three meanings is best adapted to its connexion with the verb uncover, in application to a female. In this connexion it seems obvious, that the second meaning should be selected.
No one can doubt what is meant by the nakedness of Noah, (where the word occurs for the first time in the Bible,) which his two sons so discreetly, and with such filial reverence, covered with a garment, while they went backward, that they might not see their father's nakedness. (Gen. 9:23.)
The word occurs a second time in Gen. 42:12, where it is rendered "the nakedness of the land;" and that this means its destitution of defence, or defenceless condition, is very obvious. In Exod. 28:42, we meet with it a third time, where the signification of בְשַׂר עֶרְוָה, translated their nakedness, cannot be misunderstood. Then the word appears so often in Levit. 18:6–18.[1]
And when the great Lawgiver pronounces the prohibition, that a man shall not uncover the
- ↑ Buxtorf, in explanation of the meaning of this word, says, "Nuditas corporis humani propalam turpis et pudenda censetur, maxime partium genitalium, quæ natura tecta voluit."
