Genesis Revisited by John Everett - HTML preview

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Shame and Fear

They heard Yahweh God's voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Yahweh God said to the woman, "What have you done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

This part of the myth has interesting insights into human nature, with the man blaming the woman, and the woman blaming the serpent. But perhaps deep down the myth is trying to explain why we usually feel that being naked in front of others is wrong, because that is the outward result of their disobedience, while the inward result is that they began to be afraid of Yahweh.

So:

They were now ashamed to be unclothed, and were now afraid of Yahweh.