In Parashah Toldot we are told about Esau who comes back from hunting tired and hungry… but what many do not know is why, which leads to an amazing revelation!  The Sefer HaYashar (Book of Jasher) Chapter 27 famously recounts that Esau had stumbled upon Nimrod while he was hunting and killed him and two of his men and took a very special and powerful garment from Nimrod’s body.  This explains why Esau came home “weary” in Genesis 25—he had just survived the battle that secured the garment that was none other than the legendary primordial garment God had created and given Adam in Gan Eden, which then was passed down the righteous line, stolen by the wicked, and ultimately restored to the covenant line of Abraham and Jacob and here I aim to share with the world the knowledge preserved in our various strands of Jewish Midrash, Aggadah, and other ancient historical accounts passed down through the years to put the pieces together on the history of this special garment and where it has gone!

The Garment of Adam: Its Journey Through the Priestly Line

Genesis states:

And the LORD God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin (כָּתְנֹת עוֹר) and clothed them.” — Genesis 3:21

The Midrash Rabbah adds that these were not ordinary animal skins:

The garments were glorious garments that shone like light.” — Genesis Rabbah 20:12

We are also told by other sources that these garments bore symbols of dominion over creation and possessed the power of dominion, from the authority God gave Adam.

These garments, according to tradition, were preserved by the righteous line descending from Seth, and eventually reached Noah.

Passed Through the Righteous Line to Noah

Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 24 says the garment was passed to Noah, preserved in the Ark, and held as a sacred inheritance:

Noah took the garments of Adam his father, and they were with him in the ark.” — Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 24

This implies the garment symbolized the priestly and kingly authority given originally to Adam.  One  Midrash teaches that this garment had the ability to draw animals to its wearer, symbolizing an Edenic authority.

Ham Steals the Garment

After the Flood, according to the same Midrash:

Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the garments of Adam in Noah’s possession and stole them.” — Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 24

The theft was associated with Ham’s rebellion and his desire for dominion.

Cush and Nimrod

The stolen garment passed from Ham → Cush → Nimrod.

The Midrash states:

Cush gave the clothes to Nimrod, and when Nimrod wore them, all beasts, birds, and animals fell down before him.” — Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 24

This explains the biblical description:

Nimrod became a gibbor (mighty one) in the earth… a mighty hunter before the LORD.” — Genesis 10:8–9

Nimrod’s legendary strength, kingship, and ability to subdue creation were attributed to this stolen garment. He used it to dominate peoples and beasts alike, helping him become a “gibbor”—a mighty man as it gave him unnatural charisma and power, inflaming his ambition to build Babel and oppose the God of heaven, misusing the right kind of dominion for domination of the world, and exchanging selfless service to Creation for self-exaltation, thus becoming a tyrant!

Esau Slays Nimrod and Seizes the Garment

The story continues vividly in Sefer HaYashar (Book of Jasher):

According to Sefer HaYashar 27, Esau who frequently went to the field to hunt after the death of Avraham, one day found Nimrod and his men also on a hunt in the wilderness with two of his men and all of his mighty men removed at a distance so as to not spook the game, and Esau conceiled himself and when they drew near Esau jumped up from his lurking place, drew his sword, and quickly ran to Nimrod and cut off his head.

After killing Nimrod, Esau seized the garment:

“And Esau fought a desperate fight with the two men that were with Nimrod, and when they called out to him, Esau turned to them and smote them to death with his sword. And all the mighty men of Nimrod, who had left him to go to the wilderness, heard the cry at a distance, and they knew the voices of those two men, and they ran to know the cause of it, when they found their king and the two men that were with him lying dead in the wilderness. And when Esau saw the mighty men of Nimrod coming at a distance, he fled, and thereby escaped;

and Esau took the valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod’s father had bequeathed to Nimrod, and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land,

and he ran and concealed them in his house. And Esau took those garments and ran into the city on account of Nimrod’s men, and he came to his father’s house wearied and exhausted from fight, and he was ready to die through grief when he approached his brother Ya’aqov and sat before him.— Sefer HaYashar 27:8-11

This explains why Esau came home “weary” in Genesis 25—according to tradition, he had just survived the battle that secured the garment. 

“And he said unto his brother Ya’aqov: Behold I shall die this day, and wherefore then do I want the birthright? And Ya’aqov acted wisely with Esau in this matter, and Esau sold his birthright to Ya’aqov, for it was so brought about by God.” — Sefer HaYashar 27:12

So this was all brought about by God to restore the Priestly lineage and power through Ya’akov!  This Avraham knew and had thus instructed Rebekah to make sure that Ya’akov also received the blessing from Isaac. 

