What's so wrong with being naked?
I really want to believe that our hang-ups with nudity are cultural, but it seems like there's something more here. It seems like the author is trying to make a point about their nakedness. In my culture, nudity is shunned either because of sexual arousal or because a person is self-conscious about their body. But this couldn't be the case with Adam and Eve. It's not like they were ugly naked, right? I mean what did they have to compare themselves to?
It also seems unlikely that they simply realized that they didn't have anything covering their bodies. They would have known that. Maybe what they realized was the significance of not having anything to cover their bodies. But what was that significance?! Why were they ashamed? After all, this was the state in which God had created them and he said that it was very good. So what changed?
Obviously they were now aware of evil and sin, but how did this relate to their nakedness?
I haven't been able to come up with any very good answers. So far, it seems like the most likely explanation at least relates to the one that I've always heard. It seems obvious that this shame has something to do with their new experience of "evil".
It is interesting to note something new in this story. There was a motif developed in chapter one. The phrase "And God saw that it was good," appears five times in the opening creation poem. And the adjective "good" is used seven times in the chapter to describe God's work. The word for good in these verses is the Hebrew word tov. It is used over and over again in the same formula so that it sticks out in your mind. Then in chapter two, it appears in a new way. In chapter two it is contrasted with another word, ra', the Hebrew word that is translated in chapter two, verse nine as "evil". So after this motif of "good" develops, it is then contrasted with "evil". The two are presented as opposites. A more accurate way to translate the word for evil, ra', may be "badness". In English the opposite of good is bad. So, the opposite of goodness may be said to be "badness". The word ra' does not necessarily denote sin the way that the word "evil" tends to do for us today. Ra' simply contrasts with good. It can also mean destruction, misery, and trouble.
The point is that as tov is used to describe the quality of God's work, the word ra' is used to describe the quality of man's work outside of God's direction. When God works and acts, the result is goodness and beauty. God guides and directs us so that we may also work goodness and beauty. However, when we act outside of God's direction, the result is ra'. It is badness.
So now that ra' has entered the story of humanity, it has somehow changed Adam and Eve and their comfort with nudity. Adam and Eve have experienced evil, and that is why they are ashamed. So why then do they cover their bodies? The reason may be a demonstration of just how differently Adam and Eve and the ancient Israelites viewed the relationship of the body and the soul. If Adam and Eve believed that the body and the soul were truly one, then it would only be natural to cover the body in order to hide the shame they felt. They weren't just covering their bodies; they were covering their whole selves – their souls. They had no way to cover just the spiritual part of themselves; they had to cover their entire selves.
So this is the best explanation I have for why Adam and Eve felt it necessary to cover their nakedness when their eyes were open. I'm not satisfied with it and I'm going to keep digging until I find more, but that's what I got for now.
Now when Adam and Eve make coverings for themselves out of fig leaves, for some reason God did not think that this was enough. Out of his kindness he made garments of skin for Adam and Eve. Now there are a couple places that my curiosity wonders at this point. First, I began (as a result of listening to someone else's commentary on this verse – I don't remember whose) to consider where these skins came from. Where did the material for these garments come from? Was there skin just lying around? Did God create the skin right there on the spot as he very well could have? Or did God kill an animal and skin it, in order to make the garments to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness?
If an animal did in fact die to make the garments for Adam and Eve, there is a wealth of theological significance here. This would be the first example of death coming into the world through sin. It would be by the sin of Adam and Eve that this animal died to provide the skin for their garments, and this would be a significant foreshadowing of Christ who would have to die in order to cover our sin and shame. That is, if an animal had to die.
I say "if" because it seems that if this was the case, and it was such a significant theological point, the author would have mentioned it. But as it is, the author tells us nothing of where the skin came from. Now perhaps the author was recording the history of the event and did not mention where it came from because only in hindsight is it significant that something would have to die to cover the shame of Adam and Eve. So perhaps we cannot be certain whether we are justified in making this assumption.
One thing that we can conclude from this action, however, is that God is infinitely merciful and kind. Even as he banishes mankind from his presence, he provides a covering for them as they go. He does not cast them out to fend for themselves. The great plan of redemption is just beginning to unfold. He will still be their God, and they will still be his people. He will make a way for them to be reconciled to him.
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