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(
(
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, 6172), “nakedness; indecent thing.” Thirty-two of the 53 occurrences
of this noun are in the social laws of Lev. 18, 20. The rest of its appearances are scattered
throughout the various periods of Old Testament literature with the notable exception of
poetical literature.
This word represents male or female sexual organs. In its first biblical appearance
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implies shameful exposure: “And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness
of his father.… And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their
shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces
were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness” (Gen. 9:22-23). This word is
often used of female nakedness (the uncovered sex organs) and is symbolical of shame.
In Lam. 1:8 plundered, devastated Jerusalem is pictured as a woman whose nakedness is
exposed. To uncover one’s nakedness is a frequent euphemism for cohabitation: “None
of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am
the Lord” (Lev. 18:6).
The phrase “indecent thing” represents any uncleanness in a military camp or any
violation of the laws of sexual abstinence—nocturnal emission not properly cleansed,
sexual cohabitation and other laws of purity (for example, excrement buried in the camp):
“For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up
thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing
[literally, “a matter of an indecent thing”] in thee, and turn away from thee” (Deut.
23:14). In Deut. 24:1
(
appears to bear this emphasis on any violation of the laws of
purity—if a groom is dissatisfied with his bride “because he hath found some
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in her,” he may divorce her. Obviously this evidence is not of previous
cohabitation, since such a sin merits death (Deut. 22:13ff.).
The “undefended parts” or “nakedness” of a land is represented by
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in Gen.
42:9: “Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.”
Other nouns related to this word appear less often.
"
, which refers to “sexual
nakedness,” appears in a figurative sense in Nah. 3:5.
,
appears as a noun abstract in
several instances. This word represents the more general idea of being without clothes,
with no necessary suggestion of shamefulness; it means the “state of being unclothed.” In
Ezek. 16:7, 39 the word
appears as “naked,” but it can literally be translated as
“nakedness” or one being in his “nakedness.”
Two nouns,
and
, have a different significance.
which occurs 13
times, means “razor” (Num. 6:5) or a “knife” to sharpen scribal pens (Jer. 36:23). The
word’s meaning of a “sword sheath” (1 Sam. 17:51) has a cognate in Ugaritic.
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also means “razor”(1 Sam. 1:11).
B. Adjectives.
(
, 6174), or
(
, 6174), “naked.” This word occurs 16 times.
The first occurrence is in Gen. 2:25: “And they were both naked, the man and his wife,
and were not ashamed.”