From H4058 (madad, to measure). A garment or covering — something measured out and fitted. Used of priestly garments, royal robes, and military armor. The act of clothing in Scripture is never merely functional — it carries symbolic weight about identity, authority, and covering.
The mad of the priest was not ordinary clothing — it was identity. When the high priest donned his garments (Leviticus 6:10), he became the mediator between God and man. When David stripped off his royal mad to dance before the Ark (implied in 2 Samuel 6), he was laying down his kingly identity to worship as a common man. The theological thread runs from Eden (God clothing Adam and Eve) to Revelation (the saints clothed in white). To be clothed by God is to be covered, restored, and given a new identity.