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There are very few questions asked in the Torah. The most famous one is also the very first one. Adam and Eve had just eaten some fruit from the forbidden tree and, sensing Yah’s presence in the Garden, they hid among the trees. While they were hiding, Yah asked Adam a one-word question - ayeka? In English it means, “Where are you?” One word encompassing within it an entire world. Of meanings. Of lessons. Of self-reflection. One word that for millennium evoked the same question in the minds of many rabbis, scholars and laypeople alike--isn't Yah omnipotent and all-knowing? Why would he asks Adam for his whereabouts? But this is not the focus of this reflection... Instead, I would like to focus on Adam's attempt to hide from Yah.

 

Genesis 3:9 “And Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”” 

 

Genesis 3:10 “And he replied, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked, so I hid myself.”” 

 

Genesis 3:11 “Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?””  Lexham English Bible (LEB)

 

Trying to deceive Yah is an attempt to run away and hide from Him, and running away and hiding from Yah is not possible. Psalm 139 describe the futility of running away from Yah: 

Psalms 139:7-13 7 Where can I go from your Spirit, or where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, there you are, and if I make my bed in Sheol, look! There you are. 9 If I lift up the wings of the dawn, and I alight on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand would lead me, and your right hand would hold me fast. 11 And if I should say, “Surely darkness will cover me, and the light around me will be as night,” 12 even the darkness is not too dark for you, and the night shines as the day— the darkness and the light are alike for you. 13 Indeed you created my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb. Lexham English Bible (LEB)

 

Escape is not possible because Yah is the creator of man, and man is like an open book before him. The prophet Amos expresses this clearly:

Amos 9:1-3 I saw my Lord standing by the altar and he said, “Strike the capitals so that the thresholds will shake, and shatter them on the head of all of them, and I will kill the rest of them with the sword. A fugitive belonging to them will not run away, and a survivor belonging to them will not escape. 2 If they dig into Sheol, from there my hand will take them, and even if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. 3 And even if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search and will take them, and even if they hide from before my eyes at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the sea serpent and it will bite them.” Lexham English Bible (LEB)

 

Jonah the prophet running away and hiding from Yah is also a chronicle of a foreknown failure… Jonah is attempting to escape to distant Tarshish. He goes down to Jaffa, climbs a ship, goes down to the stern of the ship and falls asleep, but he will not find rest there either. Even when he is thrown to the sea, he will not have relief as Yah summons a fish to swallow him and vomit him back to land so he can resume his journey to fulfill his divine mission.

 

Foreign clothing (or costume) and deception go hand in hand in the Bible (see Genesis 38, 1 Samuel 28, 1 Kings 14, 1 Kings 22, to name just a few). This theme appears for the first time in our story here. After Adam and Eve disobey Yah's command, they seek to cover their nakedness. 

 

Covering in foreign clothing and seeking concealment walk arm in arm; The garment and the search for concealment therefore both indicate loss of integrity. Our story plays on the connection between four words (in actuality only two if you follow the Hebrew roots of these words):

Deceitful/cunning/crafty - עָרוּם. 

Naked - עָרוּם. 

Naked/nakedness - עֵירֹם. 

Garment/article of clothing - בֶּגֶד

Betray/cheat/deceive - בָּגַד

 

Why hide if you have nothing to hide? H. C. Leupold, an Old Testament scholar and theologian, wrote in his book Exposition of Genesis: "Here is one of the saddest anticlimaxes of history: They eat, they expect marvelous results, they wait--and there grows on them the sense of shame.”  And I dare to add, there grows on them the sense of shame and they attempt to hide and escape the inescapable... 

 

The victim (man) is irresistibly lured by the naked (snake) to possess knowledge “like the gods”. Following his disobedient act, he realizes he is naked (exposed in his folly as he didn’t become like gods as promised). He then seeks to conceal his nakedness (disobedience) with foreign clothing (deception), futilely hoping that the Almighty will be fooled by the covering and not notice his disobedience.

 

In other words, the story in the Garden involves man’s desire to be “like gods” (through gaining hidden knowledge) which leads him on a downslope to lack of faith and disobedience followed by an attempt to disguise, deceive, escape and hide. But Yah sees all and knows all. ALWAYS!