Shame

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
7) And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8) And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9) And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10) And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
21) Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
7) But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.
9) But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
15) My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,

Notes

It is common in modern thought to regard shame as a purely negative emotion, but, the concept of shame, as used scripturally, is, like many emotional concepts is the scriptures, connected to action. It is my understanding of shame, that it connects to the action of hiding. Adam and Eve were ashamed and sewed fig leaves to cover their nakedness. They also hid from the Lord. It is easy, as an English speaker, to look at the immediate results of this shame and judge it as unhealthy because they reacted in an unhealthy way. However, what was the Lord's response and counsel to Adam and Eve? Was it not to offer his own superior covering to hide their nakedness? In addition, he has offered his son that we might repent and be forgiven. In Jewish thought, this is described as "covering" our sins. The Hebrew word translated as "atonement" is closely related to the Hebrew word for forgiveness, which also has the meaning of "reconciliation" and "covering".

In other words, the emotion associated with shame can lead either to hiding from God, or seeking refuge with God. It is not the feeling that is wrong, but the way in which we seek to address it.

Cross-References