Genesis 2:25

Genesis 2:25 . They were both naked — They needed no clothes for defence against cold or heat, for neither could be injurious to them: they needed none for ornament. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Nay, they needed none for decency: they were naked, and had no reason to be ashamed. They knew not what shame was, so the Chaldee reads it. Blushing is now the colour of virtue, but it was not the colour of innocence.

THE TEMPTATION AND FALL. (25) They were both naked.—This is the description of perfect childlike innocence, and belongs naturally to beings who as yet knew neither good nor evil. It is not, however, the conclusion of the marriage section, where it would be indelicate, but the introduction to the account of the temptation, where it prepares the way for man’s easy fall. Moreover, there is a play upon words in the two verses. Man is arom = naked; the serpent is arum=crafty. Thus in guileless simplicity our first parents fell in with the tempting serpent, who, in obvious contrast with their untried innocence, is described as a being of especial subtilty.

25 . This verse by one simple illustration describes the condition of the man and the woman in the garden. It is not that of moral perfection, but that of the innocence and ignorance of childhood. The untried innocence of the child does not possess the sense of shame: the depravity of vice forfeits it. The sense of shame is the shadow which temptation to sin throws across the pathway of purity. NOTE ON THE COSMOGONIES OF GENESIS The Book of Genesis contains two Cosmogonies: (1) the earlier and simpler one, that of Genesis 2:4 b–25 J, (2) the later and more systematic one, that of Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4 a P. (1) The distinctive features of the earlier one suggest a scene familiar to dwellers in the desert. The earth is barren and dry: there is as yet no rain to make it fruitful, no man to till it ( Genesis 2:5 ). A stream1[5] issues “from the earth”; it irrigates “the whole face of the ground” ( Genesis 2:6 ). Jehovah forms “man” out of the dust, and breathes life into him ( Genesis 2:7 ). He causes him to dwell in a garden of rich soil and fruitful trees ( Genesis 2:8-17 ). He forms “the beasts of the field” and “the fowls of the air” to be man’s companions ( Genesis 2:18-20 ). But they give no true companionship: and Jehovah, casting “man” into a deep sleep, takes out of him a rib, and forms “woman” to be man’s companion ( Genesis 2:21-25 ). [5] “Stream”: R.V. “mist.” See note in loc .

The process of formation is orderly: (1) dry earth, (2) water, (3) man, (4) vegetation, (5) animals, (6) woman. Jehovah is the maker of all. Man is, in all, the object of Jehovah’s care and solicitude. The scene of the garden is that of an oasis teeming with life and vegetation. (2) The later and more elaborate Cosmogony ( Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4 a) is, undoubtedly, ultimately derived from the alluvial region of Babylonia. At the first, there is a primordial watery chaos, over which “broods” the quickening “spirit of God” ( Genesis 2:2 ). Then ensue six days of Creation. On the first, God creates the light, causing day and night ( Genesis 2:3 ). On the second, He “makes” the “firmament, or solid expanse of heaven, which parts asunder the waters above and the waters below ( Genesis 2:7 ). On the third day, God collects the lower waters into seas, and makes the earth appear, and clothes it with vegetation ( Genesis 2:9-13 ). On the fourth day, He makes the sun, moon, and stars; and “sets” them in the “firmament,” to rule over the day and the night ( Genesis 2:14-19 ). On the fifth day, He causes the water and the air to bring forth water-animals and winged things ( Genesis 2:20-23 ). On the sixth day, God “makes” the animals of the earth; and, finally, “creates” man, “male and female,” “in the image of God” ( Genesis 2:24-25 ).