{Word Study} Naked

WORD STUDY – NAKED
Genesis 3:10: “And he said: I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
Naked – Hebrew: ‘aerom from two possible roots: ‘aram – naked, act wisely, prudently, cautiously or ‘eyar – to be in grief, agony as the agony of death or grief over a death.

I discovered that when I study Scripture with the purpose of learning about God’s heart, I begin to find answers to questions that have troubled me all my life.  For instance, somehow the idea of God wandering around the garden unable to locate Adam and having to call out to him hoping for some response so he could find him, just doesn’t seem to make much sense to me.  I mean if God had problems locating Adam because he was hiding in some bushes, then that picture does not inspire much confidence in me as to a God who can keep track of me 24/7.

Practically every modern translation will translate the word “alyekah” as “Where are you?”  Yet there is a rendering to this word “alyekah” which would make more sense, at least to me in my search for God’s heart.  Translators, however, will not use this rendering for two reasons.  One is that there are no English words we can use for this alternative rendering and the second reason is that even if we found some English words that fit, we certainly would not want to ascribe something like that to God.  It would come out to be something like this: “O’ like woe is me, like woe is me.”  Turn to the Book of Lamentations.  If your Bible has the Hebrew rendering for the word “Lamentations,” you will note that it is the same word “elyekah” just a difference in vowel pointing.  However, the root word means a lamentation or a cry of grief and mourning.

Now can you picture God wandering through the garden, weeping and saying “O woe is me?” If we believe we are created in God’s image then we have a heart like His, a heart that can be broken like ours.  How many times have you lamented over a broken relationship in your lifetime?  Most Christians seem to have a hard time picturing God as weeping over his lost children.  Hence we take the more appropriate rendering of  “Where are you.”  “Alyekah” is an interrogative but it is also an expression of grief.  So what is causing this grief?  Note Adam and Eve were not hiding from God; they were hiding from the presence of God.  They had willfully separated themselves from the presence of God. It was not their sin that separated them from God but their guilt.  God didn’t remove Himself from them, they removed themselves from God.

Now why did they hide from the presence of God?  Adam said they were naked.  Another little mystery, why did they not want God to see them naked?  He is after all the master Physician, He knows the human anatomy better than anyone.  There should be nothing shameful about God seeing them naked.  The word “naked” used here comes from a questionable root.  It could be “aram” which means naked, but could also mean to act prudently, wisely, or cautiously.   This word could also come from the root “’eyar” which would then mean to be in agony as the agony of death.

As I find myself drawn to the heart of God, I find myself willing to step out of the box and assume possible alternative renderings which are not generally accepted by our translators.  If you believe in a God who can’t find you if you hide yourself in some bushes and is repulsed if He sees you naked, then go with the standard translation: “Adam where are you”  “I am hiding in the bushes because I am naked.”   There is an alternative rendering that is also possible and one that I find drawn to. However, I can find no English words to give a translation, I can only describe it.   It would be the cry of a lover who is separated from his beloved and his beloved is hiding from her lover’s presence because she is in agony over having betrayed her lover.

As  I draw closer to the heart of God, I become more aware of the fact that many renderings in the English Bible are renderings from translators who see God as an angry God who is ready to whip you if you commit some sin.  There are alternative renders, however, that would show a God who is grief stricken, not angry over your sins. He is grief stricken because the sin has caused you to hide from His presence that He longs to share with you.  After years of searching for the heart of God, the few glimpses I get into His heart show me that He is not a taskmaster ready to whip you into submission to His will, but he is a lover who has arms open, ready to hug you, forgive you and seduce you into submission.