Shame, Nakedness and Clothing
Underlines, bold font, highlighting and some italics added to Bible quotes by this writer.
Naked I came, but I’m going home dressed for a
wedding.
Most everyone knows shame. We have something
called our conscience which enables us to know it.
We are on
a journey if or since we are following Jesus. Some have said it takes mankind
from the garden into the wilderness in search of the city whose builder and
maker is God. Now a new “theme” has arisen in my spirit’s “viewfinder.”
Listening to 1230 AM WRBS radio this week I heard a Bible teacher comment on
being clothed. It was as I remember in a discussion on the Janet Parshall
broadcst with Edward T.
Welch, the Author of a book called Shame Interrupted. The “idea” is this,
that man was created naked but the plan of God was to CLOTHE HIM/HER.
v Man was created naked without shame.
v Man sinned and became ashamed of his
nakedness.
v Man tried to cover his nakedness and
put away his shame.
v God clothed man with animal skins.
v Both the animals and Christ were
sacrificed, their blood was shed and they died. Both the blood of animals and
Christ were killed, the penalty for sin which is death was lifted off the
sinner, placed on the sacrifice who paid the penalty dying in the sinners
stead. The blood cleanses the sinner of sin and sins unrighteousness.
v Man is able to now be born again and
clothed in Christ’s righteousness as
His bride being cleansed by constant fellowship with God and His children.
v Man born again will be clothed for all eternity in Christ’s
holiness.
Adam and
Eve were naked and not ashamed in the garden of Eden. But suddenly: after they
sinned, they knew they were
naked and were ashamed.
Their immediate response was to make
aprons out of fig leaves to cover their naked parts. I don’t think these aprons
were Burkas, or ankle length robes. I think they were aprons designed to cover
that part between the belly button and the knees. Here are some
of the Hebrew words translated as shame
or ashamed in the Old Testament. There may be more…
H954
בּוּשׁ
bûsh
boosh
A
primitive root; properly to pale, that is, by implication to be ashamed;
also (by implication) to be disappointed, or delayed: - (be,
make, bring to, cause, put to, with, a-) shame (-d), be (put
to) confounded (con-fusion), become dry,
delay, be long.
H1322
בּשׁת
bôsheth
bo'-sheth
From H954; shame (the feeling and the
condition, as well as its cause); by implication (specifically) an idol: - ashamed,
confusion, + greatly, (put to) shame (-ful thing).
H2781
חרפּה
cherpâh
kher-paw'
From H2778; contumely,
disgrace, the pudenda: - rebuke,
reproach (-fully), shame.
H3637
כּלם
kâlam
kaw-lawm'
A
primitive root; properly to wound; but only figuratively, to taunt
or insult: - be (make) ashamed, blush, be confounded, be put to confusion, hurt, reproach, (do,
put to) shame.
H3639
כּלמּה
kelimmâh
kel-im-maw'
From H3637; disgrace: - confusion, dishonour,
reproach, shame.
H7036
קלון
qâlôn
kaw-lone'
From H7034; disgrace; (by implication) the pudenda: - confusion, dishonour,
ignominy, reproach, shame.
Note the word pudenda in two of them.
Webster’s:
Pudenda : PUDEN'DA,n.
plu. [L.] The parts of generation.
Pudic : PU'DIC, PU'DICAL, a. [L. pudicus,
modest.] Pertaining to the parts which modesty requires to be concealed; as the
pudic artery.
Pudicity : PUDIC'ITY,
n. [L. pudicitia.] Modesty; chastity.
Being
naked was not something sinful. Our first parents were naked and not ashamed of
it. There is NO evidence God condemned them for it. Some say that they were
clothed in a glory or an aura, but we have no Biblical evidence of that either.
What we do know is:
Genesis 2:25 And they were
both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
What I’m hearing is that the nakedness of our
beginning was simply a matter of God’s choosing. Like a child I can ask: “Why?”
And like a parent God could say “Because.” Because what? Adam and Eve were
naked by God’s design and their nakedness fit into His plan. Do did satan who had
sinned, and would provoke by tempting Eve mankind’s fall from grace. God’s plan
prophetically declared that man would gain knowledge of good and evil by
disobeying Him, and the shame disobedience causes. It is quite a real thing!
Full of what seems very strange, ironic, counter intuitive and paradoxical.
They were not ashamed of their nakedness at the first, but in the time it took
for two people to “get a bite to eat” they were hiding from God because they saw they were naked. They became self-conscious in the knowledge
of good and evil. Seeing themselves as
naked gave them a whole new outlook. God knew it would! And so today we
see people moving in two directions, they either become MODEST or they become
LEWD. These are attitudes of the inner person. They do express outwardly; the
modest clothe themselves humbly, the lewd proudly show as much skin as they are
able to expose without being arrested. Those who are modest respond to the
roots of shame preferring to be clothed. But why? In cold weather the question
is answered. But in the summer and in the tropics why not go naked? Being naked
in public places has been almost universally discouraged. Why? Because I
believe, nakedness provokes sexual sin. Sexual sin provokes violence.
Genesis
3:1-24 Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the
woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall
not eat of every tree of the garden?
(2) And the woman said unto the
serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: (3)
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye
die. (4)
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (5)
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. (6)
And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and
did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (7) And
the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed
fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (8)
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the
LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
(9) And the LORD God called unto
Adam, and
said unto him, Where art thou?
(10)And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked;
and I hid myself. (11) And he said, Who told thee that thou wast
naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou
shouldest not eat? (12)
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with
me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. (13) And the LORD God said unto the
woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
H5377 nasha' naw-shaw' a primitive root; to lead
astray, i.e. (mentally) to delude, or (morally) to seduce:--beguile, deceive, X greatly, X utterly.