…And Abraham said to Rebekah his daughter-in-law: Take heed of my son Isaac, for he loves Esau more than Jacob; but say unto him, ‘Take heed that thou do not give thy blessing to the wrong one.’” — Sefer HaYashar 26:17

“And Abraham told Rebekah all that he had seen in the spirit concerning Jacob and Esau, and that Jacob was chosen before the Lord to be a people for God.” — Sefer HaYashar 26:21

Rebekah Gives the Garment to Jacob

So it is no wonder, when Rebekah prepares Jacob to receive Isaac’s blessing, Scripture uses an unusual phrase:

Rebekah took the desirable garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house…” — Genesis 27:15

Targum Jonathan identifies these garments as the ancient Adamic garment:

She brought the precious garments which were Adam’s, which Esau had in his keeping.” — Targum Jonathan on Genesis 27:15

And Genesis Rabbah 65:16 also confirms this saying,

These were the precious garments of Adam the First Man, which passed to Nimrod and then to Esau.”

Why did Rebekah keep them?

Because she understood—prophetically—that the birthright and priesthood belonged to Jacob, and therefore so must the garment!

Jacob the True Heir of the Garment

Jacob, wearing Adam’s garment, came before Isaac. This symbolized:

• His rightful inheritance of the covenant
• The priestly authority that would pass into the line of Israel
• The restoration of Adam’s blessing into the family chosen by God

Rashi comments (on Gen. 27:15):

These were the garments of Adam the First, which came into the hands of Nimrod, and Esau slew him and took them.”

Thus Jacob inherited not merely a blessing but the physical token of humanity’s first divine commission!

Where Did the Garment Go After Jacob?

The garment passed to Joseph

Joseph is the firstborn of Rachel, Jacob’s intended bride, thus the rightful spiritual heir:

Joseph was to Jacob as Adam was to the Holy One… in him the image was restored.” — Midrash Tanchuma, Vayeshev 8

And so, “The garment of Adam went to Jacob and from Jacob to Joseph, who wore a garment of many colors.”— Midrash HaGadol, Genesis 37

Midrash HaGadol, from a Yemenite/Talmudic-era manuscript also says,

The robe Jacob gave Joseph was a garment of kingship, as the garment of Adam passed to the righteous who were worthy of rulership.”

Amazingly this is the same Hebrew word used for the garment here in Genesis 37:3 that was used in Genesis 3:21 when God gave it to Adam! כָּתְנוֹת Kät’nôt  but without the vav as now there is a missing person as the rightful heir of the garment represented by the missing vav כְּתֹנֶת!

Our Jewish Midrash conveys that this garment given to Joseph

•  was a special and treasured garment
• symbolized inheritance and rulership, and that
• The brothers sought to remove that authority from Joseph

Which aligns with the tradition that the Adamic garment conveys dominion!

Then the garment is taken by Joseph’s brothers, dipped in blood, and given back to their father Ya’akov when they lead him to believe he has been killed by a wild animal.

And Ya’akov knew the coat, and he said: It is my son’s garment; an evil beast has devoured him.” — Sefer HaYashar 43

Then it became part of the Levitical priestly garments

A tradition preserved in early Midrashim claims the garments were priestly in nature, and so Ya‘akov then transferred priesthood to Levi:

Jacob gave to Levi the garments of Adam, for the priesthood would be his.” — Midrash Aggadah (Buber), Genesis 49:7 (paraphrase of variant manuscripts)

When Moses of the Tribe of Levi delivers Israel from Egypt 210 years later, he also takes the bones of Joseph and the things left by Ya’akov.  When God gives instruction to make Aaron the High Priest with special garments we see a reference to the garments reappear…

The High Priest’s garments correspond to the garments of Adam.” — Zohar II 229b

This is amazing information!

We are later told that this garment was stored among Israel’s sacred relics kept with the treasures preserved in the Tabernacle and later the Temple.

These histories of Adam’s garment are not simply legend—they are a symbolic thread tying together:

• Dominion and priesthood
• Righteousness versus rebellion
• The true heirs of God’s covenant
• The return of Edenic authority

From Adam → Noah → Nimrod → Esau → Jacob → Israel’s priesthood, the garment serves as a reminder that God preserves His blessing for the line destined to fulfill His purpose. 

And now for the climatic completion and “the rest of the story”… Some Jewish mystical texts even say that in the future “The Holy One will adorn the Messiah with the garments of Adam, the garments of light.” — Zohar III 148a

So here is a quick list of Notable Figures Identified With the Garment

Figure	Source Attribution
Adam	Genesis Rabbah 20:12
Seth and the Righteous Line	Midrash traditions
Noah	Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 24
Ham → Cush → Nimrod	Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 24
Esau	Sefer HaYashar 27
Jacob	Targum Jonathan; Rashi
Joseph	Midrash HaGadol
High Priests of Israel	Zohar II 229b
Messiah (future)	Various Midrashic and Kabbalistic teachings

Conclusion

From Adam → Noah → Nimrod → Esau → Jacob → Israel’s priesthood, to the coming Messiah, the garment serves as a reminder that God preserves His blessing for the line destined to fulfill His purpose!  Hallelu Yah!

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Torah Parashah teaching with video and audio and illustrations by Rabbi Isaac. © Assembly of Called-Out Believers. Use by Permission.