297. Heavenly goodness is unclothed goodness, because it is the deepest good and is innocent. Heavenly good that is spiritual is the first level of good to be clothed, and earthly good is the next, because these two kinds are more external. They are also compared to clothes and are even called clothes. An example occurs in Ezekiel, where the subject is the ancient church:

I clothed you with embroidery, gave you shoes of badger, swathed you in fine linen, and covered you in silk. (Ezekiel 16:10)

In Isaiah:

Put on your finest clothes, Jerusalem, you holy city. (Isaiah 52:1)

In the Book of Revelation:

... who have not defiled their clothing and will walk with me in white because they are worthy. (Revelation 3:4-5)

The same book also mentions the twenty-four elders wearing white garments (Revelation 4:4).

So the more external kinds of goodness, which are heavenly-spiritual and earthly good, are clothing, and this is why people endowed with the goodness that accompanies charity appear wearing dazzling clothes in heaven. In the current verse, however, because they are still in the body, they wear a leather tunic.