(14)And the
LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed
above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou
go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: (15)
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (16)
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall
be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. (17)
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy
wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt
not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou
eat of it all the days of thy life;
(18) Thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; (19)
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the
ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return. (20) And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because
she was the mother of all living.
(21) Unto Adam also and to his
wife did the LORD God make coats of
skins, and clothed them. (22)
And the LORD God said, Behold,
the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and
take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: (23) Therefore the
LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence
he was taken. (24) So he
drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the
tree of life.
After satan
drew her attention to the forbidden fruit Eve saw it as if for the first time.
She suddenly did not remember God’s command not to eat it. It does seem that
the promise of having ones eyes opened and being as God had some appeal. One
teacher said that satan provoke in Eve feelings of insecurity by asking “Has
God said…?” and inferiority by implying she was not all she could or should be
that, is: wise like God who sees and knows both good and evil. Why, how could she forget and overlook the
lie that she would not die, a complete contradiction of God’s PROMISE? Yet she
did and she ate. Why would Adam do likewise? Was Eve changed in some way that
caused him to join her? Why did I as a child disobey my parents and join with
others in behavior that Mom and dad forbid? Someone said satan and sin are the
same thing; surely they both are deceitful.
Proverbs
14:34 Doing right brings honor to a
nation, but sin brings disgrace.
Proverbs
14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:
but sin is a reproach
to any people.
H7036
קלון
qâlôn
kaw-lone'
From H7034; disgrace; (by
implication) the pudenda: - confusion, dishonour, ignominy, reproach, shame.
Men and women want to be right. No one wants to be laughed to scorn and shame. We all want to
be thought we of, to have friends, to receive
love from them. But as all have sinned, all
do surely experience shame at some time and place.
Isaiah 20:1-6 IN THE year that
the Tartan [Assyrian commander in chief] came to Ashdod in Philistia,
sent by Sargon king of Assyria, he fought against Ashdod and took it. (2) At
that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, Go, loose the sackcloth
from off your loins and take your shoes off your feet. And he had done so,
walking around stripped [to his loincloth] and barefoot. (3)
And the Lord said, As My servant Isaiah has walked [comparatively]
naked and barefoot for three years, as a sign and forewarning concerning Egypt
and concerning Cush (Ethiopia), (4) So shall the king of Assyria lead away the
Egyptian captives and the Ethiopian exiles, young and old, naked and barefoot,
even with buttocks uncovered--to the shame of Egypt. (5)
And they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their hope
and expectation and Egypt their glory and boast. (6)
And the inhabitants of this coastland [the Israelites and their
neighbors] will say in that day, See! This is what comes to those in whom
we trusted and hoped, to whom we fled for help to deliver us from the king of
Assyria! But we, how shall we escape [captivity and exile]?
Isaiah was God’s prophet and God had him go naked (or as some
translate: partially naked) to call the children of Israel back to Him. It is quite something else that this past week in the year 2016 an aspirant to the White
House from the “Libertarian” (LIBERTINE) Party did strip down to a thong on
stage at a party function.
Without a Vision is a people made naked, And
whoso is keeping the law, O his happiness!(YLT) Proverbs 29:18
(KJVR) Where there is
no vision, the people perish:
but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
(KJV+) Where there is noH369
vision,H2377 the peopleH5971 perish:H6544 but he that
keepethH8104 the law,H8451 happyH835 is he.
Note the word perish. There is more to it than what we commonly think.
perish:H6544. See the blueletterbible link for more! And see below for
several more versions of of Proverbs 29:18. The YLT, (Young’s Literal
Translation) “nails it.”
Exodus 32:25
(KJV)And when Moses H4872 saw H7200 that the
people H5971 were naked;
H6544 (for Aaron H175 had made them naked H6544 unto their shame H8103 among their
enemies:) H6965
In Exodus 32:25 the SAME word (H6544) is
translated NAKED. The word English word perish occurs 120 times in 118 verses in the KJV. But the KJV translates Strongs H6544 in the
following manner: refuse (3x), uncover (3x), naked (2x), avenging (1x), avoid
(1x), go back (1x), bare (1x), let (1x), made naked (1x), set at nought (1x), perish (1x). Only once as perish!
(AMP) Where there is no vision
[no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God,
which includes that of man]--blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is
he. [I Sam. 3:1; Amos 8:11, 12.]
(CEV) Without guidance from God
law and order disappear,
but God blesses everyone who obeys his Law.
(CJB) Without a prophetic
vision, the people throw off
all restraint; but he who keeps Torah is happy.
(Geneva) Where there is no
vision, the people decay:
but he that keepeth the Lawe, is blessed.
(JPS) Where there is no vision,
the people cast off restraint;
but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
(KJV+) Where there is noH369
vision,H2377 the peopleH5971 perish:H6544 but he that keepethH8104
the law,H8451 happyH835 is he.
(YLT) Without a Vision is a
people made naked, And whoso is keeping the law, O his happiness!
I guess it is no surprise that in this late hour nudity is thought of
as a right of free speech, even the most graphic depictions of sexual acts
normal, not so normal and perverse.
I for one am rejoicing that I have a wedding garment given me through
faith in the One who clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins so long ago. Perhaps
animal rights activists have some objection to animals being killed because of
the connection of animal sacrifice, God, man, and Christ? I’m not for cruelty
to animals at all. Yet we live in a world where restraints of many sinful and
cruel acts are thrown aside. Nakedness is no longer a simple fact of human
birth. Because of original sin we are spiritually and morally naked and cannot
recover our innocence. All have sinned. All stand naked before God, and in
Christ alone can we receive the garment of salvation which does clothe us forever!
I’m not trying to be holier than thou. But I do want to be holy. You
can have all the world if you want, let me receive and have Jesus forever.
