
interpreted as a sign of repentance according
to the express command of God (Ex 33:5-6).
• However, the text does not suggest that God
rejects this type of objects.
• The same idea is found in the book of Isaiah,
where the Lord disciplines the daughters of
Jerusalem:
• The LORD says, "The women of Zion are
haughty, walking along with outstretched necks,
flirting with their eyes, strutting along with
swaying hips, with ornaments jingling on their
ankles. Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the
heads of the women of Zion; the LORD will make
their scalps bald." In that day the Lord will snatch
away their finery: the bangles and headbands and
crescent necklaces, the earrings and bracelets and
veils, the headdresses and anklets and sashes, the
• and nose rings, the fine robes and the capes
and cloaks, the purses and mirrors, and the
linen garments and tiaras and shawls. Instead
of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of
a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair,
baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;
instead of beauty, branding. (Is 3:16-24NIV)
• The text does not prove that God rejects the
ornaments, because the first thing mentioned is
shaving the head, a reference to the hair. To
argue that God does not like women to have
hair is nonsense, and in the same category
• Years later, through the prophet Ezekiel, God
illustrated the intermediate care of another simile, the
adorning of his people like the adorning of a woman:
• "'I bathed you with water and washed the blood from
you and put ointments on you. I clothed you with an
embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on
you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with
costly garments. I adorned you with jewelry: I put
bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your
neck, and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your
ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So you
were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were
of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered
cloth…
• Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest
flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be
a queen. And your fame spread among the
nations on account of your beauty, because the
splendor I had given you made your beauty
perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD. (Ez 16:9-
14 NIV)
• The Lord was "talking" in their language,
likening his people to a well dressed woman
for them to understand. They knew very well
what had become of them as a nation was due
to the favor of God towards them.
• Even with all that, they harden their hearts and
became even more disobedient.
• The Israelites became so idolatrous that they
began to sacrifice babies to their idols. Changing
God for idols, objects made by human hands,
caused God to call Jerusalem to its knees and
judge them by the laws of adultery, delivering
them into the hands of their enemies, who took
away all ornaments and jewels. The enemy came
to destroy the high places and broke down the
altars built for idols; they “…They will strip you
of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and
leave you stark naked. (Ez 16:39 NIV)”.
• The southern kingdom and its capital
Jerusalem were given to Nebuchadnezzar, king
of the Babylonians. They took all the treasure
that was not only in the city but in the temple.
The city ceased to be magnificent because the
support of God had been lost.
• Beyond this point both the passage in Isaiah
and Ezekiel don´t show rejection jewelry, but
His lament for the infidelity of His own people
who He had given everything. A people who
had grown spiritually promiscuous.
• I disagree with Bacchiochi when he write:
“The Old Testament frequently associates the use of
jewelry and excessive cosmetics with seduction and
adultery. Such association implicitly reveals God’s
condemnation of their use.” BACCHIOCCHI, Samuele.
Christian dress and adornment. Berrien Springs (Michigan):
Biblical Perspective, 1995, p. 36

• There isn´t enough biblical support for this

idea. In the same time, we need to study
deeper to find a more harmonious position
with the Holy Scripture.