Hebrew Word Study – Naked – ‘Aerom – Ayin Yod Resh Mem 

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.”

The word for naked in Hebrew is ‘aerom from two possible roots: ‘aram which means naked, act wisely, prudently, cautiously or it could be from the root word ‘eyar which means to be in grief, agony as the agony of death or grief over a death.

If you study Scripture with the purpose of learning about God’s heart, you may begin to find answers to questions that many have found troubling. 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 us as to a God who can keep track of us 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 if you were seeking to discover God’s heart. Translators 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, the same consonants only with a difference in vowels.  However, the root word is the same and 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.  

If you are seeking to understand God’s heart then you might want to step out of the box for a moment and consider 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 are 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 drawing 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. 

This alternative rendering 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.  Note Matthew 11:28-29: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”  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.

Looking unto Jesus is not just looking at him but making yourself transparent to Him as he makes Himself transparent with you. It is like a bride and groom looking at each other as they commit themselves to each other for the rest of their lives. At that moment they become transparent, sharing something with each that they will not share with anyone else in the world.

The wedding motif actually carries on through this entire verse.  Jesus endured the cross and the shame associated with the cross for the joy that would result from it.  He did it not only for us but for the joy that the sacrifice would bring to Him.  Just as the bride and groom sacrifice their personal lives and their singleness for the joy of being together.   Yet, that word joy is an amazing word to use here in this passage. It is the word chadotha in the Aramaic.  This is the word used for the joyful dancing at a wedding.  This again carries that wedding motif. The vows have been said as we and Jesus gaze at each other sharing our vows.  We tell Jesus that we are giving Him our lives and our hearts and now we enter that wedding feast where there is a wedding dance. In the traditional wedding dance couples line up opposite each other. Depending on the culture and whether traditional orthodox or not either men and women face each other or members of the same sex face each other, the symbolism still remains the same. They then move toward each other and then back away, always chor, gazing at each other, never taking the eyes off each other. Each time they back away, they move back to each other only this time drawing closer to each other.  This is to declare that the bride and groom will have times when they will struggle in their marriage and they will momentarily separate from each other, but as they look chor or gaze at each other they will be drawn back to each other only this time a little closer. This is what the Apostle Paul is describing in this wedding motif that we will dance this wedding dance. It is a joyful time of expressing our commitment with Jesus and He with us.  Even though we may sin and draw away from Jesus, He will always keep His gaze on us and we will be drawn back to Him only each time we return we will be drawn closer to Him.  Jesus will use our human frailties that the enemy would seek to use to draw us away from Him only Jesus will use it to bring us closer to Him.

So we have the wedding ceremony where we gaze at Jesus in transparency leading us to the joy of the wedding dance and now the groom takes his place at the right hand of the Father at his daqurasih in Aramaic from the root word quras which is a chamber with an upholster chair or a divan, what we call a love seat, that is a chair made for two people to sit closely together. It could also be a bedroom and the way the syntax word suggest we could read this as the bedroom in His Father’s house.  This is where the groom Jesus would take us His bride to consummate our marriage to Him.

So next time you hear this verse, stop and consider that the Apostle Paul might be sharing something even more intimate than we the surface understanding of this verse indicates. It is also speaking of our marriage relationship to Jesus and the intimacy that He longs so much to have with us that he endured the suffering of the cross in order to obtain it.

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